I remember reading somewhere that to retain a language a baby should have 20% of it's time hearing/speaking/being read to, and active language use(rather than just hearing that language playing in the background).  --I think the book "Superbaby" maybe?

I would be interested to hear from someone who has taught their child to speak more than 2 languages fluently, and what is the best way to do this.  If the 20% rule is true, a child would only be able to pick up  5 languages fluently, and I tend to think kids are able to learn more than that if conditions are right.   I just wish I knew how best to introduce more than 2 languages to avoid being a jack of all trades and master of none.

Well, we're not doing too well.  The product requires internet to actually activate, even if you have the activation key.  The advice given was to "simply connect to the internet", which is not possible since WE DON'T HAVE INTERNET  at our home.  And our 15 days "trial period" has expired. 

I'm typing this at work, and I'm a little frustrated to be honest.  I've tried to install this on one of our older laptops so I could bring it into town and find a free Wifi place and connect.  This message appears:

" BrillKids Little Reader optionally uses the Microsoft (R) net 2.0 framework.  Would you like to install it now?"
If I click  "YES"  I get :
"An error occurred while downloading the file http://www.installengine.com/cert05/dotnetfx/dotnetfx.exe.  What would you like to do?"  (I'm not on the internet, as I'm at work--maybe I'll try this when I get to a Wifi place)
If I click "NO" it appears to install, but at the end I get:
"The wizard was interrupted before BrillKids little reader could be completely installed.   The system has not been modified.  To install at a later time, run the installation again.

So frustrating! 

Baby finally did his first sign "more" while eating the other day at 10.5 months!

Thanks for the book recommendations--Gray and Cohen already on reserve at the library!

We've been wondering about this lately, our little guy is being mischievious and laughs when we try to discipline him!  He's learned this high pitched shriek from somewhere, and he uses it not whenever he wants something.  We've been trying to not react or give any positive or negative feedback when he does this, but it's hard (esp when driving in the car, etc!) He puls my wife's hair VERY hard on a regular basis, gets this little gleam in his eye right before he does it.   We don't want to spank, etc, but I think he's testing his boundaries already.

I think it was about 11 months or so when Lily signed some simple things like more, milk. Then at 13 months we asked her to sign some random things and realized she knew the entire BST series, it just never "came up" in conversation with her and we never thought to ask,

For Owen, he signed milk at about 9 months last month, and he attempts to sign the ABCs which we sign and sing all the time. He kicks his legs and randomly waves his hands when we sign it. Of course it's incomprehensible, but we know what he's trying to do. So cute. He also said his first 'real" word last week. "six" while watching "Meet the numbers." He tries to talk all the time now, babbles alot but sometimes he's pretty clear. Loves to make "Ssssssssssss" sounds right now when I ask him what sound a snake makes.

This makes me feel a little better, I've been signing with our little guy since about 6 months(just turned 10 months today) and his favorite videos are signing time.  He has yet to make a sign, so I was a little worried and discouraged to be honest.  He does babble a LOT and so far says "mama" "dada" and "cat".  I suspect one day he'll surprise us by knowing everything all along.

I haven't been able to find Prodigy Mozart on ebay either, even after searching for multiple weeks. 

Has anyone tried this program mtb999 mentioned?
( http://www.aruffo.com/eartraining/software/etchopper.htm )

It looks promising, and has a free demo.

Sounds intriguing!

 1 is like a lower case t with a small cross bar, n has 2 legs(lowercase), and m has 3 legs
R is like a golfer(with the "leg" being his golf club) and he says "fore!"(four)
5- All I've got is that L=50 in roman numerals

How do you encourage them to be good eaters when they get older?  We have some friends whose kids are terrible eaters, I think mostly because their dad is so picky and the kids follow his example.

Has anyone used the system where numbers stand for consonants and you make up "words" with whatever vowels work for remembering long numbers or dates, etc?

If I remember right, the system goes:
0-S
1-T
2-N
3-M
4-R
5-L
6-Ch
7-K, hard C
8-F, V
9-P, B

So to remember 1492, it would transfer to TRPN or TRBN.  So "turban" comes most readily to my mind.  Now make an absurd picture, like Columbus wearing a turban and you have linked that date to an event, etc.

His book is one of my favorites for marriage/relationshps. 

I find it amusing that my wife's friend thinks our baby watches "too much TV"(YBCR, TW, Trebellina and Signing Time).  She isn't really concerned that her kids can't read or write their name at 5-6 yrs old, which is fine for her.  She has 4 kids from 1-6 y.o., so it's easier to have them watch a moveie or play video games--I just don't see why educational movies are bad and Disney movies are ok?!?

What's amusing is that she has no problem with her kids being video game addicts and some of the poorest eaters I've ever seen.  Also a lot of discipline issues including a lot of talking back in disrespectful ways and refusing to behave and listen to parents. 

We don't plan on letting our little guy watch any mindless cartoons especially those that include name-calling.  He loves anything with music, so hopefully we can get him playing with music sooner. 

I've been doing sign language and interacting as the words/images appear on the screen.  It seems to keep my little guy engaged and wondering what's next on the screen.  He likes the songs the best, which I "translated" by watching the "We Sign" video series that signs popular nursery rhymes, etc.