When is Early Reading a Bad Thing?

I did find one down fall to Ben's learning to read early.  We were at the car dealership the other day waiting for our van to be repaired and it was time for Ben to go potty.  He has been doing really great with using the potty, and is day trained, but sometimes needs to be reminded to go. 

He agreed that it was potty time and we headed off toward the restroom.  When we got there Ben went straight for the Men's room.  I took him by the hand and started to lead him to the Women's restroom, and he dug his feet in and said "No Mommy!  Men's!"  I tried to explain that I could not go in there and that he was not big enough to go alone.  We started to go towards the Women's again and he stopped saying "No No NO!  Mommy, No WOMEN'S!

I had wondered why he seemed to be fighting me more and more when we were out in public and it was time to go to the restroom.  However, most of those times, Randy was along and just took him.  It finally hit me that day, the reason we were having such issues.  Ben was reading the signs on the bathroom doors and knows that he is supposed to go to the Men's bathroom.  ( I think they may be working on that at school too.)  No wonder he does not want to go with me anymore. 

A few days later, when school was out all three boys and I stopped at McDonalds (He can read that name too and screams it when ever we go by one).  Again it was potty time and he again refused to go with me and went with his brothers instead.  They reported that he went, though I doubt he washed his hands. 

So the question then becomes, how old will Ben be, before I let him go to a public restroom by himself?  Until he can go without messing around?  Thank goodness many stores now have the family restrooms, as he seems OK going in those.  

So I was joking about the early reading being a bad things.  It is awesome that he is reading the signs when we go out in public and that he knows what they mean.  He is learning, growing and understanding, which I hope he will continue to do when he starts kindergarten next year.  The sky is the limit big guy.  Keep on amazing us. 

SIGNING TIME OUTLET STORE

Two Little Hands is clearing out the Baby Signing Time Sign and Read versions of the Baby Signing Time videos.  These are the same as the regular Baby Signing Time videos, except they show the written word additional times when the signs are taught.  In my opinion these are the best versions of Baby Signing Time for our kids and can help encourage sight reading.  They certainly helped my little guy who started sight reading before he was 3.   They are already sold out of the first volume of Baby Signing Time in the Sign to Read version, but you can get volumes 2, 3 and 4 plus the music Cd's of Baby Signing Time for just 29.99.

Another steal today is the ABC 123 / Leah's Farm combo pack for  $19.99.  These are the exact same videos you would buy separately, but they were packaged in the same box and left over from a previous promotion.  

Click HERE for a link to the sale items.  


Get them before they are gone!

Field Trip!

Last year the 3 and 4 year old preschool classes took a field trip to the SAC Air and Space Museum.  To me, it did not seem like an appropriate place for a field trip for children that young and I was very worried.  While seeing the big planes were cool, I was very worried about Ben not sitting still on the bus, running off, not eating lunch, and in general not doing what he was supposed to do.  The field trip turned out better than I expected.  They had activities for the kids, a movie, and we got to eat in one of the hangers under the wing of a big plane.  In general, Ben did OK.  He ran off a couple times, ate OK, and only had one "drop and flop" on the floor when it was time to use the bathroom.

So when the flyer came for this year's field trip, I was surprisingly not worried. 

This year the class went to a park to play and then to a tour of  Memorial Stadium (home of Husker football). With as much as Ben loves sports, I knew this would be right up his alley, because he loves to explore the football fields, run for touchdowns, and count the numbers on the field. 

We got to the playground and I admit it was a bit scary. Not only was the playground big, but it was tall and had a big lake behind it.  While it was a nice day, I did not have any desire to go jumping in that lake after Ben.

But he did great.  He played with his friends.

 

He climbed the rock wall.

 He enjoyed the swings.

 He ate most of his lunch.

He even stayed still and smiled for his class picture.

Then it was time to go to the Stadium.  I drove separately and was told to meet the group at gate 20.  While I graduated from the University (over 20 years ago), I had forgotten how hard it is to find a parking space, but finally found one in a garage across the street.  About 30 minutes later (after being told the wrong gate, construction, walking around the stadium twice, I finally caught up with the group, just as they were starting the tour.  Lucking Ben was still with them and had gone potty (the bathrooms at the park were locked).  He did get away once, got the door open to the weight room and got a few steps in the door, but for the most part he did great.  

Two of the dads lifted each child so they could touch the lucky horseshoe that the players touch before each game. 

They got to feel the field turf.

And of course they got to run on the field.  

 All that running wears a kid out, so after looking at the stadium and the practice fields, the group watched a movie and it was time to go.  Ben enjoyed checking out the statue on the way to the car, but was a bit miffed that those guys would not share their football. 

Over all it was a fun day and Ben had a nice nap on the way home!