I want to record what I have been teaching Darius at 9 months old lately. This is part 1 on books.

Over the weekend, we went to get two more picture books, ‘Colours’ and ‘Colours and Shapes’ to add on to his existing picture book for variety.

I got this picture book from Popular bookstore, ‘First Words’ published by priddy books quite sometime ago. I love its real-life pictures and hardy texture. It withstood a fall from the high-chair, bits of pureed food on its laminated pages and Darius’ newfound tearing ability.

I got it because I realised I have not been reading stories with him since I started feeding him solids. Most of the time in the day was spent on feeding him, washing up, preparing, cooking and doing household chores. Otherwise, it’s playtime, tummy time, standing time or walking time. My 9am routine of reading books with him was totally abandoned now because we would sleep past 9am nowadays, waking up to eat breakfast and the whole morning would be busy with other stuff. After eating, he would sleep, then upon waking, he would eat again. So it’s really hard to find time to read with him. (Sometimes, I would still read with him when I remember to.)

Hence, I decided to get this picture book to read to him during mealtimes. This way, I’m killing two birds with one stone. He gets to learn something and eat at the same time. (I don’t allow him or myself to watch tv).

So what I do is that I’ll use my left hand to feed Darius, then use my right hand to turn the pages of the book, saying the words in both English and Mandarin. I feed a spoonful as soon as he finish eating, then turn the page when I finished saying the words. It’s a bit of multi-tasking.

Very often, he would look at me talking to him instead of the pictures but upon pointing, he would take a quick glance. This has been going well for several weeks already and he often finished eating as soon as the book is at the last page. (26 pictures and 12 pages to turn). I do it everytime he’s on the high chair eating his meal which is two times daily.

When I reach an object that has sound, I’ll make the sound after saying the words in both languages. I’ll start with, “What is this, Darius? This is ‘Train’, ‘Train’, ‘火车’, ‘火车’. Choo!-choo!-bong-bong-bong-bong-…… Choo! Choo!”

At first, he just started blankly at me when I make those sounds for train, car, boat, aeroplane, cat, dog, duck, fish. After a few times, he started smiling when I make those sounds which really make feeding time enjoyable. I can’t resist smiling when he’s grinning at me with porridge in his mouth.

Now, when I turn to the page with these objects, he would look up immediately anticipating me to make those sounds and smile when I do that. A few days ago, he would even chuckle or babble something whenever the last second page is reached. The moment the page turned and he sees the cat picture, he would babble and smile. When I say, “Meow meow”, he would make even more noises in happiness. He didn’t do so for any other pictures. I wonder if he is like me, a cat-lover?

Lately, I’ve also been more creative in talking about the pictures to prevent boredom. I would say (in mandarin), “This is a chair (emphasis). Dariu, you are sitting on a chair. This is a boy. Darius is a boy. This is socks. Darius, do you wear socks?” I also try to say about colours but it is a bit more difficult then.

Now, with the ‘Colours’ book, I can finally point out colours to him properly. I started him on it for two days already and so far, he still need some warming up. He still prefers his ‘First Words’ book which he is now turning the pages himself, trying to fight with me going through it one by one. I still turn for him and if his porridge is not finished, let him free play with it and say the words as soon as he settled on one picture. He loves the ‘Goat’ picture in this ‘Colours’ book and would chuckle when I go ‘meeehehhh, meeehhh’.

One thing I’m glad is that Darius loves books or anything to do with paper. He can flip a piece of paper like receipt for ages in his hand, ignoring all those colourful toys just beside him. Once he drops it, he’ll pick it up, flip here and there again or sometimes tear it into little bits. He also loves flipping books, closing and opening. The bad thing is when I’m reading a magazine or book, he wants to grab it too. =.=”

The third book on ‘Colours and Shapes‘ is a book with texture on the pictures. Like ‘soft shoes’ will have a velvet material embedded in front part of the shoe in the picture. I haven’t let him read this yet but I’m sure he will like this too. I’m hesistant to use it for mealtimes though because of the materials. His dirty fingers might cause some foodbits to rub on them and spoil the pictures.

♥ More on Learning Activities (Part II)

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