It definitely gets easier. Especially once they are napping more and once they enjoy reading to themselves. The thing to keep in mind is that all the effort sowed now will be reaped 10 fold in the future. So even though you are working hard now the time and effort you put into teaching each thing is much less than it would be if you taught months or years in the future. And the more you teach now the sooner your little one will have a framework in which to better understand each thing they learn and the learning will grow exponentially. But also don’t push yourself to the breaking point, you’ve already done so much make sure you take some time to refresh yourself and also see if there is anything you’d like to change in your plan.
I love reading your updates and blog! I loved the video. Pokercub’s grasp of cause and effect was really good also. I also agree with 10 weeks being pretty early for standing as well as he does. James stood early like that too. Which in turn did lead to him walking early.
Keep up the good work!
Okay, so maybe I am the pessimist in the forum! It does get easier as his sleep patterns become more regular and you learn to plan around them more effectively.
And yes, I am not telling you anything you don’t know, both intellectually and in your heart. You have seen this with your own eyes in PokerCubs case. In my experience, I proceeded upon ‘faith’ alone for a few months. It is INCREDIBLY rewarding to see impressive progress and irrefutible proof of hard work, research, and planning. And yes, it is rarely discussed, but the primary caregiver, especially the primary researcher, is largely responsible for this, of which you can take immense pleasure and congratulations (if only in a forum such as this and in your own mind!)
However, it is extremely devastating to experience the seeming death of self. To realize, that despite significant planning and denial, seeing it happen with other new mothers and fathers and promising that it
will NEVER happen to you, there just is simply not enough time in a day to accomplish everything.
We didn’t have Alex until late in life, and I was absolutely convinced we could have it all! Yet I, as primary
caregiver, abandoned (at least temporarily!) pursuit of an advanced degree and whereas we used to rock climb several times per week, with regular trips to exotic locals was forced to abandon much hope of this.
While Hubby managed to maintain…Also, Hubby and I ultimately also made the decision to forego even
semi-risky climbing together as it seemed incredibly irresponsible to risk, even in the smallest degree, both
of her parents… So it always feels like a serious inequality, actually for both of us, as the grass is always greener…
I wish I could promise that everything would work out perfectly! That as PokerCub gets older it will all just
‘work out’. For us, the truth is day to day- but I look at what we have accomplished with the light of our lives, literally, and am so proud. Moved beyond words at what we have managed.
You will have great days, where you feel like the best, most supreme EL dad that ever lived, and days
when you feel guilty for not accomplishing ‘anything’ other than loving your child! But all of these are
incredibly necessary, and you WILL find a good balance!
We are all so proud of what you have accomplished in such a short amount of time, and all of us know the
roller coaster that parenthood is…and if parenthood is a roller coaster, then EL is the most amazing/thrilling/excruciating/frightening of all!
Celebrate the good days and hld on tight for those that are rough! And know that you will always have support here, even just to vent!
I agree. In my opinion, early learning is a form of investment, providing a framework for further knowledge.
Further, I consider early learning as a form of insurance, to prevent problems in the future.
As Linzy said, ``the time and effort you put into teaching each thing is much less than it would be if you taught months or years in the future’'.
I found this past thread (http://forum.brillkids.com/general-discussion-b5/do-you-get-worried-that-it’s-not-really-for-the-kids/). Alakori’s story (and that of others) on that thread inspired me to continue my EL efforts.
And so did Tonya’s teaching story (especially the bit about her brother’s challenges in school): http://forum.brillkids.com/announcements/brillkids-featured-parent-tonya’s-teaching-story/msg79689/#msg79689.
You never know the future problems you’ll dodge by doing EL.
Pokerdad. You will have good and bad days, and lucky now he is just a bub. Even if he has days where you are shattered and have very little energy to do anything it is okay. He will still be miles ahead even if you feel miles behind. I still think I could have done more with Miss S and Miss A but they are still ahead of the curve and learning is now more fun and relaxed than I have a strict routine which I must get through all of the learning.
There will be times where you may not make any progress for weeks especially when cub is sick or teething or just doesn’t want to and not to mention the days when you will spend the entire day disciplining cub rather than teaching and wondering where you went wrong.
Keep going and cub will reward you over and over again and just remember it is okay for you to have a ‘day off’ where you might just read books and nap when he does.
And most of all it is so refreshing to see a dad who is exhausted and not a Mum.
I think even a little beyond the normal child rearing effort makes a difference. Just doing one early learning thing a week will help mug don’t ever get discouraged when things don’t always go right.
Despite trying to do everything I can to get my son to vocalise, interact with me and eventually talk, he still landed in early intervention with speech and social delays and suspicion of autism. But I kept plodding away at EL. And he now talks, maybe not as well as he should, but enough to not need Speech therapy services. Once he did start talking his speech took off and he had a lot of topics to talk about. He also not only talks but he can read and do math now. He is very independent. And he asks probing questions and gives me insightful answers.
So even if for some reason your son has a developmental hiccup like my son did/does evey little thing thing no matter how minor will help with his development.
Another thing about my son… I wanted him to be an avid reader. I read to him as a baby because he could stay put. But once he started crawling at 5 months he fought to get away as we read. When he started running he would see me grab a book and run out of the room as fast as he could. We have a reading dry spell. And during those times I refused to coerce James into reading. I would instead sit on the floor and read children’s books aloud to myself. It took maybe a year until he started coming and sitting with me and wanting me to read to him. To this day he is an avid reader. Or I avidly read to him. I read at minium 1 hour a day (2 segments) to James and he reads 30 minutes (2segments) a day to me. And he loves it.
Thank you to everyone for your support and comments, they made my day. It makes me feel like we’re a team all working together for the same goals.
Korrale4kq, I’m going to read a Thomas Sowell book about late talkers (he’s published two on the subject) - and will let you know what interesting tidbits I get out of it. It may be a while before I finish it, but will keep you posted.
Thank you, i would appreciate it. I really need to look his books up also. I read pretty much every SLP text book I could to help my son talk. I had read a bit before and had prior amateurs speech therapy practice from when I was nanny to boys with verbal apraxia.
I have a few videos that I’ve put up form the last two or three weeks. I hopefully will have a big update, worthy of its own thread, to give in another two weeks or so (not a promise, and I have my fingers crossed)
I’ve started the Sowell book on late talkers - I do mention it one blog back but don’t have a whole lot to add than what I mentioned in the blog.
Thanks again for all the encouragement. It has been a difficult month for me personally on a few levels, but this community has really helped give me strength where I lacked it.
The latest two updates:
pokercub.blogspot.com/2012/09/more-vocal-play.html
pokercub.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-step-in-the-right-direction.html
or you can just click the link in my signature.
Glad to hear we are providing group support. Please don’t loose direction, we love hearing all about your adventures. Life sends us curveballs to make us better ball players :biggrin:
Thank you for your blog. It’s fun to see two kids pretty close in age and how differently they progress. They certainly have different strengths; is it our focuses as parents or their personalities? 
Plus you give me lots of good ideas of things to do with Baby S. She likes standing in her daddy’s hands, but I haven’t done anything with it. After reading your blog, the next time she fussed I told her, “Stand up for baby’s rights” (I love that phrase BTW) and held her up. She cheered right up. Then I decided to hold her hands. She stood, sat down, lifted one foot, lifted the other foot, stood back up, and then sat and leaned forward to where I put her hands on the floor. Then she was tired and stopped. But I had no idea she could or wanted to do so much, using my hands to help her move! So cool! Thank you so much for the idea!
@PokerDad I’ve been away from these forums for a while. Bub decided to come early and things have been hectic since. I’ve really enjoyed catching up and seening your progress with your LO. It has give me renewed inspriation to start with my LO. I haven’t really done much with him and he is nearly 6 weeks old. I’m going to start being more consistant. Thanks so much for taking the time to share.
@PokerDad I've been away from these forums for a while. Bub decided to come early and things have been hectic since. I've really enjoyed catching up and seening your progress with your LO. It has give me renewed inspriation to start with my LO. I haven't really done much with him and he is nearly 6 weeks old. I'm going to start being more consistant. Thanks so much for taking the time to share.
Thank you!
I’ve updated the blog with his swim lessons today:
pokercub.blogspot.com/2012/10/pokercubs-first-swimming-lessons.html
Excellent progress - well done! He is so trusting, watching your every move.
Thank you! We’re still working on it, slowly… as in maybe 2x a week right now, but he’s coming along I think
I enjoyed the latest update, although I always get freaked out thinking of how far ahead of us you guys are :dry: . A quick question - when you say he could find your nose etc - do you mean he could find it with his hands?
A quick question - when you say he could find your nose etc - do you mean he could find it with his hands?Exactly. He was touching and reaching for my face and I asked him "where's my nose?" and he'd go for it, then I'd ask "chin" and he'd go for it and then "mouth" or whatever and he'd do that. I should have stated that I'm still skeptical that this wasn't just luck, and he did it fairly quickly after the LR lesson so it was easier to remember what I was talking about.
I doubt we’re really that far ahead. He might be stronger than an average baby his age which would make a difference, but I’m sure mentally they’re closer than perhaps you think. Cub doesn’t do solfege, for example, like yours does. We’ll most likely start LM & LMs later this week. Even though he uses the potty effectively, he messes his pants without thought at all… so even there we have a long ways to go!
As for touching your face - all I can say is wow, wow, wow, I’m very impressed!
Baby R has gone on a solfege strike, he must know I have the camera at the ready & has performance anxiety
We have been trying out some of the physical techniques from your blog, e.g. standing up against his table toy and also stepping. I never would have thought to try them with such a young baby and I am so glad I did as he is definitely improving everyday. I tried to put him on his knees to see if he would rock like pokercub but he just went straight down on his tummy. That said, yesterday he got into a bit of a rage during tummy time & lifted his little bum in the air while trying to crawl - it was adorable. Swimming is also going well, although the classes we attend are following a different approach to you. He really enjoys it and he can stay under the water for a good few seconds. I finally got goggles and now I love watching him under the water looking like the Nirvana baby.
He signalled for me to read to him a few days ago! I was reading to myself while feeding him and he stopped feeding, turned around and tapped my book and looked at me insistently. When I asked ‘do you want me to read to you?’ he tapped the book again! He was thrilled with himself when I then started to read to him. Proud mama moment! Oh, and if I put the page of his board book into his hand and ask him to ‘turn the page’ he will.
do you teach your child using flash card according to glenn doman method too?did the child using the flas card really READ or just MEMORIZE the word we give?how do you think?
We are doing powerpoint slides similar to Doman’s flash cards. The benefit is that they’re easy to make and easy to sift through, the detriment is that they’re always in the same order (LR, on the other hand, does this automatically). I haven’t done as many of these as I’d like, but I just put together the first one for colors. I’m not really looking to do EK other than for vocabulary building. At his age (4 months) I would suspect that if he remembers a printed word (I have no evidence that he does) it would be by memory and not decoding. We are doing alphabet stuff, so eventually he’ll see the individual letters in a word and be familiar with them - but the reading part is going to be a few months down the road in the least.