Here are links to Emily and Audrey each singing a song from Rapunzel. I managed to video them separately, so you can really hear the lovely things each girl does. :)
My girls did some serious academic work this evening. Things have been behaviorally tough for us for a while, and Travis and I decided to not be on our phones or computer or reading magazines tonight, just to be present with the girls. It was SO fun. It was easy! We had a really great time together. Children really do want to learn, and are just eager to have anything taught to them. Emily and I have been reading Winnie the Pooh together, so we read a chapter of that together. I took Clara potty, and she peed, looking at me like, "what's the big deal, Mom? I had to go." Audrey and Emily and I played Color Stix, using a cribbage board to count our points for each color, which is a whole ton of counting. And Travis played two full games of Go Fish with Emily while I made supper.
I was playing the piano and Audrey was coloring at her table, and I heard her say that she wanted to write Flower. "F! F for Flower. eeeefffff. Next, flllll... L! L is next. FLuhhh... Mom what's next?" She seriously had the FL written before I had even turned to see what she was doing. I spelled the rest for her, although her paper says FLDOWER because she didn't like how exactly round her first O was. Then we worked on Elephant, because she wanted to do a word with E. I suggested EGG, but nono, we're doing Elephant because "we're doing animals." obviously. I helped her sound out the beginning letters, but the P and H she was confused by. Then I said A, and N, and she reluctantly drew them, each time asking if F was next. :) So her paper says ELEPHANFT. Then we went on to Apple, which she sounded out, all by herself, APL, and I explained there's an E on the end, too, so she added that on. Then she wanted another word, and Emily suggested Blueberries, but she said, "No, we're doing animals. How about Umbrella?" :) I was laughing, so she thought of Lion, so she sounded that one out and wrote LiON (small i!). Then she sounded out DOG, but really wanted a K at the end, because she was so deliberate in sounding out the word. She wasn't 100% certain in how to draw a G, so I had to help her, which is tough because she is hard to help. You can't help too much or too little, it's a tough balance to strike. Anyway, as soon as the girls were in bed, that paper got swiped up, and I dated it and put Audrey's name on it and it's going in her box of saved stuff. Incredible! All this from a girl who won't write her name. I have to think that if Emily's preschool teachers did that kind of phonics work with one of her students, she'd think it was pretty productive, but Audrey is TWO YEARS away from that.
This is the same girl who screamed for 90 minutes yesterday, wailing for me to come help her on the potty because she didn't want to wipe herself. Her poor little legs and tummy were all red and sweaty by the time I caved in to all the screaming, but I really didn't have much sympathy at the time because there was nobody making her sit there! Amanda confirmed that when she's here, Audrey takes care of it herself all the time, so she's totally busted. What a twirp!
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