Halloween!!

Well I think the girls had a fine Halloween. They went trick or treating and I made them special hamburgers for supper. I bought their costumes last year at Kmart for $0.90 each...mine too. I wore my costume at school and read spooky stories to the kids during language group...they loved it. When the pink poodle left each house she would look at her dad and say I want to go to another one dad. I was proud of the girls telling each door greeter "thank you" and using their best manners.....even when the pink poodle would ask to pick out the candy she wanted from the homes she did so with her best "I want that one Please". Pop rode by with his scary mask on his tractor and frightened Sigrid and Ingrid. He doesn't scare Astrid.

For Helen

1. What is your name? Laura
2. 4 letter word: Love
3. Vehicle: Limo
4. City: Little Rock, AR
5. Boy Name: Larry
6. Girl Name: Lucy
7. Alcoholic drink: Long Island Iced Tea
8. Occupation: Lawyer
9. Something you wear: Lingerie
10. Celebrity: Lucille Ball
11. Food: Lasagna
12. Something found in a bathroom: Lather
13. Reason for Being Late: Lost
14. Cartoon Character: Lucy from Peanuts
15. Something You Shout: Lord have mercy
16. Animal: Lion
17. Body part: Leg
18. Word to describe you: Loving, Laughter, Loyal,

Work Work Work

Well Life is busy here. Astrid and soccer and Ingrid with her ballet. She is going to be in the Nutcracker this year so that means some extra lessons. Other than that it is just work work work.

I get the pleasure of being paid to play. I work with 0-5 year olds and try to improve their speech and language skills.....one of the easiest ways to is to play with them. It is called parallel play....whatever they are playing you join in and play along beside them...providing language stimulation through simple dialog. Paralell talk is also important. Talk about whatever they are doing....provide them the language and vocabulary they need during each activity. Reading simple books and just labeling and naming objects around the house or whatever environment is also important. To start them vocalizing...animal sounds and other environmental sounds(car engine, car horn etc) are a good starting point. Repetitve syllable words are the easiest to begin saying....mama, dada, bubu for brother or bubbles, bye-bye etc. Another easy way to stimulate a child's language is by teaching them some simple sign language.....learning to sign "more" is the first sign I teach kids because they can use it to get "more" of anything. I took a picture of Ingrid signing "more". When Ingrid is sick, tired, or just in her daydreamy state she still will sign "more" while she verbally asks for more of something.