Zoe, you are too cute! It’s neat to be in contact with another parent who has a four-month-old! 
I’ve got no idea if I am doing things right. With my four-month old I can only tell that he is happy by the rapid breathing, cooing at the screens, and moving his arms and his feet everywhere. I’m unsure of how much he actually retains, if anything. It makes him immensly happy, though. Only my brother can make him THAT happy (it might have something to do with my brother’s braces, though ;))This being said, I’m going to endure the program with him. Who wouldn’t want their baby to be so happy?
This week I’m going to make huge hand-written cards for him instead of using LR. I want things huge. I just go done watching part of How to Teach your Baby to Read that I got from Amazon so I’m completely excited. I don’t think that it will be too time consuming to write in big red letters 200 of the most common words since they will be similar to the one’s used by his older brother. I think that a good time to show the actual physical cards to my four-month-old will be when I change his diaper. So far the diaper changing process has been a happy time, and he is my captive audience for those brief minutes. It will also offer a nicely spaced time period between showing words and math.
With my two-year-old it is hard not to test. I really want to know how much he is picking up even for the simple reason of knowing how fast to go. For some things it is obvious to me that he understands. This includes actual written words that he already knows the meaning to the word or object such as, "star, dog, eat, no, park, outside, house, and etc.), but for showing him pictures of new objects like “lithium, screwdriver, bengal tiger” I’ve got no idea. He just stares blankly.
I have a feeling that he undestands the written words because he gets really excited. He almost has a “heehhehee” quality about his body language and his eyes light up. I have tested him once, and he went straight for the right card. There was no guessing. I do ask him other questions after I show the words, but they are related to the words and not testing specifically if he can pick out the right word. Last night I asked him [r/t the word “park”] “Do you like going to the park?” and “Do you remember going to the park last week?” I then told him, “I liked going to the park with you. We had lots of fun. I was so proud of you when you went down the big boy slide. You’re growing up so fast!” About the words “blanket” and “white” I would ask him, “You have a white blanket, don’t you?” “I see your white blanket. You also have a white pillow! Do you put your head on the pillow when you sleep?” Then we both put our head on the pillow and pretended to snore. I think that these are the times that I will remember most about raising young children.
Starting so late in the game compared to other people presents some challenges. I have to wait to show my toddler reading and math when he is ready. Between meltdowns, and diaper changes, and snack times, and so forth I have to make sure that things stay joyous. There have been days when it would not be good to show him anything. If his allergies are bothering him or if he is teething, forget Doman.
I have started Dirk, my two-year-old, on actual paper words. I like having a combination of both because some days he wants to be on the computer, and on other days he wants nothing to do with it. With the paper words (printed from Little Reader, folded, and laminated) I can take the words where he is and interrupt his playing, or we can snuggle in his bed together and go through a set. Dragging my laptop around would be too much hassle. He wants words the most when it is time to go to bed. Talk about manipulation!!! Toddlers are great at it! In bed we put different words together. Last night it was “white blanket”, and “no food.” You aren’t supposed to put two words (couplets) together until after 200 words are shown, but he seems to understand.
Eventually, he wants to play with the words, but at the same time, he really look at them. It’s hard to tell if he just wants to goof around or if he is bored with them. Physical cards can also be a problem because the laminated cards can also act as musical instruments. Sometimes he just wants to spread them around the room. How fickle is a toddler!
Math has been hard. We haven’t gotten past ten. I don’t think that he gets the dots. He has such a blank stare about him. Sometimes he’ll point to them and go “1, 2, 6, 2, 2” to the individual dots like he is trying to count them. As for knowing that a group of six dots is “six” I doubt that he understands, but who knows since I haven’t tested him on it.
No one really knows what we do at home, either!