The Spelling trick

Hi Sidra,

In the last post there was a video showing you apparently spelling some words like owl, van, and toast. You were definitely pushing the right buttons on your toy. I'm not sure you were really spelling. I showed you how you could push the right buttons. The toy you were using only asks you to spell words that are on the toy. Near each of the buttons on the toy is a word beginning with that letter. So, next to E is ear. The only words that you are asked to spell are the ones that are on the toy. I showed you that if you knew the letter the word starts with then all you needed to do was look at the word on the toy to find the other letters.
You can see in the video how you are looking near the T button to complete the spelling of toast. Even though you have that hint going for you I am still impressed that you can use that strategy.

Love, aba

Are you Spelling?

Hi Sidra,

well you can look at this video and wonder if you are really spelling just a week after your third birthday. In the next post I will tell the rest of the story. You are playing with a cool toy you got from your Uncle Ben.


We went swimming today and you did some new things. You were not as prolific with your attempts at real swimming but you did climb out of the pool on your own. Not just walking up the stairs or the ladder but going to the side of the pool and lifting yourself out. You didn't even need to be on the stairs. You were in water that was way to deep for you to touch bottom. Your natural instincts about things like that amaze me. I didn't show you anything about how to do it, you simply did it pretty much the way I would have taught you.
The other thing you did was ride your 'noodle' (it's a foam floaty thing) like a horse. I don't see how you can balance on it but you do it beautifully. I try it and it seems really hard to stay upright. You make it look easy. The fact that I weight about 6 times as much as you may have something to do with it.
At school this week the 'sharing' sound was S and you took a thing from one of your puzzles. It was a sun, and you did know how to spell it. We dropped off an orange and a shoe box at school. You will be using the orange to squeeze orange juice and the shoebox is for a mailbox for valentines day.
Ok, in the next post I will share the spelling secrets.

Love, aba

Back to Reality

Hi Sidra,
you've been recovering from about a month of hedonist living that you may not ever be able to match. You were smothered with gifts and attention day after day.

First there was 8 days of Channuka with gifts each day. Then family arrived and you suddenly had the attention of five more adult visitors. You earned your share of the limelight in spite of the presence of your new baby sister. Then there was your third birthday party. It was a 'Curious George' party. That's a copy of of the invitations in one of the pictures. There's also a picture of you giving one of your party guests a 'goody bag' to thank them for coming. It's one of your classmates Esa, which is short for Isabella. And we can't forget your trip to the mall. You returned from that with some booty as well.

Without a doubt your favorite visitor and playmate was uncle Ben. Countless times you called for him "uncle Ben, can you come upstairs?" Countless times he answered the call and countless times you two 'washed the puppies' in your room. We tried to suggest to him ways of diverting you to other activities but he remained unselfish with his time. You'll have to thank him for his patience when you're old enough to understand what that means.

It's all over now. You're back to a more regular routine with school tomorrow.

I was just thinking last night that I will be sad when you are grown up enough to give up one of your cute habits. You always show excitement by bouncing around the room while bubbling about what is exciting you. And you always do this thing where you lean against some piece of furniture and stick your foot up in the air behind you. It's one of those things that is really hard to catch in a photo or a video in it's true unrehearsed form. It's one of those things that has to be witnessed first hand, like a really good sunset or a moonshadow. When you stop doing it it will mean you've lost some of your 'little girl' and I will feel some sadness over that.

And finally, your stats at your 3rd birthday: 37½ inches tall, 31 pounds, head circumference 51 cm.

Love, aba