Conversations with Ellie

Using flashcards this morning...

Me: Ellie, what do you want to eat?
Ellie (choosing among flashcards): Pancakes!
Me: What do you want to drink?
Ellie: Tea
Me: Do you want me to pet you?
Ellie: No

Well OK then.

Yesterday we had a bit of a break through. Never before has Ellie ever been open to basic reasoning. I either have to bribe her into good behavior with treats or deal with her whims. Yesterday I was cleaning their room and she was on my shoulder. I asked her to step off my shoulder because it would be easier for me to work. She refused.

So then I looked at her and said, "Ellie, Mom has to clean. Please off." "Mom cleans" and "off" are parts of her vocabulary practice. And you know what? She hopped right off. That was cool :-)

In other training news, Ellie is learning how to categorize her world. This is actually a lot harder to teach than anything else I've taught. For instance, I started with colors. I held up her color objects as well as the color flashcards with words and asked for each one, "Is this a color?" She had to select yes or no.

That's was simple enough and she figured out that all of those things are colors. The trouble came when I tried to distinguish between colors and other objects. For instance, I held up a book. "Is this a color?" She selected yes.

And I realized, actually, it is a color. It has red and green and blue on it. So that didn't work. Next I tried my keys. She said yes again. And it's true! My keys are black, silver, and other colors.

Then I thought, "I'm not awake enough for this..." >_<

So, I gave up.

We started working on opposites like in/out, up/down, inside/outside, hot/cold. She figured that out really quickly, and it was pretty cute because she already knew the difference between hot and cold from general living. For hot, I gave her tea. For cold, I had a small cup of ice water. She refused to touch it! She knew exactly what it was, and apparently does not like cold!

Anyway, all is well with that. Isabelle is definitely having a hard time learning. She mostly wrestles the foam letters to the ground, or throws them across the room. I'm not sure if this is going to be a happening thing! But I will keep trying!! And at least she's cute! I laugh so hard!!! :D

For now, I am off to make Ellie's pancakes and tea :-)