12 Weeks Old Early Learning Program

Looking at her name

December 15-21, 2014

Age: 12 weeks old (2.5 months old)
Curriculum: early learning / infant stimulation program outlined in How Smart is Your Baby by Glenn Doman.



Our content this week

What an exciting week we had this week! We started a full-blown "intellectual" program this week, based loosely on Glenn Doman's How to Teach Your Baby to Read, How to Teach Your Baby Math, and How to Give Your Baby Encyclopedic Knowledge. Here is Aria with all of her picture cards for the week:



Week's worth of cards

Quantity cards

Her favorite cards seem to be the quantity cards. These are different quantities of red dots placed in random formation to teach subitization. While most older children and adults can only subtilize up to about seven, it is theorized that babies and very young toddlers are able to perceive quantities up to much higher numbers, so quantity cards through one hundred are shown.


Listening to and looking at string instruments

Next we've been doing instruments. In earlier weeks part of the program was listening to sound effects and naming them. She really enjoyed that, so I decided to continue the sound effects and teach instruments for a few weeks. She seemed to really enjoy the combination of sound effects AND pictures. This week we did string instruments.


North American sea stars

We also did North American sea stars...


Names & pictures

...and family member names.


Hanging independently from my fingers

She has been getting really good at hanging from my fingers! She actually quite enjoys this activity now. For a while, she didn't seem to be a fan.

Grabbing dangling toys[/caption]
She's been working really hard at grabbing dangling toys. I love watching her concentration as she bats her hands around in the general direction until she grabs what she's aiming at.
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Reading with brothers

We've been trying to do read alouds more often! For some reason this falls by the wayside often.


Watching iPad while Mommy wraps presents

Unfortunately she's gotten a bit of screen time this week as I have to take her with me to the storage shed to wrap Christmas gifts. Oh well, I'm sure she'll be alright in the long run.

Resources used this week:

 




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11 Weeks Old Early Learning Program

Aria with encyclopedic knowledge cards

December 8-14, 2014

Age: 11 weeks old
Curriculum: early learning / infant stimulation program outlined in How Smart is Your Baby by Glenn Doman.


Our week

We had a nice week this week. We didn't do everything every day but we did do at least some things each day, so I'm happy with that.

It was our second week of doing the contrasting textures and doing encyclopedic knowledge picture cards. This is this week's content:


This week's content


Contrasting texture pairs

We didn't get to her contrasting textures every day this week, but on the days we did she enjoyed it.


Milestone: bringing hands together

At the very beginning of this week (the day she turned 11 weeks old) Aria reached a big milestone in small motor skills: bringing her hands together.

From what I researched this is considered an "advanced skill" for a three-month-old (a few three-month-olds can do it) and is mostly seen in four-month-olds. So it was pretty exciting to see her reach this stage at two and a half months!


Hitting Oball around

To be honest, upon noticing her reach this milestone I realized that I was a bit "behind" in giving her the opportunity to bat at and reach for toys. I had been meaning to get out the toys for a while but just kept procrastinating. So this milestone was a bit of a wakeup call.

I promptly went and dug out the box of baby toys I had packed away, and then used these links to hang up our Oball (love that toy!) for her to reach at, hit, grab, and play with.

It was so amazing watching her take to the Oball so quickly. I love the design of the Oball that makes it so easy for tiny, clumsy hands to grasp and get a good grip on it. Such a simple but genious design! She played with the Oball hanging above her for several hours combined this week.

Love watching a baby's determination to master new skills, grow, and explore their world.


Mouthing a toy hung in front of her

She has also started putting things in her mouth many different times this week. I couldn't believe it!


Story time with brothers

We got in some story time most days.


Balance activities on a mat

She still seems to like some of her balance activities but not others. Her favorites are sliding and turning on a mat, but she for some reason tends to dislike the tilting on a mat activities.


Christmas fun

Aria seems to enjoy all of the Christmas lights we have been encountering. She went to her first parade (a Christmas parade) and was fascinated by the whole thing. She also enjoyed the lights at an outdoor Christmas movie.

A video posted by DomanMom (@domanmom) on Dec 12, 2014 at 3:48pm PST

A little clip of Aria scooting in her track. She does the whole "inchworm" thing now which is so adorable! 

A video posted by DomanMom (@domanmom) on Dec 12, 2014 at 11:49am PST

She has also been really into "walking" (using the walking reflex) when she plays with big brother.

 
Won't stop looking at her toes

When we went to the beach to take some family photos this week, she was completely fascinated by both the sand and her toes. It was pretty funny, actually, trying to get a good picture and she would NOT stop looking at her feet. (We finally did get one with her looking, though, thankfully!)


Sleeping

And just because: a picture of her sleeping. She's been sleeping so well lately (as long as her brothers don't wake her up!).

 Resources used this week:

 
   




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10 Weeks Old Early Learning Program

Aria with some of her materials for her activities: massage cream, checklist, a reading book, encyclopedic knowledge cards, mp3 player (iPhone), and sensory textures.

November 30 - December 7, 2014

Age: 10 weeks old
Curriculum: early learning / infant stimulation program outlined in How Smart is Your Baby by Glenn Doman.


Our activities for the week

We had a great week this week - much better than last week.


Aria looking at a picture of a Two-Tailed Swallowtail

This week, part of the program for visual stimulation was to introduce encyclopedic knowledge picture cards. Basically, "encyclopedic knowledge" cards are clear and beautiful pictures of various things organized into categories (North American butterfly species, for instance) and speficially labeled (for example, "Two-Tailed Swallowtail").


Aria with this week's encyclopedic knowledge cards

This week, our two sets of cards were North American Butterfly Species & North American Seashell Types. Here is a specific list:


This week's content


Aria with our texture pairs - a smooth texture and a rough texture for each day of the week

As you can see, we also did contrasting textures this week. Each day we pick a new texture pair and very gently rub it all over her body, describing what is happening as we do it. The textures I used were as follows:


Textures

She really enjoys this activity. And even though I know she can already perceive "gnostic" (light) sensation and their subtle differences, these activities are still valuable to help strengthen her sensory pathways.


Pushing off the side of her track

Since 8 weeks old, Aria has started really scooting down the entire track (six feet) nearly every time she gets in it. It is fun to watch her become more and more skilled and efficient.


Rolled from her stomach to her side

Aria also rolled from her stomach to her back a few times this week. Of course I haven't been able to get a video of it, just "after" pictures.


Read alouds

I continue to try to read to her each day. For some reason this is somewhat of a challenge for me sometimes, as I would rather talk to her than read to her, but I keep persisting. At one point this week I read her "How to Give Your Baby Encyclopedic Knowledge" as I reviewed a few parts of the program, as I prepare to start a full intellectual program in a little over a week.


St. Augustine Night of Lights

Aria is really enjoying all of the Christmas lights we have been seeing.


At the beach

She also really enjoyed the beach again. Love this beautiful Florida weather! I never want to leave here.

Resources used this week:







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9 Weeks Old Early Learning Program

Thanksgiving

November 24-30, 2014

Age: 9 weeks old
Curriculum: early learning / infant stimulation program outlined in How Smart is Your Baby by Glenn Doman.


Our week of activities... Sort of

This week was a really "off" week. I'm not sure what is up with this whole, "one week on, one week off" pattern, but it's a bit discouraging.

Our six-week program was great - our seven-week program, not so much. Then our eight-week program was great, and now our nine-week program was pretty pitiful.


Snuggling with my sick babies

I mean, I guess weeks like this just happen sometimes.

Monday we ended up being gone all day going to doctors appointments, running errands, and shopping. Tuesday through Wednesday morning my youngest two were sick. Wednesday afternoon was spent getting ready for Thanksgiving, and then Thursday was spent celebrating Thanksgiving at a friend's house.


Happy Thanksgiving!


Aria posing with her fruits for the week

Over the weekend Aria got her photos taken with all of the fruits that I bought for this week, and we briefly introduced them all. She had fun seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting them all, even though it was all packed into a much shorter time frame.

But our week really looked more like this:


Story time

Snuggling and listening to stories with big brother.


iPad

Mommy catching a few minutes of silence while Aria watches Damien (3 years old) play iPad. We generally avoid screen time for her but every once and a while he will snuggle up next to her to play, they will both be content and quiet for a few minutes, and I just can't bear to disturb the peace.


Standing with support

Aria continues to love standing up with support. Half the time when she is fussing it's because she wants to be stood up or sat up.


Sucking thumb

Lots of thumb sucking going on around here. She started doing this around 7 week and has continued ever since. I love it because it is adorable and also because she soothes herself to sleep. It is priceless!


Butt in the air

She has started to really frequently put her butt up in the air when she sleeps.


Turning in her sleep

She also continues to move quite a bit in her sleep. The above two pictures were taken within the same nap period. She started out with her head pointing towards the window and did almost a complete 180 by the time her nap was over.


Christmas tree in our RV

We got the Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving. The kids are happy!

What her developmental profile currently looks like:



Resources used this week: