Thursday, April 06, 2006

Words Ezra does not understand

In December I listed all of the words our son had learned to say. It is now April and it seems that Ezra is learning at least one new word a day. Every day Kirsten and I are amazed at the words he says and every day we are reminded that we need to be careful of what we say. His brain is a sponge ready to soak in any word he hears. Our friends and family members do not understand everything he says but we know exactly what he means when he says "bot bon bock" (walk around the block). Ezra has a unique language and only a handfull of words that are understood by those outside of our immediate family. Ezra is one fun kid and I am enjoying being a father more and more every day.

All of that being said...there are a few words that Ezra does not understand. As much as we try to explain these words to Ezra, he just does not understand. Below, I will list these words and use them contextually in an example sentence.

1. later
"Ezra, we will play with your trucks later."
2. soon
"Soon we will go for a walk around the block."
3. maybe
"Maybe we could play with your trucks."
4. tomorrow
"Amy's puppy is coming over to play tomorrow."
5. Saturday
"We will go to swim lessons on Saturday."
6. wait
"Ezra, please wait for daddy to finish pouring your juice before you move the cup."
7. whisper
"Ezra, the baby is sleeping. Please whisper."
8. probably
"We will probably play with your trucks."
9. just a minute
"Just a minute Ezra. Daddy is talking to on the phone."
10. after your nap
"After your nap we can play with your trucks."

Even though Kirsten and I use these sentences multiple times a day, Ezra does not understand the meaning of any of these words. We will continue working with him until he fully comprehends. Please let us know if any of you have suggestions on how to effectively teach these words.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry. It's original sin.

Anonymous said...

I still don't understand what wait means.

Anonymous said...

You need to talk Yiddish to him, or at least the English version of Yiddish. Instead of saying, "You can play with your trucks later." Say, "Later, I tell Ya, playing with your trucks you will." If that doesnt work just sick Clive on him. Everytime he doesnt understand, "Whistle Sound, Clive!!!" And I bet he would start understanding or, just stop talking all together.

Vince said...

you all are full of helpful ideas!

Anonymous said...

Just You wait, we're just getting started....

Anonymous said...

hmmm...good luck with those...seems like most of them are time-concept words. Kids just don't get that stuff for a while. Even some of my Kindergarten and 1st grade students don't understand time-related words like "next week", or "class will be over in 15 minutes." Experience is the true teacher of time words...he's still too young to have developed a point of reference.