well, I can't say that my son learned to "read" when he was a baby, but he is reading at 3, and we started about the same time as you are. I was not very consistent either, and only did it when he wanted to. sometime last year, we started doing more phonics, and he's now sounding out words and reading very simple books (like the beginner Bob books). He could probably be further along if we had started earlier and were really consistent, but sometimes I just have to take a step back and says "hey, he's 3 and he's READING," and he enjoys it. Reading is a great gift we can give to our children, and it's so exciting when they receive it with joy. I would say definitely not to stress, but too enjoy the time you can spend now with your daughter and remember that she is already getting more than a lot of kids her age get--a mom who cares about her and her education. She's going to be fine! keep up the good work

I would suggest:
listening to fun music with the child and clapping the beat (this can be more fun if you use some percussion instruments)
Singing simple songs to the child
make flashcards of musical symbols:
    f= loud, p, = quiet (and practice showing them the cards and singing loudly, and quietly)
      treble clef and bass clef
     a note and a rest (when you show him the note tell him to make music [sing or clap or play a  note on an instrument], and when you show him the "rest" have him be quiet)
     different rhythm notes (half note, quarter note, whole note, and just count with them (you can find the different note values online).
play or sing a few notes and have the child mimic them
play a marching song (John Phillip Sousa is great) and march around to the beat
I like to do an exercise where I play a scale (on the piano, or you just sing it) and vary playing it fast (and they run) and playing it slow (and they walk), playing it loud (and they stomp), or detached (and they jump) etc. You can think of all kinds of variations. My 3 year old loved this game. also, make sure that they walk one way while you are going "up" and they turn around when you are going "down".
Peter and the wolf is great for kids, and it's "real" music. (It teaches them to recognize different instruments and melodies, and it's a fun story).
these are just some ideas for having fun with music. I have more specific ideas, but am not sure how in depth you want to get.

just curious...how old is little Henry? I've been doing a little piano with my 3 year old, but it seems like his hands are soo small that it's hard to actually play any tunes.

Let's see...we like:
The Five Chinese Brothers
Avacado Baby
Mike Mullagen and his Steamshovel
I'll Love You Forever
sorry I don't remember Authors...

ok, I'll give it a go...
6:30 AM- I get up, make breakfast for my husband, kiss him goodbye, and do Bible reading, other reading, and plan out the rest of the day. (Sometimes if it's nice outside, I might pull weeds for a while.)
9:00- Joel (2) gets up, uses the potty, gets dressed, and drinks a cup of milk.
9:30-breakfast
10:00-Joel practices writing while I clean up the dishes
10:30-we do reading with LR, and Math with LM (he has a really long attention span for a 2 year old, so we sit there for an hour sometimes going back and forth from reading, math, and other online learning games).
11:00 or 11:30- I let him play piano as long as he wants to, and then we usually go for a long walk (He walks 1 mile with me pretty much every day), and we talk about what we see on the walk. (Not a whole lot since we live in a subdivision).
12:00-bathtime (every other day)
12:30- lunch time
1:00-3:30 nap time (sometimes I take a nap during this time as well, or I catch up on chores).
After Nap- we usually play with toys a little while, and read books.
About 5:00- I start making supper, and Joel plays in the kitchen.
6:30 or so is suppertime (about three days a week, my husband mows part of the lawn when he gets home, so supper is much later on those days.)
Between 8:30 and 9:00, we try to get Joel to bed, but a lot of evenings we're out visiting our parents and stuff, so the bedtime is really hard to enforce.
That's about it for now, but I've just been thinking how I'd like to encorporate a more structured activity time into the day. I'd be open to suggestions about what sort of activities 2 year olds enjoy.

Joel is a lot more interested in the multimedia presentations than just the flashcards. I try to do both, but he always asks to see "Elephant, zebra, pig." He's also 2, and although he's enjoy LR alot, I have no idea what he's actually learning, since I don't test him...but I'm hopeful that as long as we're having fun, he's learning something.

wow...neat site. It'll take me a while to read all of it. I'm always looking for games to play with my 2 year old. it seems no matter how much I do with him...we still run out of things to do before the day's out.

that's what my mom used with me...I liked it! I've been looking for it too (used). I mostly just want to use the books. I remember them being really easy to read and each one focuses on a different phonics sound. I think I remember playing the "Go fish" game too with sounds...it was fun.

one thing that I remember helping was trying to make the whole diaper change into a game. Instead of just jerking him down and doing the job, I started saying "Can you help Mommy by putting your legs up like this...Good job..."(tickle his feet, blow rasberries on his tummy)..."OK, now can you hlod them down like this?" maybe it's just because he generally likes helping, but he got to where he knew when to hold his legs up and when to put them down (lots of kisses of course). I don't know if you've already tried something like that, but I just thought I'd share...
Hope you find something that helps

I'm just a mom, but my husband is a software engineer, and he makes a good living for us. I'm glad that I dodn't have to work because then I just wouldn't have the time to do all this teaching.

our baby slept in a pack n play in our room for a couple months and then we moved him into my large walk-in closet in a porta-crib (it's right next to our bedroom, so I could always hear him. He's 2 now and finally about to move into his own room with a twin bed. I don't think he's minded staying in the closet, but it sure makes me feel better to have him in a real room now.

so Joel's always been a very social baby and loves people. He's never seemed to have a problem with other people watching him, but just this week he's been screaming whenever we leave him in the nursery at church or with anyone (even family). I know this is normal, but I'm just curious what other people done to deal with this, and what suggestions you might have. Mostly, I just need encouragement. Thanks, Apryl

that'a so encouraging. Thanks for sharing. Sometimes I wonder if I'm getting anywhere with my 2 year old, so it's good to hear a story like yours. I'll definately keep it up. I'd also be interested in hearing what some of your favorite "first books" are for when they're just beginning.

interesting...it's so cool that she's not afraid of them spilling water all over the floor or somethinh like that

The problem I've had with telling others about what I'm trying to do is that then they expect Joel to "perform" for them, which is not really the point. He doesn't usually like to do things "on demand", so it can be frustrating. I just say "sorry, we're not supposed to test him."