I think two is a fine age to take a child to the dentist.  I let my kids brush their teeth however they like to give them practice.  You can have them pretend their teeth are tracks and their brush is a train.  I always brush their teeth afterwards though.  One way I got them willing to let me brush their teeth is by giving them my tooth brush and asking them to brush my teeth while I brush theirs.  This is great fun for them.  Not so fun for me, but it's worth it because I know they are getting their teeth clean and there is no resistance. After a while I don't need to do this.  They become used to getting their teeth brushed.  Every once in a while I still have to let them brush my teeth, but more often than not they just let me do it now. Just as important as brushing I think is to limit as much as possible anything with sugar. 

There is a spelling app by the same people who do Endless Reading.  I think it doesn't have very many words, but it may be a good place to start.  We love their Spanish reading app too (Endless Spanish I think)!  Let me know if you have trouble finding it.  I am almost certain that is the name but if not I'll check!

She is doing wonderfully!  Keep up the good work!  I think playing with math blocks is a great idea.  One game I play with my little girl, same age, is which number is missing?  We have big foam numbers and I line them up and then she closes her eyes and a stuffed dog then swipes one of the numbers and she has to figure out which one is missing by counting.  She can't yet figure it out without counting.  She loves this game.  We do this with blocks too.  I line the blocks up in a stair case and in the same way the dog swipes one of the blocks.  She chooses the block that is missing from a pile of blocks.  For this we so far only go up to five blocks and she can choose from a separate pile of those same five blocks.  More than that and I think it would be a bit confusing.  We take turns.  She loves stealing the number/block but she can't keep a secret. So she tells me right away. 

Also, Today I got a copy of Singapore Math Kindergarten and at lunch was going through it with her and her brother.  I did it mostly for her but her brother answered most of the questions.  Still she was engaged and paying attention.  The books have nice colorful illustrations so I think it is great for a little one. 

For spelling you could try tiles like in All About Spelling.  Maybe make your own, bigger than what they make.

Hi Kendra!  I would start reading them with your kids as soon as they are interested.  If they are not, then put them away for awhile and try again later.  Do continue reading with them as much as possible books that they are interested in.  You can also write labeling words on top of pictures in your books or put post-it notes with words on top of pictures.   Both my babies loved to peel off the notes and it was a good way to get them interested in words.  Sometimes they would put the words back on in the wrong spot or throw them on the floor.  Just let them if they do and pick them up later! 

You can also point to the words in the books as you read.  My first did not follow along very much but even still I know it helped him learn words that I hadn't taught him.  My second follows along quite a bit and has learned so much this way. 

Just remember, they can't get too many books too early, so long as they are engaged and enjoying them.  And if they aren't enjoying them find ones they do enjoy!

Hi Liselott, Congratulations on making it to 100 words!  That's an accomplishment!  I agree with MamaofWill.  Don't worry.    I understand wanting to do it the right way, but it won't cause any complications to show the change in the couplets.  I am sure when you speak to her you are not worried about this confusing her in spoken language.  So, trust that she will not be confused in written language either.  If anything, it will help her to learn the rules of your language quicker and she will be all the more ready to understand what you say and say it herself when she is ready. 

It might help her to highlight the parts of the words that are the same with text color.  Maybe something like "grijs" and "grijze olifant"  I don't think she will be confused if you don't.  Babies just accept what you say and show them without asking questions!  But, it might help her to recognize the patterns of the language sooner.

Thank you so much for bringing up this topic. I haven't finished the book but I do have a few ideas about it. I will share a few.

I think the book is wonderful and I am so glad that I have had the chance to read it. The only part i found questionable was turning into mother medusa (RIVP). She even says youneed to be very careful about his one because you want to make sure the child associates the  punishment with his actions and not with you.  I just feel like it is too much if a risk to your relationship. And as you mentioned connection is key.  So I will not be applying this part. I don't want my kids to be nervous that mommight explode at any moment.

I do have a story about setting impossible goals and self efficacy.  One night my husband was doing a puzzle with my son. Or more accurately my husband was doing the puzzle by himself and my son was in the same vicinity.  I wanted my husband to come help me but he kept saying We are doing a puzzle together.  I told him, "No you are doing the puzzle nit him. Come on it's too hard for him."  Oops.  I regretted saying that because I want him ti want to try hard things and believe his capable of doing hard things, not to feel that things are too hard so why bother.

So that night I moved the puzzle to a table that is my son's height and just left it out for him so he could be tempted to do it the next day without his Dad there to take over.  I can't remember how or if I encouraged him to try it but he did. It was a really hard puzzle and I helped him a bit bu giving him strategies but I did not put any pieces together for him. It too him a few days but he did it he was so enormously proud if himself. I made sure to make a big deal how he had completed this impossible puzzle by himself.

Later when he told me something he had to do was too hard I said "Really????? Are you not the boy who can pit tigether impossible puzzles?" He thought ti himself and decided that yes he can do hard things and did it.

I have more to add and maybe I will soon. Sorry for the typos! For some reason my phone is not letting me correct or revise anything I am writing! Thanks for the post!

Thanks for sharing!

No problem!  I hope you will share how it goes for you!  I totally understand being unsure, but don't worry baby will figure it out. 

I would try to keep the languages separate when you are speaking, because what you model is what you will get back.  When teaching reading it doesn't really matter how you do it.  Your baby will learn either way.  I keep the languages separate when we do flash cards because it is easier that way.  But I have done it both ways.  You don't want to dwell too long on the word on the flash cards so adding a second word (second language) for the same flash card I feel like it breaks the flow a bit. 

It is totally okay to do both languages in the same day.  I even have different categories of different languages in the same session.  I think the fact that the words are grouped by categories is enough to help your baby draw a distinction.  I also teach different words in our two languages.  For example we don't do "dog" in both languages on the same day.  That is not totally by design but I think it helps keep the interest higher.  You don't want baby to get tired of the same pictures (if you are using the same pictures for both languages). 

My second baby is at the age where she mixes languages still but she is already showing signs that she knows the difference.  Like if I ask a question in English she will answer yes, but if I ask in Spanish she answers sí (yes in Spanish).

Really, the only thing that really, really matters is that you show words consistently and that you do it with joy.

Welcome on this journey!  Have you read any of Glen Doman's books?  If not, that is a great place to start.  I don't have much advice to give other than that.  Just wanted to welcome you here.  You can also search through old threads on this forum using the search box.  I think you will find a lot of useful information.   

I made a crawling track for my baby and I think it was a great benefit to her.  I am so glad I was able to do it.  But putting it together was a bit difficult so I completely understand where you are at.

I have heard of someone who removed a slide from a little toddler play set and used that.  I think the problem with the slide though is that it is not soft for the baby, but maybe you could put a narrow mat down the center.  I think I also read of someone who did put a play mat on a board and then elevated one side.  The board would need to be wider than a regular crawling track so that you are not afraid of the baby falling off the side and you would need close supervision which I am sure you would give your baby anyway.  Having the sides to push off does help the baby, especially to go straight, but more than anything I think it is the incline and the assistance that a bit of gravity provides the baby.  If you are going to use a mat just look for one that doesn't grip too much as you want the baby to be able to slide.

If you can't do any of that than nothing beats tummy time!  Easier said than done, .  Some little ones just don't go for it, so don't be discouraged if that happens to you.  Just start off in small doses but with many opportunities throughout the day.  You might find it impossible to follow the schedule Doman sets out in his books, but any stimulation you give your baby will benefit him/her? as he himself says.

Good luck!

  thanks we'll try it!

I was in the same boat a few months ago.  My baby started becoming very verbal, but all in English!  Luckily kids this age learn language incredibly fast!  I started making Spanish a priority and now she can speak short sentences in both English and Spanish!  I didn't discourage the English though.  Just changed what I was doing. 

My older son speaks Spanish but is much better in English too.  It is a lot harder with him, but we have been making changes and are seeing positive results there too.  I have been making a point to teach (re-teach) him.  I know I also have to provide him more input because he forgets a lot of words.  We are doing our own files in Spanish on LR, reading more books in Spanish, flashcards (he thinks they are for the baby)    more conversation (I think it helps to have a special time for the minority language..."okay during breakfast it's going to be all Spanish!"), I also bought the game Hedbanz and we play in Spanish.  It is great to get kids to verbalize.  I let him know it is okay if he doesn't know how to say something he can always ask...how do you say _______?  Another game I plan to buy is Guess Who?  Which is also great for getting kids to verbalize.  Last, we are going to a Spanish playgroup and I think that has helped give him motivation to try to speak Spanish.  We talk a lot about how your brain really needs you to say things in Spanish to learn it...not just hear/think it.

Anyway, it takes effort to get kids very comfortable with the minority language but it can be done!  But, for very little kids its super EASY.  Just talk to them!  Good luck!

There has been recently a thread on Mortensen math and my 4 year old is starting with that method. I also have a 16 month old and she loves it too. We play "put it in the cup" where I give her a one block for example and say --this is one, put it in the cup. Then, this is two. Put it in the cup.  She LOVES this. When we get all the blocks in the cup we stir them with a ten block.  Sometimes we count the units on each block.  She'll point at them when she wants me to do this.  We can later do skip counting this way for example counting four blocks 4, 8, 12 etc. Or addition.  You could do this with any math blocks I imagine.

I thought I was the only one bothered by this.  I think a change would be great!  Probably babies would still learn as it is. I just think it would be better if it was correct.  I think the best way to understand as far as the "uh" is concerned is to compare similar letters (phonemes?)  Some should be pronounced with sound coming from the vocal cords and some with sound only coming from the mouth.  Compare B and P.  Your mouth makes the same movements to produce these sounds.  The difference is with B you make sound with your voice and with P you don't.  Your lips do the same thing though. You can also compare D and T; G and C.  I think its actually impossible not to say "uh" ( or some other vowel sound) with the letters that use your voice but the "uh" should be as minimal as possible and there should be no "uh" at all with letters that do not use the voice as in C.  The mans voice in LR always gets it wrong.   The child's voice I think usually vets it right.  I did delete the man's voice on LR.  It was a little bit of a hassle and then we ended up using the ipad and you can't edit on the ipad.  So I vote for a correction if that's a possibility. Thank you!!!!