Summer: The Season of a New Rory

  I love Summer.  It's that time of year that I get to spend extra loads of quality time with Ror.  (and perhaps blog more)  This summer, similarly to last, we're on a mega road trip visiting family.  And in just this past week, as we've traveled from Florida to New Hampshire it's as if Rory has begun a new stage.  I'm calling it the SpongeBob stage.  He's literally sponging everything up and retaining it.  He's using words like "awesome" and asking "where is she?" when looking for the dog.  It's like suddenly he's figured out how to apply the words he's learned and manipulate them for specific needs.  

    He's learning names of people and remembering which name goes with which face.  He knows the difference between "Papa" and "Bumpa" and it's super exciting.  He's singing and dancing, which he's always done, but he's singing to the same tune of the song that's playing.  He's counting, naming his stuffed animals, distinguishing by name and face the characters of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Minnie, "Fooey", "Tuto", and Pete are his favorites.  There's so many cool things going on I can't even go into every detail.  I wouldn't know how.  The brain is such an amazing thing! 

  I've always been kind of intrigued in brain research because as a teacher, knowing how brains work is kind of important when you're impacting and trying to teach 18 new ones each year.  And with this technological generation, strategies and information are constantly being improved and updated.  One that I've used for years is to incorporate movement into your teaching.  Movement is very important in brain development.  Without movement, no dendrites grow, and that means no learning.  As for Rory, he never stops moving.  This is most likely the reason why his little dendrites (my new favorite word) are sprouting out of control!

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to everything Rory has yet to learn but I also have to admit that it's all going so fast.  He'll be two in August and he hardly resembles a baby anymore.  What happened?  I guess that's just how it goes.  I'll continue writing and watch for all the new things in this amazing season ahead.