Homophone

It seems lil’daddy’s TV program favorites rotate in and out of favor, athough they never seem to be as popular as when they were first discovered. As a new show is added sometimes we ‘lose’ an older one. For instance, some that have not been back in favor include “Jakers! Adventures of Piggly Winks” and “Jack’s Big Music Show”. We’ve mentioned both in posts past. Lil’daddy has started to watch a couple new TV shows these days. One new show is Word World.

Word World is a computer-generated cartoon, set in a world where the objects and characters are made of words. Solving episode conflicts generally involve putting letters together to make a word. The word then transforms into the object it spells. For example, Chef Pig (who is constructed of the letters P-I-G) needs a pot so he puts together the letters P-O-T. The ingredients for Pig’s corn recipe are C-O-R-N and when they are put together, they transform into a corn cob. The show has a fun way of ‘bringing to life’ spelling and vocabulary. The boy gets a kick out of the show. Kid tested. Parent approved.

Another of the new shows is “Between the Lions”. It is a puppet show set in a library featuring cubs, Lionel and Leona; and their parents, Theo and Cleo. We all seem to enjoy Between the Lions quite a bit. Lil’daddy has never really been a huge fan of Sesame Street (which I’m sure has saved us from having to purchase countless tickle me dolls and other various character toys). The show features a number of educational skits reminiscent of a cross between the educational value of Leap Frog and the screenplay/puppetry of a newer, modern Sesame Street. Lil’daddy seems to respond well to the show, picks up on its lessons and finds it entertaining. The show is filled with various spoofs that an adult will note and might find entertaining but the show doesn’t fail to use the spoofs as a chance to educate.

It is fun to watch him viewing an episode and see by his expression that he gets the lesson. It is even more fun when later in the day he initiates a conversation about what happened in the show and we can reinforce the lesson again. One episode has a skit where Brian McKnight sings to Cleo about homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings). I remember the skit from a couple weeks ago and that we were repeating the words in sentences highlighting the different meanings. Last week Mommy took the boy to school and was speaking to one of his teachers. The teacher had commented on how during a lesson, she can look over at our son and she can just tell he ‘gets it’. She gave an example of how the day before they were going over homophones and he just got it. It put a smile on my face when mommy relayed the conversation.

Last night, in bath, I thought I’d test if he actually got it or not. While he was distracted I wrote on the wall of the bath (with bath crayons): Homophones, Read Red. Before I could write any further lil’daddy looks up at what I’ve written and says, “Homophones! Read like ‘I read that book’ and red like the color!” We drilled through a dozen or so homophones and the boy was spot on every one, immediately without hesitation. I was blown away at how quickly he read the word ‘homophones’ and how he knew the words’ correct meaning by its spelling. Think about that for a minute. That has to come from reading and reading comprehension. I’m sure he has heard me ask him to write a word before and I’m sure he heard me affirm his correct spelling by saying ‘Right!’ How would he know the written ‘write’ from ‘right’ or ‘know’ from ‘no’ or ‘two’ from ‘to’ from ‘too’? He’s picking up on the differences in over a dozen different homonyms from thier spelling!

I’m not sure when in elementary school I learned about homonyms but I just wonder what this boy will be doing in elementary school. Advanced Etymologies? A thesis on particle physics? Differential equations? I can’t get over how much the boy has learned already and how quickly he is growing. On the other hand, it warms my heart how when Duck on “Word World”, who by the way is comprised of the letters D-U-C-K, quacks at the T-R-U-C-K and the truck’s horn honks back, lil’daddy laughs hysterically.

Good times, bad times

I'll start by saying that John loves music and Big Daddy and I really like to encourage his musical development. John has his share of toy instruments, including his favorite guitar and he loves to sing karaokee on our Singstar game... He listens to our CD's and loves rock and roll. Some of his favorites mirror mine, including Counting Crows and Bon Jovi (we do censor what he listens to... only the good stuff!). John has also recently taken a liking to Big Daddy's Led Zepplin cd's, often playing air guitar along to the rhythm. Having said all that....

We were at church this past week and John was unusually good. We were able to stay in the pew the entire Mass, which has NEVER happened before. The boy kept busy with his snacks and drink, while flipping the missal. He was listening though, and would occasionally comment on what the Priest was saying. This particular Sunday including a blessing for couples that were celebrating Golden Anniversaries. The Priest was offering a blessing to the couples, something to the effect of acknowledging that marriage includes good time and bad times. On cue, my little boy sang out "Good Times, Bad Times, I know I've had my share" from the Led Zep song. Big Daddy and I did our best to not laugh out loud, while our kind pew-neighbor just looked at John in amusement and wonderment. Yes, that was my 3 1/2 yr old.. At least he's listening, that's all I can say!

Plenty of leaves left for leaf lovers (pics)

I know it's just the beginning but the time that has past since last falls leaf rakings/blowings was obviously enough for me to forget how much work was involved. I had four days straight of leaf raking before I was able to get my blower out of storage. After each of those days, I'd find the lawn looked hardly different from when before I started. The upshot was that each afternoon lil'daddy had progressively larger leaf piles to play in. With the blower finally out of storage, at least I was finally able to make some headway... and quite a large leaf pile for the boy.


He wasn't the only one having some fun...




The fact that each day's pile was getting progressively larger at least made it seem as though I was getting better and more efficient at raking! Looking at the leaves that were still left on the trees lent the perspective that as much work as I thought I was accomplishing, the truth was that I had hardly began. The look on lil'daddy's face, and on the faces of the two neighbor's kids, as they romped through our giant leaf pile, might have been just compensation for my efforts. (That would include the extra work to get the leaves back in the pile after the romping)

Oh, –an apple update-

We haven't eaten all the apples from the last apple picking trip yet. (We are working on it. We've had our share of Cocoa Apple Cakes, Apple Pies, Apple Walnut salads and sliced apples with peanut butter. I haven't really started hitting the main dishes with apple yet, nor have I felt inclined to ruin our pots by making a jam or preserve.) I'm still checking the foilage reports to plan our next trip to the orchard.

Speaking of apples. The boy just loves them!