Hi Svetlana,

Welcome here!  I'm from Canada, too!  Somewhere here there is a thread that introduces many of us Canadians.  You might be lucky to find someone in your city!

Kizudo (in Manitoba)

My son had an oral texture issue - he wouldn't eat pureed ANYTHING so his first foods were "Crunchies" as we called these baby meatballs...  (got the recipe off the internet somewhere)

Baby Meat Balls*

Ingredients:
Ground Turkey, Beef or chicken
Plain baby cereal (boxed type)
Pureed veggies or fruits
Spices as desired
Wheat Germ
 
Directions:
1. Place 1 part lean ground beef/turkey or chicken into a mixing bowl
2. Add 2 parts baby cereal and 1/2 part wheat germ. Use Spices that you find appropriate (you may use bread crumbs if you choose)
3. Add pureed veggies and/or fruit to moisten the mixture
4. Mix together as you would when making “adult" meatballs.
5. Bake in an oven at 400 degrees until brown and cooked thoroughly – Cover with tinfoil, be sure not to burn the meatballs as they will become tough on the outside and baby may not be able to eat them.

My notes:
- I pureed anything that I had on hand - one time it was brocolli, cauliflower, sweet potato, red & gr peppers, carrots, peas (all at once!) and other times it was only brocolli or sweet potato... (often I'd get overly zealous with the amount of veggies and it would be a fairly wet mixture - be careful)
- I rolled the "balls" in crushed cornflakes (hence the name "Crunchies")
- I pressed the meat into patties about the size of my hand then froze them.  When I wanted to bake them up, I cut a pattie into tiny cubes and let them thaw a bit - THEN rolled them in the cornflakes and baked them.
- He ate them hot or cold.  If I went anywhere I thought he might get fussy at, I'd pack these (with an icepack) - they were always a hit!

Lots of good comments here...thanks.

I started showing Volume 2 just the yesterday and he loved it.  He sat in the exact spot for the entire 23 or so minutes!  I think I'll just go on my own schedule as suggested by several of you...it's hard because he's not totally verbal yet, so I can't be confident that he knows the words.

I bought LR a few weeks ago (and LM) but didn't really use it until now - I was kind of holding out for the curriculum.  We love it!  It's so nice to just click and go.  I'm still showing ybcr dvds and sporadically showing the cards, but I can see me using LR more frequently.

I guess I was just bent on following the rules (showing it for 2 months before switching - as I have no idea if he really knows the words)...but as KL and many others have said before - the only rule is "have fun".  If his dumptruck is more fun than watching the video, then that's what we do at the moment.  I have, however, found that if I have a snack of cheerios or crackers ready right after his nap he'll watch the video for a much longer time period.

We also watch a sign language video every other day and I've made flashcards for the words in it. 

He's getting a lot...hopefully not too much!

Hi all,

My son (15mo) seems to be bored with the Vol.1 video and it's only been 3.5 weeks.  Either he IS bored because he knows it already (here's hoping!) or it's just too slow for him to be interested twice a day.  I find that I'm always stopping it before it's done.

Have any of you just done a complete different schedule than what is recommended by Dr. Titzer?  I only showed the Starter DVD for about 3 weeks.  My son is too small to regularly show that he understands the words so "testing" is not even an option at this point.

With your experience, do you think that showing each DVD for only 3 weeks (as opposed to the 2 months recommended) would be too much?

Thanks, Kizudo

This morning I showed my son the word car and he tugged at his ear. 

I showed him both cards at the same time and tried to point out that the first part (I didn't say "letter") looked a little different from each other.  Has anyone else had this problem?  Did I correct him in the right way?  Any suggestions if he demonstrates confusion again?  (He doesn't always show comprehension of the words he knows - he's 15months)

Thanks.

Mine may be "funky" but it isn't really funny...so, sorry if this is a downer.

I had three miscarriages before being able to carry my son to term.  While the babies were in my uterus we prayed for them and talked to them regularly.  It seemed so impersonal to just refer to them as "the baby" so we gave them each a nickname that we would call them while they were inside of me.  They'd get their real names later.

I used the first two letters from each of their names:  Kipper, Zulu, and Doodle.

Wow!  I think I've read that one particular post several times.  I'm shocked.  Almost, almost speechless.  Almost.

I am a private school teacher (well, technically "was" as tonite was the farewell - I quit to be a stay-at-home mom).  When I was teaching grade two I had a child transfer in from a homeschool situation.  My initial thoughts were "ha, couldn't handle it, hey? Just leave the educating to us professionals".  What I VERY quickly discovered was that this child was above average.  Above average in his politeness, above average in MANY academic areas, above average in his ability to solve social problems - in fact - helped others work out issues, too.  Over and over I witnessed how his very quiet mother and his kind and gentle father had done an amazing job.  This child was confident and ready to learn.  I really began questioning where I got the idea of homeschooling being inferior to what I was doing.  After spending only the last part of the year in my classroom, the family chose to return to homeschooling.  Now, before anyone slams my teaching abilities I just want to say that the families that  have entrusted their children to me have given me much praise.  I don't say that to toot my own horn, but just to say that I am not a teacher who does the bare minimum.  

It is because of this child that I would count it a privilege to do the same for my son.  It was stated in another post that there's no way a teacher can give individual attention to each of her 30 students.  I agree. We try, really we do, but there's just NO WAY!  I'm not knocking schools either - as I LOVED my job - and I think that it offers many positive things, too.  I might be biased as I taught in a private school that had only one classroom of each grade and our cap was 20 kids/grade, but, none-the-less, this is one teacher who graduated from the Education Program with great marks and has more than a "respectable" history in the classroom who will never, ever slam a well run homeschool!

Hi all.

Tigerlily, are you using the THRASS system with your child?  How is it working for you?  I know that English is very difficult in many ways but I fear that I, myself, would get mixed up with the chart.

I'd highly recommend the book "LIFE'S ON FIRE: Cooking for the Rushed" by Sandi (could be SandY...) Richards

The cookbook is divided into weeks - each week has 5 recipies, and one shopping list that includes EVERYTHING you need.  Each week has several "kitchen time" lengths - all short!  Each week also has a place for you to record your family's rating of the meal.

I suggest photocopying all the shopping lists & putting them in the book jacket - then they're ready regardless of what week you've chosen.

So, all you do is pick a week, compare the shopping list with what you have in your own cupboards and go shop for the remainder.  That way you have what you need - and the unnecessary wasted time of just thinking about what to make is gone!

I LOVE this book!

Also, may I suggest calling up a girlfriend and having a "casserole making day"?  I did that with my mom when I was in my 8th month and again with a girlfriend when she was in her 9th month.  We each picked four casserole recipies that could be frozen, doubled the ingredients and picked up tin casserole dishes at the grocery store.  Then we spent the day together laughing and cutting onions, etc.  At the end of the day we each had several casseroles in our freezers!  Magnificent!

Thanks for the reminder.  I'm usually careful with that sort of thing - I only use my felt markers outside so that he doesn't smell the ink...  What would you recommend to use to stick paper to the shiny board book paper?

I just got back from the local 2nd hand store.  I bought 4 small board books for $1 CDN!  I'm going to try one of the ideas suggested here & put my own pictures on (I think I'll use contact cement) and mactac (clear contact paper)...I'm so excited to try it!  Thanks for the ideas! 

***Mother of Faith - let us know if you DO decide to get into the business of making boardbooks!  I'm sure it would be a hit!

It's really quite simple...not even close to playing in the big leagues like the rest of you board book creators!  ...but it's an easy place to start from.

All I do is buy some cardstock.  I then decide what the theme of the book is.  I just finished one on body parts (I took a photo of my son and enlarged and cropped the various parts) and one on colour. 

Imagine a piece of cardstock that you've trimmed off 1/2 an inch off the side (portrait) so that it now measures 8 x 11.  This will be cut in half vertically to give you two pieces 4x11.  These will each be a page (and a flap).

This is the way I made the colour one:

1.  choose the colours & a photo for each colour.  (ie.  White - Grandpa's beard is white, Pink - Mommy's pyjama pants are pink., etc)

2.  in Word, select columns.  At the bottom of column one type your colour, at the bottom of column two type your sentence.  Cut the half inch off one side of your paper and separate the two columns by cutting them apart.

3.  go to a paint store and snag some paint sample cards for each of your colours (shhh....)

4.  fold your papers in half so that the word/sentence is on the outside (this is the "flap" part)...  Open the flap that has the colour word on it and glue in the paint card, open the flap that has the sentence and glue in your photo...

5.  stick the part with the paint card into the clear photo pocket, do the same with the photo part of the other folded paper and presto!  a flap book!

Hope this makes sense... 

Wow!  And I thought I was creative with making "lift the flap" books out of little photo albums!  You all are amazing!!!  And so inspiring!

So, at Baby and Me library class today we were to introduce ourselves and say how we involve literacy in our baby's day. 

I said "books."  BOOKS!?!?

When it came to my turn, all I could say was "Books"..."we read books to him".

I'm sorry.  I caved and took the easy way out...AND, to top it off, just before class I signed out GD's "How to Multiply your Baby's Intelligence"!!!!!  It was in my bag right beside me! 

Oh the shame...  Please forgive me.

Hi All,

I hope someone can answer this question.  I'm told that there are plenty of downloads in LR that can help to teach math, but I'm wondering what LM can do that is above and beyond what LR is capable of.

Thank you.