Ellie's Cards

On Friday I was contacted by three animal trainers :) They are curious about Ellie, and want to know more! They recommended some adjustments to her training. One is straightforward - they want me to use all the same flash cards, with printed type, all the same font, uniform.

Up until now, her flash cards have been haphazardly created, on a whim and on the spot, because all of a sudden it was a teachable moment--so I'd grab a color pencil and a card. She has (and I didn't realize this until Sunday) - over 150 flash cards. They are our link to communication, our way of getting to know one another. Our way of discussing things, like whether she wants to read a book or have a kiss. They are the way we've explored her world together, and brought her world to life.

So on Sunday I printed out only SOME of our flash cards - nearly 150 - and collected her old ones from nooks and crannies around the house to retire them. It was so sad, like putting away her baby clothes because she's gotten too big to fit in them anymore.

All of these words, and the memories of teaching them to her these past six months. We started working on her 'big-girl' flash cards today. She's adjusting alright. Some of the changes are caps vs. lower case. A lot of her old flash cards were all caps, because I used them before I taught her lower-case, so we're making some adjustments there.

It's neat that she is progressing--it's neat that maybe she'll actually be deemed the first reading parrot on earth :)

But I will miss our old cards, and I think she does too. She bit me four times this morning! "DO NOT LOVE!!!" she'd say, if she'd learned it. But tonight we spent a lot of time playing with them and bonding.

Awwww, Ellie's baby flash cards. <3 <3 <3

Ellie's Worst Day Ever (Or, The Ethics of Teaching)

Today is Ellie's Worst Day Ever because it is beautiful outside and she wants nothing more than to play in the hose in the warm sun. The trouble is that there are hawks outside... So she can't actually go outside.

But shower and outside are vocabulary words for her, and she knows that I know that she wants to go outside... so, we have had the poutiest, most awful day ever! LOL

She pulled my glasses off twice, and threw them on the ground, she dumped her food and water, refused to do any training, didn't want to read, bit me a few times, and generally was sulky for hours. I even asked if she wanted to be in her room or in the kitchen today, and she bit chunks out of the cards and ignored me.

So... if it were possible to explain to her the idea that hawks are outside and could kill her, would you? She doesn't understand pain, I don't think - she's never really been injured.

Isabelle DOES chase her, so I could try to teach her, "Hawk Outside. Hawk Bite."

We could watch YouTube videos, but that would probably scar us...

Not sure how to approach this one. I did know that teaching Ellie vocabulary and literacy would mean a great deal of negotiating. This is our first :)