papa talks

Mira, Max, and Milo fight for lap space

2010-12-29T16:03:00.003-05:00

All four grandchildren were visiting this week. Mira, (age 1 year 10 months) who so far has shown no desire to be near anyone but her mother, saw me sitting at my computer and proceeded to leave her mother's lap and toddle over to mine. She asked for letters so I started to play grandparent games with her. Her mother, in a state of shock seeing Mira happily on my lap, quietly left the room. Mira demanded more letters, going through them all and prompting me to show the ones I had left out.

After about a half hour of this, Max (age 3) walked by, and, knowing a good thing when he saw it, hopped onto my right leg and asked for trains. Minutes later Milo (age 5) came by. No lap being available he stood next to me and for ten minutes or so, I had 3 of my favorite people all huddled together wanting to play grandparent games. (Jonah (7 months) was somewhere else in the house.)

Eventually Mira had had it with the competition and uttered a few "mamas" and the party ended. But it was great while it lasted.

Milo sends e-mail

2010-12-12T19:26:00.002-05:00

Milo has been typing on grandparent games so I suggested he send me an e-mail. Here is what he wrote:

halo

papa

i love you i am going to gabe's lidl brothrs brthday

love milo

I responded and then he wrote back:

the parte was good but there was no kake i had a good timei love miloi love youmilo to papa

I responded again and he wrote back again:

ther was pizza for lanch

love milo

Did I mention that Milo turned 5 last month? Love that kid.

Milo and Mira like the same game

2010-12-04T10:56:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Milo called me on the phone and said in a very grown up voice that he would like to play grandparent games with me. When I saw him on Skype, Mira was there too. She yelled: "Papa. letters." But showing her the alphabet animations would have bored Milo. Milo said he wanted to type (because he is learning to read and spell.) It turned out this worked for both of them, since every time Milo typed a letter (of a message I suggested he write), Mira named the letter. Later they both agreed on seeing dinosaurs. I guess dinosaurs work for any age. Mira yelled "more dinosaurs." She is not yet two, but she knows what she wants.

Teaching Reading: From Milo to Max

2010-10-19T08:29:00.002-04:00

It has been some time since I have written about playing grandparent games with my little kiddies. There are now four of them and I fell less compelled to write about each experience. But I have played with all of them, even Jonah who likes the little kid pictures and with Mira who is a fireball and, strangely, seems to also like trains.

In the last weeks I have tried reading with both Milo and Max and was reminded of how much kids can change between 3 and 5.

Milo, who will be 5 in a couple of weeks is now a little boy and no longer someone with whom it is difficult to communicate. And, he can read. I am sure that grandparent games interactions had something to do with that. We spent a lot of time reading the three letter words on ggames but I am sure he has had plenty of opportunity to read in other venues. What was most interesting in our last interaction was that he requested to do typing. I wasn't sure why. He had seen the video that I posted of him typing one letter over and over again and laughing and it was clear at first that he was hoping to relive that experience since he did more or less the same thing again. When I suggested that we type something real, he simply said "ok" which is not what he would have done even 6 months ago. Then he read the simple sentences that I typed and then typed sentences I asked him to type. He can't spell very well and seems to want to learn how to do it right. On the whole it was an interaction with a child who wants to learn. It was never like that before. He also wants to teach. When Mira appeared, he wanted to share with his favorite videos about dinosaurs and robots.

Max, on the other hand, who is weeks from 3, is just beginning to think about reading. He knows the names of the letters, but can't quite grasp the idea that put together they spell words. he can read MAX and not much else. He reminded me of Milo at the same age. Getting the idea that letters stand for sounds and are useful for reading is very difficult concept.

I guess this process takes about 2 years. Max is starting. Milo is simply practicing at harder words at this point.

The Newest Grandparent Games Player: Jonah Schank

2010-05-08T14:32:00.002-04:00

Well, maybe not right away.

milo relives his childhood

2010-04-12T12:29:00.002-04:00

In one of my recent face to face interactions with milo, I showed him some video which included one of him playing grandparent games about two years ago. In that video he was screeching with laughter as I complained that he needed to type MILO and he kept typing the wrong letter. He thought the video was hilarious.

Then, in a couple of recent interactions on grandparent games after he returned home, he has asked, not for dinosaurs or trains so much as he wanted to type letters and draw again. The reason for this became clear soon enough. He was re-living the good old days. He wanted to scribble and to type the wrong letter just one more time.

Max is a grandparent games addict

2010-04-02T08:44:00.003-04:00

I visited Max last week. Every time he saw me he said one of two things. Either he said "Railroad Song" by which he meant that knew that the lyrics to "I've been working on the railroad" were about railroads and not about "the eyes of Texas" as I had been insisting or he said "grandparent games - space shot" by which he meant that he need to see the space shuttle launch immediately. This was followed by "elephant song" and a litany of his other favorite places on grandparent games. This is an improvement on his previous insistence on watching a five minute long Washington Metro ride.

In any case it is clear that my value to Max as a grandparent is in my willingness and ability to do this with him.

milo wins my heart

2010-03-20T16:40:00.002-04:00

Milo was visiting. When he left he said "I'm going to miss you very much, papa."

Can't ask for better than that. I don't see him all that often but we have a relationship, in part, because of grandparent games.

snow brings out little faces on grandparent games

2010-02-12T15:41:00.005-05:00

There is a certain value in snowy weather up north I find. Suddenly there are grandchildren with nothing to do and grandparent games is one of their available choices. Max was wanting Elvis and Metro trains as usual, but I did talk him into trying the alphabet animations. He pretty much knows the alphabet but that doesn't mean he really gets that the letters stand for sounds, which is their purpose after all. You would never guess that from the endless mindless repetition of the alphabet (usually in song) that every toy seems to do these days. So, we went over that. I then tried out some 3 letter words and that was, of course too hard. I settled for trying to get him to read MAX but understanding that those letters stand for his name is actually a complex concept and, in the end, the key issue in reading. In any case he is not there yet.

Milo (who is 2 years older) is there. He successfully read nearly every 3 letter word that I that presented to him. But, he doesn't really get why this matters and why he would want to do it. He would rather look at animated dinosaurs. We traveled the USA as we often do, but now he knows the name of every state and is much more interested in announcing where we should go next than he is in seeing what is there once we get there. And, Milo being Milo, contrary is still his middle name. I asked him, after we had gone to Maine at his request, what state was next to Maine and he refused to answer, instead demanding we go to Delaware. After that, however, he wanted to go to New Hampshire. Hmm.

Mira just made a brief appearance, showing off her new eyes and reminding me once again that Hana will be getting the chance to raise herself. Good luck with that.

Let's make a dinosaur deal

2010-01-08T08:05:00.004-05:00

Apparently Milo was reading, so Hana was eager to show him off to me on grandparent games. We looked at some of the three latter words and he read some but not others. He was half hearted about it, because he really wanted to see dinosaurs. It is all well and good to try to teach him to read but to Milo grandparent games means looking at the stuff he loves, which used to be trains and now is dinosaurs. He has learned numbers, the states, and reading from grandparent games, but, of course, grandparent games is not all that he sees or does in those areas. His skills have gotten stronger by using the more usual methods as well. So, now grandparent games matters to him with respect to what is unique about it. Dinosaur videos being one of those things.

So I offered Milo a deal,. I said he could see dinosaurs if he read 10 words correctly. This was a deal he could understand. He eagerly did what I asked. He missed a few, but clearly he has started to get it about reading. So we saw dinosaurs.

All this was amusing to me because 30 some odd years ago I remember having to make similar deals with a little blond haired girl. They always worked. The apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Speaking of blond haired girl, Mira appear on grandparent games a few days ago as well, laughing and smiling at ducks and monkeys. It was a pleasure to see her.

The Alternative Learning Place

2009-12-22T15:06:00.000-05:00

Milo will enter first grade in September 2011.

I find this news so frightening I hardly know where to start. It is time for me to start building an alternative. This is the plan. We will construct an on line First Grade curriculum. What we will build is actually a teacher's guide on what to do and how to do it. We will not be building a school at all. It will be an Alternative Learning Place (ALP), housed wherever we can find the space. We will build many ALPs but the first one will be for MIlo so I have started to plan a curriculum for him. We plan on having 12 boys in each ALP with a teacher. The ALP day will focus around projects and activities and will, of course, all be learning by doing. Here are the activities I am thinking about right now:

First Grade Activities (all of which focus on reading, writing, speaking, arithmetic, and working with others, in context)

Robot building
Airplane building
Bridge Building
Kite Flying
City Planning
Food Preparation
Map Drawing
Football, Basketball, Soccer, and Baseball
Newsletter Writing
Computer Use
Diagnosis of Illness and Treatment
Orchestra
Spanish language
Movie Making
Trip Planning

We will build other activities for kids with other interests than these, including ones for girls. They will be located in places where the private school tuition is prohibitively expensive and the public schools are considered unusable. New York, Chicago, Washington D.C. and South Florida are my first thoughts. If you have a 4 or 5 year old and are thinking about 2011, write to me. We will have to charge tuition I am afraid but should be able to charge a lot less than the fancy private schools.

Another whirlwind grandchild tour

2009-11-14T09:16:00.002-05:00

I just came back from a quick trip that included playing with the 3 grandchildren.

Max (who just turned 2) loves grandparent games and asks for it when he sees me. He is now speaking in real sentences and has become quite verbal. "Metro train" was all I heard when we started playing grandparent games. He can watch metro video for a really long time. This is a very weird gene that I seem to have I passed on.

Milo is over train videos but not over grandparent games. He asked for it at every moment, now mostly to see dinosaurs. He is obsessed with chess which he demanded be on grandparent games as well, so I am thinking about that.

Milosplace (http://www.milosplace.com/) is actually what we should be using on these visits since that is the site meant for kids on laps.

Mira appears

2009-11-05T17:14:00.002-05:00

Mira was ready for grandparent games today. She is amazingly cute. She loved the monkey and the duck made her smile. She likes the bells too, I hadn't seen her in a long while.

milo talks fish

2009-10-12T16:28:00.002-04:00

We have reached the point I was aiming for when I first thought of building grandparent games. Today Milo and I had a conversation about camouflage (because of an octopus video) and why having a shark eat other fish in an aquarium would be a bad idea (he was wondering why the sharks didn't eat fish in the video) as well as having a dinosaur discussion. This is when it gets interesting.

grandparent games is now free!

2009-10-11T10:44:00.003-04:00

I wanted more people to share in this experience. So I made it free. I never thought people should be paying for stuff on the internet anyhow.

max visits papa and plays ggames on my lap

2009-09-23T11:29:00.000-04:00

Milo goes beyond dinosaurs and trains

2009-09-11T11:49:00.002-04:00

Milo is beginning to act like a boy and not a baby. He wanted to see new things on grandparent games and was ready to talk about what we were seeing. We went to the market for the first time and explored the sounds a bit. He didn't want to read but he did want to draw. Our conversations are becoming more human, slowly but surely. No trains but lots of dinosaurs. He also tried to shoe the little kid stuff to Mira, who wasn't that interested. We are slowly reaching the point where he will be able to call me on his won and play with me on his own and talk about stuff together, which is, of course, why we built grandparent games. For now though, it has worked pretty well to have him comfortable with the grandparent who doesn't show up that often.

max follows the train tradition

2009-09-08T15:32:00.002-04:00

I tried dinosaurs on Max but to no avail. We went to trains, songs, and diggers and he was very happy. New grandson, same interests as the last one. There must be a train gene in our family. One difference worth noting. When Milo watches trains, Hana goes and does something else. When Max watches them, Joshua is just as interested. No surprise there of course. After my session with Max on ggames, I see he had one with his grandmother. Can't get enough I guess.

You mean the triceratops?

2009-09-01T16:14:00.003-04:00

Milo asked for more dinosaurs. So, courtesy of Bill the dinosaur hunter, we now have more. We watched one dinosaur hunt another and Milo asked what the first one was looking for. I said he was looking for something to eat, which is all dinosaurs really had to do. When another one came into view, I said I guessed that he was hunting the other one. Milo responded: you mean the triceratops? I meant the one with armor-like stuff on it. So, now we know I am not smarter than a 3 and 1/2 year old.

Milo needs dinosaurs (and rocket launches)

2009-08-26T08:29:00.000-04:00

For the first time, Milo has moved off trains (well he went back later on in our last session) to watching animated dinosaurs and looking at a space shuttle launch.(Again and again.) Then he wanted to see fish. We don't have enough. I think he went to some aquariums and museums recently. But also, he is almost 4 now. Time for the classic boy stuff. We will need to find more videos. Still don't cut it with him.

All the grandchildren appear at once

2009-07-20T16:22:00.002-04:00

I haven't been around to be able to play with the kids on grandparent games in case my readers are wondering what happened to me on this blog. Then there were 3 of them all in one day. First Max called, then Milo, and then Mira appeared. I forgot how cool this is. Milo and I played for over an hour. He wanted to see his favorite stuff, which this time included a fair amount of reading which he got right maybe half the time. Then when Mira appeared he wanted to show her what he thought she would like, which is of course, what he liked, but she was paying attention nonetheless. Having witnessed all three ages of the kids at once, (3.8, 1.9, and 0.5) I have to say that the best is yet to come. Today Milo and I discussed the preparation of octopus as seen when you visit Greece. Milo loves to eat octopus. Go figure.

Milo calls to say happy fathers day; Max calls to say "bye"

2009-06-22T06:25:00.002-04:00

This has nothing to with grandparent games, at least not directly. Milo called to say "Happy Father's Day." He was in the car at the time. We had a long chat about a party he had gone to and what he was eating and such. It was an actual conversation and went on for a while. I was impressed.

Earlier Joshua called with Max nearby. Max was mostly interested in saying BYE to me. They were in a hotel and Max has discovered the elevator. He told me, in his less than articulate way that he was ready for his father to stop talking to me so he could go push elevator buttons.

Both conversations were pretty good father's day presents.

Sibling Rivalry: Milo deals with Mira's existence

2009-06-15T07:28:00.006-04:00

I completed the grandchild tour of the northeast with a visit to Milo and Mira. Milo asked me to play Elmo games with him on my computer when I opened it up on arrival at his house. I asked him if Elmo games were better than Grandparent Games and he said "no." Good answer Milo.

Milo and I did the usual reading and train watching but this time we went to the museum as well as he seems to have developed a keen interest in Dinosaurs. He even knew their names.

Hana suggested that we try Mira on grandparent games (because she is hoping to help Mira focus on seeing things to help with her apparent vision problems.) So Mira and I watched the little kid pictures. Seconds later there was Milo, sitting on my other leg, fascinated by bouncing kids and toys.

Then, for the rest of my visit, Milo insisted on looking at little kid pictures. I was able to induce him to read Max Had a Sax which he actually did quite well at, but it held no equal to the thought of being a baby again. Ah sibling rivalry!

max is beyond cute

2009-06-09T09:34:00.003-04:00

I am on the grandchild tour of the northeast. First stop was Max.We had many nice conversations about what dogs and cats say and other exciting topics. The kid is so cute you almost can't stand it. We played grandparent games and then talked about what we saw. Max loves the computer. He hopped on my lap every time he saw me opening my laptop.

Milomax produces Iphone app!

2009-05-25T06:13:00.002-04:00

for 99 cents little kids can play with the alphabet animations we have on grandparent games on their parent's iphone. They can shake the phone to get the next letter:

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=CMWzV4SDlTs&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewSoftware%253Fid%253D316457688%2526amp%253Bmt%253D8

You can't talk to a 3 year old

2009-05-25T06:07:00.002-04:00

Milo called and said he wanted to play. But, there was a bug in my version of grandparent games yesterday, so all we could do was talk on skype. I showed him some pens and asked him to count them, and asked him to add and subtract as well. He did very well. But really, it is very hard to have a conversation with a 3 year old. Ask him what he did today and he looks at the screen blankly. What's new doesn't work. Hana tried to help by discussing the joy of eating weird food (a trait he seems to have inherited from me) but really he isn't able to reflect on his own tastes. I created grandparent games for exactly this reason. If you are not doing something together with a 3 year old there isn't much to talk about.

It's been a month or so...

2009-05-19T07:58:00.004-04:00

and I am sure grandparent games fans everywhere have been wondering why they haven't heard from me. I was in Europe most of that time and didn't bring a microphone with me, although the time difference alone would have made it hard to see the kids (not to mention the miserable available internet connections.) But, in addition, there has been a problem detected with the newest grandkid, Mira (albinism and probable resulting vision issues) that dominated my interactions with Hana and therefore Milo.

Anyhow I was back on with both of them on Monday. Max is seriously cute and remembered most (but not all ) of the words describing the little kid pictures. Milo was again wanting to read three letter words, but he too had forgotten a lot of what he knew about how to read.

Of course, I say this over and over when I speak about education, but it is worth re-iterating here. The one key word in education is: "practice." And, consequently, why school is an awful educational experience: very little of what is learned is practiced later in life (e.g algebra, chemical equation balancing, even reading and writing (in the way that both are taught in high school.))

Max Returns

2009-04-22T15:51:00.002-04:00

Or, more accurately, Max seems to walk by the computer at his house and constantly say Papa, judging by the number of missed Skype calls there have been lately. We finally connected yesterday, and not only did he say Papa about 50 times, he also correctly identified every "picture for little kids" that we have on grandparent games, which, considering he was barely speaking when I saw him in Florida 10 days ago, is quite the accomplishment.

In other news Milo appeared with his back to the camera which is his latest trick when logging on to talk with me. He thinks this is a riot.

no ggames because we were all together

2009-04-14T10:04:00.000-04:00

Max talks; Milo still talking

2009-03-31T11:09:00.002-04:00

Max correctly named the duck, birds, airplane, and most of all Papa, many times today; I really hadn't heard him speak before; very exciting

In other news Milo was asked at a party for 3 year olds where he wanted to go; he responded "Nevada." That is, of course, where he always wants to go in the "see the USA" part of grandparentgames. (He likes the hot air balloon video.)

the always available grandfather

2009-03-28T11:44:00.003-04:00

Over time, my true niche in the lives of my grandchildren, because of grandparent games, is starting to make itself clear. I have played with Milo numerous times this month. While baby Mira nurses, Milo and I play. Today, while his parents were busy getting ready for whatever, Milo and I played. I have become the always available 20 minute babysitter. While Hana has never said this to me, it is clear that that is what she is thinking. Need to nurse baby, get Papa to deal with Milo for a bit. Its ok Hana, you can say it. It works for me. Kind of the modern day version of the live in grandfather. (Without having to feed me.)

Max calls by mistake

2009-03-22T06:54:00.003-04:00

I guess he was sitting on his mother's lap and pressed the Skype key with my name on it because suddenly he was on my computer looking at me. Nice to see Max but what do you do with a one year old besides yell "hi Max?" His mother was barely noticing all this. Eventually we launched the games and had a good time. This all reminded me of why I built ggames in the first place. Not much to do with a little kid after you say "hi" unless you provide it.

By the way, someone commented on my last post by saying that they couldn't launch the video. We just use Skype now. They have gotten very good at Skype. You can launch gg without the video and launch Skype as well. it works fine.

The phone rings... its Milo

2009-03-14T17:44:00.001-04:00

"I was wondering if you would like to play grandparent games with me..." says the small voice on the other end of the line.

Yea!!!!

Milo spells PAPA and almost spells Mira

2009-03-03T16:36:00.002-05:00

I haven't seen MIlo on ggames in a while. He still needs his mother to start it all up and his mother has been busy having a new baby. The nerve! Hello Mira.

But Milo did call today and ask me to play. I was tired from medical stuff so I said we would need to postpone a day or so. He then said he could spell PAPA and spell it he did. I asked if he could spell Milo and he said MLO, which isn't bad. I then asked if he could spell Mira. He started to sound it out in his head. He got the M and the I and then got stuck. I said rrrr to him and he said R. Then I said and now "uh" and he said U. Gotta love that kid.

Hook 'em Horns

2009-02-10T11:27:00.002-05:00

Milo was back mid-afternoon yesterday which initially caught me by surprise but Hana will soon disappear for a while I guess, so last shot for the time being. Milo opened with a request for trains -- shocker -- which I turned into a plan to hunt for trains in the USA game. He said we should go to Nevada first and there we got sidetracked by balloons. Then Milo said he wanted to go to Texas where we saw some calf roping and longhorn steers, and forgot about trains. I showed him the Texas band singing after a game and I taught him how to make the hook 'em horns sign which we did at each other for a while. Then he asked if we could type words by which I thought he meant writing MILO and such, but what he really wanted was to type randomly and have me pronounce what he types which he finds a riot. He had me saying AAAAAA and OOOOO and GNPBNKUT and such. Great fun for him telling by the shrieks of joy. He did type NO deliberately and asked me to type GOO and BOO for him. So it isn't all meaningless letters to him. I owe him a ride on the TGV however.

Still trains and songs

2009-02-05T14:08:00.003-05:00

Lots of interactions with Max and Milo via grandparent games but nothing worth writing about.

Milo still wants to see every train there ever was and Max still wants to listen to every song there ever was. I enjoy seeing them both. Today Hana said that Milo said, after playing with me yesterday, that he wants to go to Italy and ride trains and wanted to know when he would be big enough to do that. (We spent the whole time together in Europe seeing trains, ending with Italy.)

And, Joshua told me that when he said that he could talk to Papa, Max got himself up the stairs and walked into the computer room, ready to go.

Children's TV is nonsense

2008-12-30T09:55:00.001-05:00

I spent a few days with Milo last week on his home turf. There were so many new toys and presents that there was simply no point in trying to play grandparent games with him. But, during a lull in the new toy action, when we were both tired, we did watch a little TV together. For the most part, looking at what we saw together, I would say that nearly all of it was incomprehensible to a 3 year old. Milo enjoyed watching it however. Why is anyone’s guess. Pretty pictures? Loud sounds? I don’t know. But the people who design children’s TV do know and they are good at it. What they are not good at is teaching anybody anything of value, which is, of course, what they frequently purport to be doing.

We watched some Sesame Street, which, needless to say, I hadn’t seen in about 30 years. It hasn’t changed. It still thinks it is teaching numbers and letters, which for the most part it is not. The day’s number was 11. They showed groups of 11 of a lot of things. While this is useful for 3 or 6 which is a quantity one can earn to recognize without counting, 11 is of a number. It was lost on Milo. Then there was an imitation of an adult game show, are you smarter than a chicken or something like that. The reference was lost on Milo of course. He had no idea what was going on. But he answered the first two questions, which required simple counting. Milo can count. The third and last question was how many eggs in a dozen. This is the kind of stuff that makes Sesame Street so dumb. They go from knowledge a 3 year old could have to knowledge that is meaningless to even a 6 year old in two seconds.

We saw a few other shows, most of which bored Milo. Then we saw one that held his attention but was completely stupid: Baby Einstein on the Disney Channel. On this incredibly stupid show, various musical instruments had been captured and stored in a cave, which could only be found by getting a key from a polar bear or some such nonsense. The team of kids who were looking for the instruments could make their vehicle go by saying Allegro and Molto Vivante and flapping their arms at different speeds. The instruments made the right sounds, and Milo enjoyed that, but the polar bear sounded like a trombone, which made no sense at all. In the middle of all this junk they showed pictures of Felix Mendelssohn. I have no idea why. I also have no idea what they thought they were teaching. It is pretty clear that the folks at Disney are way more interested in making parents feel that their kids are getting educated than they are in actually getting them educated. Did they expect Milo, or any kid, to suddenly start talking Italian or begin reading music from this show? This was nonsense in the extreme and eventually Milo asked me to turn it off.

I am feeling more certain that the computer will eventually kill off the notion of TV as an educational device.

Milo calls; Max says "pop"

2008-12-19T05:26:00.002-05:00

Both Max and Milo made it known, Max by saying "pop" to Joshua, and Milo by telephone, that they wanted to play on grandparent games today. I made the mistake of noticing that Milo was wearing a shirt with a train on it, so it was trains all the time. But, Milo is now receptive to looking at other stuff, so while we were in Europe we watched kids sing and dance. Then he asked for the keyboard sound game. He has to be dragged away from playing. He is getting to be a lot of fun to play with on grandparent games.

Max is still at the open mouthed staring stage. He did say "duck" in response to quacking noises. And he enjoyed the new songs. But nothing is quite as good as Elvis. Go figure.

I am tempted to say my work is done here

2008-12-14T17:44:00.003-05:00

Milo gets it. He will be reading very shortly. When I saw him in New York last week I started to point out the value of being able to read words so you could know what stuff was. Today on grandparent games he started out by showing me a toy that I had bought him and pointing it at the webcam so I could tell him what it said on the toy. After we sounded it out he asked to start reading words on ggames. I showed him some new ones he hadn't seen and he read every one perfectly after I said what the word part said. So I said ISH and then he could figure out what a W did before it. The same with OOK, OX, and and OP. He read them confidently. Moreover he is beginning to get the idea that there is something to be gained in terms of (simple) knowledge from reading. We were on a roll when suddenly breakfast appeared (he was hungry after reading LOX 4 times) and he could no longer speak.

At that point we heard some songs (including the new ants marching song which he had to hear five times.) We then travelled the USA. He asked to go to Nevada to see balloons and then we went on the all train tour of America followed by beaches.

So, he is on his way to reading and I am happy about that. Now I am fixated on teaching him about travel. Maybe to Florida. Go figure.

reading 101

2008-12-07T10:23:00.003-05:00

Milo and I met up for a day in Manhattan. He asked me what I wanted to do. (I actually wanted to take him to FAO Schwarz, which I did later.) I said I wanted to read. I wrote BELL on a piece of paper. He read it. I wrote FELL. He said "fall" which I thought was interesting. I wrote CAT. He read it. I wrote HAT, and he said he wanted to play a different game. Throughout the day I pointed out words and he sounded them out. He got the idea that words on things tell you what those things are. He picked up the jelly at breakfast and read JELLY by sounding it out (and having a pretty good idea of what it must say.) He is getting there. He is also getting many toys.

Max says "Pop"

2008-12-02T06:09:00.002-05:00

Joshua called yesterday and said that Max was saying "Pop" which he interpreted as asking for Papa. Seemed an odd idea to me, considering he says only a few words, but I am always happy to play grandparent games with him. After running through an assortment of musical ones that he loves, and at which he started intently the whole time, he did indeed say "Pop." Works for me.

Reading isn't easy when you are 3

2008-11-26T05:13:00.002-05:00

Milo called and asked to play grandparent games (RIGHT NOW!). Since I was in the car at the time, i couldn't, but it was very cute. When we did play, he wanted to see the bells again (from B in front of ELL) so I asked him to spell BELL which he did. I then switched to the whiteboard and wrote BELL on it. I asked him what it said and he said "bell." I changed it to FELL and he said "fell." I then said I was putting new word he had never seen before and I wrote TELL. He said "turtle." An amusing guess if you think about it, but clearly he isn't reading. Next I wrote RAT and he said "rat." I wrote CAT and nothing. He acted like he had never seen it before. I helped him sound it out and then he successfully read HAT, FAT, MAT and SAT, all of which he had seen in the games. I then wrote PAT which is not in the games. Nothing.

Later, while we were looking at songs, he said he wanted to see "that one." I can't see what he points at so I asked him to read what was written there. He said G, N, O, S, which is of course, SONG spelled backwards.

So, can Milo read? Not yet. But sight reading is an important part of reading and there are many words he recognizes. More will come, as will the ability to sound them out. He is getting there. He is ready to read Hebrew too apparently. (I couldn't resist this joke.)

Sunday morning with the grandchildren

2008-11-23T08:54:00.003-05:00

I have now been playing grandparent games for almost 2 hours and am exhausted. We (that is my family) get up early and today both of my kids (that is, with their kids) were on line at 7 AM asking to play. Max was first. More Elvis. More ukuleles. The kid just loves music. He looked at every picture of little kids, all of which are just right for him now that he is one. he kept saying something that sounded vaguely like "what's this" so maybe he is getting something about words. He likes the new Monkeys on The Bed we built a lot.

Milo was next. I tried out our new Sound Machine on him. In that game you can press letters and get various sounds. Really what it is teaching is keyboard practice. It is hard for him to find the letters, but when A gets you an air raid siren it is well worth it. He had great fun making sounds with the letters and this inspired him to read some more CVCs. He asked for BAD and MAD and BAT. He was able to read all the ATs and when he asked for BAD and BELL about 10 times each I finally made him spell the words before he saw them on the screen which he was able to do after a few tries, So, he learned the keyboard (at least some of it) and he learned to spell out words.

A nice sunday morning. Just what I had in mind when I decided to build this.

London Bridge is Falling Down!

2008-11-18T13:47:00.003-05:00

Milo really likes the nursery rhymes that we had linked to on you tube on grandparent games but whoever puts them up keeps taking them down. Besides that, many of them look old and tired and are of no help in teaching reading and math. To remedy this we have begun creating our own versions. The first two are up on you tube now for whomever wants to see them and use them. More will be coming. I tested London Bridge on Milo today and he asked to see it 5 times so I guess it is a winner. I had previously tried our version of monkeys on the bed with him, which he loves. I am certain that he now knows the first 5 numbers by sight.

Teaching Milo

2008-10-25T06:00:00.003-04:00

Milo is visiting me for a few days. He has become a real little boy (as opposed to a toddler.) He is friendly and charming. He knows what he wants to do at all times. And, you can't teach him, anything. He drives his own learning. He is Mr. Learn by Doing. This is, of course, very pleasurable to watch for someone who believes completely that this is the right, and only, way to learn. Teachers should be used as needed. He uses me as needed, which is not much. He has not wanted to play grandparent games, so far, which is fine, since I set my house up to be a kid pleasure palace.

But, this makes me realize what a great tool ggames is. That is really the only I can teach him, because he is sitting down (this is very rare) and I am in control of what we are looking at (sort of, since he demands to see what he has already seen or done.) The trick is to expand his horizons, This is much easier for me to do on grandparent games than it is in my house, which is of course, a limited and unchanging place. So, I will be happy (well, not really) when he leaves so I can teach him again.

I like teaching I guess.

MILO spells Milo

2008-10-20T06:31:00.002-04:00

I have been away, so Milo was eager to get back on grandparent games. He came with an agenda and it wasn't trains. (Well, there was a brief ride on the D.C. Metro.) He said that he wanted to spell Milo and spell Milo he did. He worked hard to find the keys and worked hard not to press them so that he got more than one M etc. He was very proud of himself. Me too. Then we spelled Mama as well. We have a new game that requires no more than him me and the keyboard. Great fun.

milo does Germany

2008-10-12T16:59:00.004-04:00

Milo was showing me his new trains at the start Sunday - he said he had 3 and then counted them for me. So I suggested we count a little on ggames, which we did and he correctly added 2 +1 and other simple ones. We then read some words which he did fine at as well, but he couldn't wait for the trains of course. Seeing this as a teaching opportunity, I mentioned that since we would be going to France we might as well hear the song about all the countries in the world, which he seemed to like. Then we discussed how to say TGV in French and what it meant, which he also seemed to be curious about. We went to Germany and saw some trains but I though maybe he was ready to think about other languages a bit so we listened to kids sing German songs and a recitation of the alphabet in German. He liked that H was Ha, so we went back to France and learned that there H was atch. He was into it so we watched kids talk and sing before we went to see the Frankfurt subway, the London subway, and any othern train we could find in Europe. Hana had to drag him away. Boo Hana!

Milo returns (politely)

2008-10-10T06:56:00.003-04:00

A new improved Milo re-appeared on ggames. Now he wasn't demanding trains -- just saying please may he see the TGV. He knows that it is in France so I tried to teach him that France is in Europe which he tried to pronounce 3 times without getting it. He was also willing to try to some new stuff which included a fun counting song about monkeys which he, of course, wanted to see 5 times. Curiously, he also loved the alphabet song which I had resisted putting in there because it teaches the song and not the alphabet. Of course, he knows the alphabet quiet well, which perhaps explains why he liked the song. I tried the phonics alphabet song on him, but he hated it. Then we went to New York to see the N train 3 times. Some things never change.

Max wins

2008-10-07T16:53:00.002-04:00

Milo is still suffering under his punishment for being too annoying. (Hana doesn't know that the terrible twos aren't much worse than the terrible 18s and a few other ages I could mention.) But Max is happy to play grandparent games at any time. He likes all the pictures, but he stares bug-eyed at the songs, as long as they are intense or visually appealing. So, ok Max. You win. A lot more music has been added to ggames in my never ending struggle to stay relevant.

Breaking News: Milo Barred from Grandparent Games!

2008-10-04T17:28:00.003-04:00

Hana told Milo that he was not allowed to play grandparent games until he behaved. Now there is a novel punishment! (He has been a little annoying lately to deal with, demanding trains and only trains, but still he is awfully cute and I don't have to live with this.)

In other news, Milo spontaneously did some subtraction today, on two occasions, Hana reports, and was very proud of himself. Hard to say whether he learned this on ggames, but I don't think they were covering this in pre-pre-school.

This suggest a compromise. He can play ggames but he can only do the math section. Hana is contemplating this. Stay tuned.

Max visits Papa

2008-10-01T13:16:00.002-04:00

Max has been around the last few days. His presence has caused me to think about the role of toys in children's lives. Basically, I don't believe in them. The world is a toy. There is nothing that Max doesn't find interesting to examine and bash. The toys we have (due to Milo's many visits) are sometimes useful for Max (like soft round thing he can throw around) and sometimes dumb (like the same dumb drum I bought for Milo that I have written about previously.

In the end, when it is just Max and me (which it has been from 5 AM til 7 or 8), I have no use for toys, unless I am trying to do something and I need him to be entertained for a few minutes. We interact and that is that. I never played with toys with my own kids either.

Now grandparent games is another story. I like to have Max on my lap and he likes to look at the computer. This time we got beyond little kid pictures, saw some alphabet stuff, and then moved on to sounds like lions roaring and such. It all held his interest, and mine.

Milo comes up with a new game

2008-09-27T05:33:00.003-04:00

Milo was in one of his I want what I want and I want it now moods when we played gg yesterday. This means that he had an agenda of what he wanted to see and do and there would be no deviation tolerated. So, we saw some three letter words; (he got RED right the first time!); then we saw the TGV; (I want to see the bullet train; where do we have to go? France!); then we listened to the wheels on the bus (no, not that wheels on the bus the other one) and saw more trains (No, not that train); and then some nursery rhymes which seemed to calm him down.

I learned two things from this- send him back to his mother when he is this level of cranky (NO, I don't want to end the conversation, Papa).

The second is more interesting. He demanded the cars going by. Later he demanded the boy in the airplane. The first comes from the animation for NOW (you can cross the street now) and the second is in the animation for the letter J (jet plane). He has indexed the pictures apart from their words. This made me realize that I can now ask him what word is associated with a given picture and have a new way to talk about words with him. This is a good thing. The conversation (as Milo realizes) is the point after all.

I have no explanation for this

2008-09-23T19:02:00.002-04:00

Milo saw something and said it looked like Horty. Horty is a 93 year old lady who is kind of a surrogate mother for me. (She was my mother's close friend.) Milo last saw Horty maybe 6 months ago. At the time he said this, right after we had played ggames, I was calling Horty, which I do maybe every 3 months, to tell her some exciting family news. Hana mentioned that he had said this to her, finding it strange that he remembered her. Very weird.

What to do first?

2008-09-23T08:06:00.003-04:00

I think Milo and I have both reached the point where we don't know what to do first. Yesterday we read words, sang songs, watched trains, looked at dinosaurs, examined trucks, and an hour had gone by and I think we both felt that there was much more to do. We hadn't even seen the talking cows! But Hana had exciting news and they were all off for a celebratory dinner. At the end, I was exhausted. Milo wanted more. Its good to be young.

It's 6 AM and Max is up

2008-09-20T06:19:00.002-04:00

He was up and, of course, so was I. (I was visiting him on a quick trip.) What do you do with a 10 month old at 6 AM? I know what I do. Grandparent games. It is sure better than trying to watch him crawl around or play with him with some kid's toy. He liked it as did I. We will soon launch a new web site for parents who don't need the video connectivity, and just want to have their kid sit on their lap and have some stuff to talk about with them. We will call it Milo's Place. (Sorry about that Max, its your place too, but he's been around longer.)

Max likes the "B"

2008-09-15T12:45:00.002-04:00

I had been sending Max only little kid pictures since he is, in fact, a little kid (10 mos.); but today I tried the B which morphs into a basketball and a little boy who bounces it. He laughed. When I sent it again he laughed again. He may know the alphabet as soon as he speaks. Stay tuned.

All trains all the time

2008-09-14T09:19:00.003-04:00

Milo was asking for me (and grandparent games) early this morning again. I showed him the new fire station, which he liked, especially the burning car practice, but he demanded the bullet train. I asked him where we could find it and he said "France." So, off we went. This reminded him that he hadn't seen any subways in a day, so we went to the Metro, but no, he said he wanted to go to New York. Then we went to see the Acela in Philadelphia and then on to the all train tour of the USA, stopping in Nebraska, Wyoming, Oregon, and anywhere else I could find a train. We stopped for a while to see some singing in Alabama, but then more trains. These places are getting more real to him. When he and Hana were watching hurricane Ike coverage from Texas, Hana asked him what they had in Texas. "Cows" was the reply. Yup

Everybody Dance!

2008-09-13T08:55:00.002-04:00

I spent an hour with Milo on grandparent games this morning. He wasn't all that interested in reading. What he needed, urgently, was the bullet train (by which he means the TGV in France.) Then we were off to see talking cows in California, real cows in Texas, and then he urgently needed subways. (Things are often urgent with Milo.) I asked him what state the subways were in and he said "New York." Then he wanted to try to spell MILO on the keyboard. (We got through MI and then he was bored.) Then he demanded music, and after many songs and instruments, I remembered that he liked the ukulele. So I played it. It needed to be played 5 or 6 times apparently. And, he danced. And danced. Then he danced with his mother and even his father made a brief appearance (I think - it is only a small video window.) Then, of course, he demanded that I dance. He said that we were all dancing together, and indeed we were.

Vegas

2008-09-09T11:32:00.004-04:00

Milo's parents went to Las Vegas. When the returned he asked where they had been. "Nevada" they said. "Oh, where they have the balloons," Milo said. Yea Grandparent Games!

Max still likes Elvis

2008-09-03T12:40:00.002-04:00

Max was back on ggames at 6 AM today -- fascinated by everything. He can pay attention for long periods of time. I got bored with Elvis long before he did. When Milo was his age we just had a few little kid pictures on ggames. Now there is much more for a baby. We will soon mark each video as "baby appropriate" which means it starts quickly and is not in any way subtle about what it is. It was fun to see Max again, made my heart warm.

Milo spells BOX

2008-09-02T13:39:00.003-04:00

Milo answered the question of how do you spell BOX, B, O, X. This was after having seen the BOX animation about 10 times. (He really likes it.) (It was also after having refused to ask for the B in order to get BOX and instead seeing the LOX animation 5 times. Of course, he is just playing around and enjoying being 2. But he is getting it about reading. When I ask what word is created by putting a sound in from of OT or IT or AT, he always knows. He is getting close. After an hour of looking at words, he sang an Otis Redding song for me which has a line about going from Georgia to the Frisco Bay, so we went to the map and did just that seeing trains on both ends (as well as the actual Bay.)
He then asked to see the Longhorn again. I knew I liked that boy! Hook 'em horns.

Milo re-connects

2008-08-31T09:54:00.003-04:00

I have been traveling (and so has Milo) so we haven't seen each other on ggames (time zone differences, no internet on boats, lots of reasons.) We have some new words up on the site and we started with that. But, curiously, Milo so gets it now, that it has become less interesting to him. I am not sure he can read exactly, but _OOK which has b , t, l, and c for choices, most of which were new to him, caused him no pain at all. What does B before _OOK spell, says I. BOOK says he, as easy as pie, as if I were asking him a dumb question. Before I could explore this much there was great need for trains. So off we went to the new See Europe which still isn't perfect or finished but it is good enough to explore. We rode the Paris metro for what seemed like hours, then later the Frankfurt metro. (I didn't know they had one.) We saw the Eiffel Tower but we were unimpressed. More trains. We rode the RER, some oddball train in Germany, and then we were off to California to ride the cable car. Then some cows, then some trucks, then more trains (this time in the Station in Kid Town.) After an hour of this we were both tired. It was great to see him again.

Neither Milo nor I can figure out where to start

2008-08-14T18:59:00.001-04:00

There is now so much to do on grandparent games that neither Milo nor I can figure out where to start. Milo had been away, visiting his other grandparents, so i hadn't seen him in a week. He demanded grandparent games when he came home, but Hana couldn't find me. Today we connected. But what to do first? We did some words. Then we went to the zoo. Then we listened to some songs. Milo really likes the singing hippo. Finally neither he nor I could contain ourselves anymore because, really, we both like See the USA the best. "What state should we start in?" asked Milo. "How about California?" I replied. he said ok and then I asked what we should see there and he said "singing cows" which may not be emblematic of California exactly, but the state did make those cheese commercials, so that's the way it is. I asked what next and Milo said "longhorns" which meant Texas. And then he asked for "calf roping." I suggested seeing Mickey in Florida next and then I asked him who lives in Florida and he said "you do" which is the first time I had ever heard him use "you" in that way. Then we went to North Dakota to see some buffalo and a dog playing in the snow which he liked a lot. Next to Delaware to see a fire engine and finally, enough with the other stuff already, we saw the Metro in D.C. Then we just had to go to New York for more subways.

Hana announced that it was time to go, but we both begged to see more and I enticed him with the Ohio State marching band which he watched for the full 4 and 1/2 minutes. Hana said we had to go, but Ohio State demanded some Michigan so we watched the Michigan hot dog man. Hana said they had to go but I suggested Nebraska where there is a very good freight train video, which we watched four times. With Milo yelling "more Nebraska," a phrase I never thought I would ever hear in my life, we said goodbye.

Boy, this thing really works.

Welcome World!

2008-08-12T08:53:00.003-04:00

When Trump University offered to send out a message to its mailing list about Grandparent Games I was excited because it is a big list of sophisticated users. But, I had no idea what an international list it was. So far, we have had sign ups in the last day from 50 different countries. We always had an international focus, "see Europe" will be up on grandparent games in a day or two, for example (though not with all 51 countries represented yet.)

So I am now encouraged to do two things.

One is to build more than than the U.S. and Europe as soon as I can. New users who want to send or suggest videos suitable for kids from their own countries are invited to do so.

The other is make clear that this is not intended to be an English-only site. Most of the site has no language in it at all, since we are hoping for grandparents and grandchildren to talk in their own languages about what they see. The reading section is in English of course. Spanish will be next, followed by French. It will take some to do that but we certainly intend to do it.

Max still likes Elvis

2008-08-10T17:03:00.002-04:00

He may have the patience of a nine month old, but when it comes to Elvis, Max is all ears (and eyes.) He has a fair amount of patience for the little kid stuff too, but music seems to be his main thing. We are putting on more music as I type.

Milo wants it now! and then...

2008-08-06T12:33:00.002-04:00

I have being doing the See the USA game with Milo lately. Now that the map is loaded with trains he is more than happy with the game. He can watch the New York City Subway forever. So this time I started him out in Texas where he loves to watch calf roping, of all things. Then he demanded subways. He agreed to go to California where he knows there is good cable car stuff and then he demanded subways. I convinced him to go to Colorado to see a steam train. But then he demanded subways. More subways, then off to Pennsylvania to see trains, and Georgia to see a train museum. Then I made a fatal error. I remembered that we had recently put some Metro video in Washington D.C. There is one Metro ride that lasts 5.43 minutes. Milo watched nearly the whole thing then asked to go to Pennsylvania again (in exactly those words.) Then we went back to Washington where this time he did watch the entire 5.43 minutes. Impatient two year old? Depends on what patience is required it seems.

Max likes singing

2008-08-03T08:41:00.003-04:00

In many ways Max and Milo have become my site designers. If they don't like it (they both agree black and white video sucks) then we need to get rid of it. If they do like it -- the london bridge cartoon holds Max's small attention span very well and Milo has seen it maybe 30 times by now -- we need more of it. Max likes Elvis a lot. Today he watched almost the entire blue suede shoes piece. So, more singing. More lively instruments. And, yes Milo, more planes.

Papa misses breakfast

2008-08-02T09:03:00.003-04:00

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't willingly skip a meal. But Milo was ready for ggames at 7:30 this morning and I couldn't get him to stop. There is lots of new stuff on the site, so we saw the new words and then we went to Kid Town and saw the new airport. Milo wanted to know the name of every plane. He loved the 747 taking off but then he wanted more planes, so we will have to get a variety of planes on the site. He was little scared when we saw life from the pilot's perspective but he is ready for more.

We then went to the new Farm and he liked the tractor but, curiously, was scared by the baa-ing lambs. He is a city boy after all. Or was. Now that Milo has moved to upstate New York, maybe he will see a lamb or two.

What is immediately different now is the venue. We used to play ggames with his parents in ear shot (and often in eye shot) because they were all in the living room. Today he was alone in Hana's new office. Hana left, but I noticed the door open a crack. She came running in when she heard kid's screaming. (It was the Frog Ride in a Pennsylvania amusement park which Milo was initially frightened of, but after the third view, he realized the kids were having fun.)

That was in the See the USA game which now has many more videos in it. I made sure that we put lots of subway video in New York for Milo, which was great, except we couldn't leave New York. He can see subway video for hours. He wanted to know the name of each train. It is a little hard to identify them but we worked at it. I flew him to Colorado for a steam train, which he liked, but then he demanded subways again. I flew him to Texas for his favorite cow roping video, but well...

And so it goes with MIlo, who is 3 months away from being 3 and is getting to be fun to have a conversation with. He told me that yesterday he took a commuter train to a children's museum. He was very excited about the conductor punching his ticket, something he has heard about on a Pete Seeger song our family has always loved, but something he had never actually encountered before.

I asked him which he liked better, the train or the children's museum. Duh.

Max reappears

2008-08-01T07:04:00.002-04:00

Max doesn't say much, in fact I didn't hear any sounds at all in our session yesterday. But every single little kids animation fascinated him. He was staring very intently at each one. When I threw a little Elvis Presley at him he seemed to really like it. He liked the ukuleles again as well. I then moved into diggers because Milo likes them so much, and I lost Max. I guess he isn't at the digger stage. But he had a good 15 minute attention span. It was nice to see him again. He is cute as a button. (I never really understood that phrase.)

Reflections on Grandparent Games

2008-07-30T11:33:00.003-04:00

I have just come back from a 3 day visit with Milo, which included 7 different sessions with grandparent games each lasting no less than an hour. (I am not kidding.) Two days later, I have had some time to reflect. My first thought is that although it was hardly my intention, interacting with Milo through ggames is almost the only way I interact with him. When he woke up in the morning and I got him he said thats what he wanted to do. When he saw me at nearly any time, he asked for more Grandparent Games. Of course this is very gratifying as the creator of the site, but it made me think about whether this was the only way I ever wanted to interact with him. I thought about my style as a parent, back in the day as they say. I really only did two things with my kids while they were growing up. I talked to them and I played ball with them. Of course, the talking took place in many venues and under many different circumstances. But, looking at it this way, zoos, parks, museums, trips and such, are really just presenting new things to talk about. I was a professor, and I liked to talk about how the world worked with my kids, no matter what part of the world it was that we were experiencing at the moment. My kids turned out to reflective intellectual types. What a shock!

I asked Hana, many years ago, to reflect on what she thought was the best part of her childhood. She answered instantly. "Traveling with you" she said. When she was 8 I took her to England on a business trip and we saw lots of castles and such. She loved it so much she asked to come on every trip, which was not very practical. But she went on many of them. Soon enough she had to alternate with Joshua as well. Actually she still asks to come on trips with me. (She went with me on a trip to Panama when she was pregnant with Milo but didn't yet know it.)

What did we do on these trips that was so great? Yes, she saw castles, and the Eiffel Tower, and ate unusual food. But really, it was the talking. She had my full attention and there were always new things to talk about.

Milo is not ready to play ball. As an intellectual/jock I have basically these two things to give. I do not want to sit on the floor and play with blocks. I didn't do that with my kids and I will not do it with him. I want to expand his horizons. I want to take him places and discuss what we saw.

Honestly I cannot imagine spending 7 hours in three days one on one with a two year old. There are some who would love that, but I am not one of them. It would certainly involve play dough or finger paints ordinarily. Count me out.

But I loved every minute of it. I like teaching. I like talking. I like listening to him. Grandparent games is working for me in ways I had never imagined. And, it seems to be working for him as well.

Milo loved "See the USA" as I have said. When I came home I started to build "See Europe." You can understand why.

Seeing the USA with Milo

2008-07-29T10:03:00.002-04:00

Home now and time to reflect on using our new see the USA game with Milo. I have been building that game in one way or another for more than thirty years. I used to play a version of it, no computer involved, with my own kids. (The memory I have, captured on tape, is 3 year year old Joshua arguing about the best route from California to Alabama.) Later, in the early 1980's, I built a PC version called See the USA for a company I started called Compu-Teach. For all I know, this is still being sold. When I moved to Northwestern, at ILS, we built Road Trip, which used video and tested very well on school children as a way to teach geography. IBM had paid for us to build it, but getting video was an expensive proposition, so IBM never paid for its completion. Still, I think it is a very good idea. The issue is not teaching the states so much as it is teaching that you can go places and that those places have things that you may not have at home.

Milo is teaching me how to do it better this time around. Video is very easy to find now. The question is what video. He learned about San Francisco in two tries because he loved the cable car video we have up there. Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon are wasted on him, but they will stay on the site anyway because older kids will get it. He loved the beach scene in Florida because a little kid was testing out the ocean. He loved seeing Mickey in Orlando, (I didn't even know he knew about Mickey), because Mickey was hugging a little girl. He loved multiple balloons in Nevada because it is a fascinating scene. He couldn't stop watching the California talking cows, (because they were talking I suppose). He certainly didn't get the joke.

See the USA is almost finished but, really, it may never be actually finished. I am am hoping that the users of grandparent games will suggest videos for it, or submit videos to use about where they live that are quick and to the point in a way that works for little kids.

Learning to read

2008-07-28T06:24:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, for the first time, I saw Milo actually get it about reading. He had been able to sight read a few words. Also he is a good guesser. If it starts with R it is probably RAT and he is right, since that is the word I think he can read. But yesterday he got it about combining sounds with sounds. There were some new CVCs up, KID, DID, and HID. He got them all in two tries. I asked what sound K makes and we practiced it and then I told him to put it in front of ID and he simply said KID. He did the same for HID and DID and then for the IT words and the IP words (although he mixed them up a bit.)

When I got back from the airport after tiring of an indefinite delay and deciding to stay one more night (at least Milo was happy to see me back) we showed off for Hana. Milo read all those words again so we tried the SAM AND PAM HID IN THE RUG story. He could read most of it after a a few tries. Some of this was just memorization, of course. But when I tested him on the words he was pretty good at identifying them.

Milo cries bitter tears

2008-07-27T08:20:00.003-04:00

I am still visiting Milo. We played grandparent games some more. (He now knows that San Francisco has cable cars and is in California). Hana said he had to have dinner. Then while he was eating, she told him that she and I were going out to dinner. He cried hysterically. "I don't want Papa to go." I asked why. "I want to play more grandparent games." Yippee. Made my day.

Milo loves California

2008-07-26T09:07:00.004-04:00

I am still visiting Milo and Milo is still demanding more grandparent games. The new USA game has him now asking to see cowboys in Texas. ballooning in Nevada, trains in California and he is still wondering where the subway is in New York. Given that he rode the subway all the time while he lived in Brooklyn, this is not surprising. His favorite is the talking cow ad for California cheese. He now knows the names of quite a few states and is understanding things like - there are deserts in New Mexico and not so many people. When I asked him what he liked best in Florida, meaning the videos in the USA game, he said "the pool" meaning my house, which worked for me.

He then asked to read more words. He seemed to be getting it, so later I wrote RAT, CAT, and SAT on a piece of paper and he correctly read all three.

Papa visits Milo

2008-07-25T14:17:00.002-04:00

Milo met me at the train station making screeching noises at me, which is what we had been doing lately while playing ggames. (See previous post.) As soon as I entered his house I checked e-mail, (what else?) and he demanded (and received) a session on ggames. We looked at the new USA travel game. We went to New York, Florida, California, and Texas (all places of personal significance to me and thus good to talk about with Milo.) He liked Mickey a lot. (We saw the video about 10 times.) But he wanted to know where Goofy was. (Where is Goofy?) We saw the drummer in the subway and he demanded to see the B train. (Where is the B train? I thought I had put it in.) We watched cable cars which he loved and surfing which he didn't get. We watched calf roping and I tried to get him to sing 'The Eyes of Texas' but that will take some time I think. The session lasted an hour. Only stopped by lunch. I promised more. So after lunch we danced to the Ukuleles again. Well, "we" didn't include me. Hana showed up to take him to his nap and had to dance her way out.

Back into the past

2008-07-24T09:14:00.002-04:00

Hana discovered that she had a video of Milo playing grandparent games when he was 18 months old. I wasn't on the other end, she just turned it on for him. I enjoyed watching it. Here it is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wloZI4tgNZQ

Max looks like a bruiser

2008-07-18T07:07:00.002-04:00

I hadn't seen Max in a while. At 8 and a half months he looks like he is ready to play football. It was fun to see him. He enjoys each and every one of the little kid pictures. When they start he immediately looks to see what's there and watches intently. Anything else I tried to send - music, letters, animals, -- all were of no interest. Colors and noises are for him. He is ready to run down the field while the band plays and the crowd cheers.

Panda, Panda, Panda

2008-07-15T08:52:00.002-04:00

The video links work in Milo's new house. So, after spending time with CH, NG, SH, NG, which he really liked, and doing a little multiplication, which he doesn't get yet, we went to KidTown. He loved the Port - we watched ships being launched. He requested trains, which will soon have, and then we went to the (Virtual) Zoo. We saw a few animal videos. He liked the giraffes and kangaroos a lot, and then we saw the sneezing panda babies. That was it, we were done. After what seemed like 50 "I want to see the panda again" statements, we both decided to quit and have breakfast. Milo laughed every time that panda baby sneezed. It is great to be two.

Milo Dances

2008-07-09T18:14:00.002-04:00

I haven't seen Milo in a while because he has been moving. (He took his parents with him.) In his old apartment the video in ggames didn't play due to a bad connection. It plays in his new home and after I showed him the Ukulele video, which he had loved months ago when his connection worked better, he refused to look at any others. "Ukulele" he demanded and ukulele he got. Again and again. Then he started to dance. I can't say he has much rhythm but it sure was fun to watch. Then I heard words I never imagined from Milo: "come on Papa." I didn't get it at first. But he was demanding that I dance too. And dance I did. I only hope that only Milo saw it. It wasn't pretty.

great time for papa

2008-07-01T09:34:00.002-04:00

I was away; when I came back home there were two grandchildren waiting to talk to me on grandparent games; ok, I exaggerate; But I saw them both in a short period of time and am happy to report that they both love what they are supposed to love; Max liked every little kid picture we have up there, but his attention waned when I tried to show him anything else; Milo loves the 3 letter words, especially the new ones; he requested SET 5 times; When he asked to see FIT and PIT for the nth time I told him he had to tell me what letter they started with (he was looking at _IT); He refused; I think the question confused him; so instead we made noises at each other for a while (until Hana said she wasn't happy that he was screaming and I said that letting kids do what they shouldn't do is half the fun of being a grandparent and she said I didn't have to live with him which is true enough so I quit.) Eventually he did say F but when I demanded the P when he asked for PIT he said goodbye instead; Teaching a two year isn't necessarily easy.

time off from the usual about milo

2008-06-30T14:11:00.003-04:00

Hana has been writing about Milo again on her blog, so I thought I would write about Hana at the same age. (Milo is just about 2 years and 8 months right now.) I taped my conversations with Hana when she was small because, then, as now, I was interested in how small children learn. So, here is one. (Hana here is exactly the same age as Milo is now. I had asked her to tell me a story.):

Are you going to tell me a story?

Yes.

What happened? Once there was a...

little girl

and?

she lived in a big tall city and worked

where did she work?

in Yale and she put something in her nose and she hurt very bad and she went to a doctor and cried because she hurt his head and the doctor hurt her head too (THIS HAD, MORE OR LESS, ACTUALLY HAPPENED TO HANA SOME DAYS EARLIER)

and then what happened?

and then they put some medicine in her nose and then all of a sudden something happened

what?

thunder came

and then what?

and then it stopped and then it came the rain

and then the rain came?

yes

and then what happened?

and then it stopped and then she went back home and then she played with her father and then she went to sleep

and then what happened?

and then she needed to go to sleep with apple juice

where did she put the apple juice

in her pocket, she had to go to school with it

she went to school with the apple juice in her pocket?

yea

and then what happened?

and then she went to the museum and the giraffes came and they were happy and then all of a sudden there were dinosaurs

all of a sudden there were dinosaurs?

yea, and they were happy too; some went 'whwheewchey' and some were dead and some were fighting and spitting

yea?

yea, because, thats my cookie thats my cookie, thats my cookie

oh, they were fighting over cookies?

yea

and the what happened?

then the dinosaurs went back to their home and then, all of a sudden the rain came again

As I have said before. It is all about the conversation. Tell them to tell stories and they will learn to do just that. Hana is still telling stories. Sometimes she sells them.

Milo gets it

2008-06-21T09:32:00.002-04:00

The whole idea that a letter denotes a sound and that, when it is put in front of two other letters that that denotes a word, is, of course, a really complex concept. Today, for the first time, I felt that Milo began to understand that idea. We were looking at the -UG words, and he sounded out buh for B and then when I asked what word that would make he said BUG. He followed by saying Milk for M before UG (Milk is what M stands for in the alphabet section of ggames.) But then he got RUG right and TUG. He then stumbled on MUG but realized his mistake and got it. He read TUG one more time. (He loves that animation. It is quite funny.) He then correctly sounded out BAD, DAD, and MAD. Whether he is reading or not, is unclear. What is very clear is that he is beginning to understand the principle.

Then we counted for a while but he decided everything was 2.

Only so much concentration can be expected when you are 2.

noises and relationships

2008-06-15T08:50:00.005-04:00

My last session with Milo (on Friday) eventually became a ten minute session of him and I making noises at each other. This may seem a bad thing to some, I suppose, but I thought it was quite marvelous. Here is why.

Grandparent games is about building a relationship with your grandchild when you are far away and see one another infrequently. He loves the letters, and sometimes (it was the case on Friday) we can count and add together. (He really does seem to get it about math by the way.) Sometimes we read the three letter stories (but not on Friday -- I tried, he said "no".) But, what we are always doing is relating to each other. So, when he ran away when the little girl cries in SAD, I made fun of him and asked him if he was going to run away each time we replayed SAD (as his request) until running away and coming back was the game we were playing.

He is two after all. He doesn't want to do what you want him to do. And there is no real reason why he should (at least with me on grandparent games.) So, when he fools around, I fool around more. He will read with or without me. I am worried about the relationship, not the reading.

So, we degenerated into making funny noises at each other on Friday. And I decided we definitely need a noises section on grandparent games (which we will soon start to buiild.) We both enjoyed it.

And then there was the Happy Fathers Day call from Hana. At some point she tried to get Milo to say Happy Father's Day too but, well, he is two, as I said. Then, he remembered that Papa made funny noises.

He made a funny sound at me and I made one back. This erupted in a five minute soundfest in which I learned that he can count (my ga ga ga was responded to with the same number of ga's until five when the number was too big) and I learned, more importantly, that I have exactly the kind or relationship I was hoping to have with Milo. We are having fun together, even without grandparent games, but because of grandparent games.

That's it. That's why we built this site.

about frogs and learning

2008-06-14T10:10:00.002-04:00

A professor I know e-mailed me in response to my post about Max crawling with the following question

This also explains the source of much frustration in teaching:
students who are just not motivated. Are good teachers expected
to find the perfect frog for each student too?

Yes. They are. That is the job of a teacher: figure out what the kid likes well enough so that you can get the kid interested in doing something else in order to attain the original goal. A good teacher is simply one who can enable learning to take place in the context of goals the child has. Of course, at birth, a child doesn't have most goals you would hope it will eventually have. A good learning environment induces goals in children by making certain abilities seem worth attaining. I am hoping to induce the "want to hit a ball" goal in Milo for example, without much luck. I will keep trying however.

all you ever wanted to know about learning (and teaching) - part 3 (read part 1 and then 2 first)

2008-06-12T19:48:00.004-04:00

Next, I put the toy further away from Max. He managed to get to it.

Then I made it harder for him.

Suddenly he was crawling.

all you ever wanted to know about learning - part 2

2008-06-12T19:45:00.002-04:00

When Max couldn’t get to his toy, he looked for help. Then I gave it to him.

Then I took it away. So, he tried again and rolled to it.

all you ever wanted to know about learning - part 1

2008-06-12T19:36:00.003-04:00

is embodied in the following videos of Max Schank, age 7 months. When I came to visit Max, he was not crawling, although his mother said she thought he was ready to crawl. So, when his mother left him with me and my son, I did the following:

First, I put a toy he liked just out of reach

milo runs away

2008-06-08T16:34:00.002-04:00

Milo got fixated on SAD today; He ran away when the little girl cried; when I laughed at him he ran away again; this soon became a game; he saw SAD about ten times and ran away each time; so, perhaps ggames can be a physical activity as well; but not that physical; He was eating popcorn; when I said I wanted some he patiently explained to me that popcorn would not go through the computer to me because I was far away; in other news, repeated playing of MAX HAD A SAX has resulted in Milo's request for a SAX, which he now has; I offered to give him mine, but Hana thought a toy SAX would be best; Milo played it for me and then asked for the Y for the 100th time; I asked him why he liked that one so well, but he couldn't say; I think he likes it when little kids say stuff in ggames, since he likes the U and the N and the Q a great deal as well.

I have been traveling...

2008-06-07T13:27:00.003-04:00

I haven't been able to see much of Milo and Max lately. But I have been talking about them. There is this taken from a blogger ( http://kamccollum.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/school-is-profoundly-broken-roger-schank-visits-byu/) describing the Max video I opened my latest talk with:

After introducing the problem, Schank began to talk about solutions. He showed us a video clip of his 7 month old grandson learning to crawl. He said that it encapsulated everything we needed to know about learning. In the video, young Max was placed on a carpet (the traction on the carpet created an environment where crawling was possible) and a small toy frog was squeaked and then placed in front of him. After looking first for help and getting none, Max was clumsily moving towards the target. Eventually, he succeeded. According to Roger Schank, learning starts with a goal, with wanting something. The role of the teacher is to set up the conditions for achieving the goal. In other words, to put the frog in the right place.

as well as this, (taken from http://www.jonmott.com/blog/?p=7):

Schank’s ideal model for teachers is the coach or mentor, providing help and motivation for students when they aren’t ready for it or maybe don’t even want it. Although unlooked for, such assistance will almost always be favorably received if the learning context is authentic and the students is, therefore, motivated to accomplish the goals it requires. The role of the teacher is to "put the squeaky green frog in the right place and then make reaching it increasingly difficult" as the student’s capabilities increase.

max on lap

2008-06-02T07:35:00.003-04:00

while visiting Max I realized that I would rather play grandparent games with him on my lap than do the other stuff available to do with a 7 month old; I have never been one for feeding, changing, or dangling a toy in front of babies; I like to bounce them and stuff, but now I really enjoyed it when he sat on my lap and we looked at the animations; he was interested in any animation that started fast; he liked all the letters and words, especially when they started making noises and actions as soon as I opened them; he was willing to do this for quite some time; I realized he will learn letters and words simply because they will always have been part of animations on grandparent games he has always known; I did this with him maybe 5 or 6 times and he seemed to love it

just max and me

2008-05-31T16:16:00.001-04:00

no video; max on my lap; he looked at every single vowel and little kid picture; he liked the owl the best; now to clean the drool off my arm...

milo meet max

2008-05-31T11:09:00.003-04:00

I am visiting Max so when Milo logged in to play with me he saw Max too. Milo said hello to him three or four times, but Max didn't reply. Milo was unsure why. It was great fun seeing both of the them watch the animations, especially the new MAX and the MUG BUG story. Milo read the whole title sentence, or seemed to. He certainly knew all the words from having played the three letter word games. All in all, talking with Milo while balancing Max on my knee was tricky, to say the least. Felt like family though.

Milo wants what he wants

2008-05-28T17:38:00.005-04:00

No one will ever accuse Milo of not knowing his own mind. He wanted the T to start. I shifted him over to words. He obligingly looked at a few. He even read RAT again. Then he demanded the X. (He really likes the letter animations.) I gave him more words. He demanded the W. I read him the MAX HAD A SAX story. He listened. When I asked him if he could find MAX in the word list at the end, he pointed. I couldn't tell what he was pointing to, but Steven said it was indeed MAX. I asked him to point to SAX. He demanded more letters. I took him to the virtual zoo. I asked him what picture he saw (a lion was up there) he said a rhinoceros. I said "no" and he said "goat." I showed him a tiger and he said "goat." I showed him a wolf. "Goat" was the reply. He then asked for the Y. Steven said "this is what we put up with all day." Indeed. I raised his mother.

The good news: every day with Papa on grandparent games seems right to him. Me too. Steven told him to thank me at the end. Hana never would have done that. She knows who gets the better end of the deal.

Max appears!

2008-05-25T07:14:00.002-04:00

Max's parents both work full time so I only can see him on grandparent games on the weekend. He was cute as ever. At almost 7 months, Max seemed mostly interested in eating the keyboard. I, of course, sent the pictures for little kids that we have, and he looked at them and payed attention for maybe 15 seconds each time. Then we let him bang on the keyboard and produce letters, and finally I showed him some videos. He liked the trumpet but did not like the ukulele. He liked London Bridge, but not the lullabies that were slow to start or in any way subtle. We will need to label the videos we have as baby appropriate, meaning , among other things, that something interesting happens real fast.

Breakfast with Milo

2008-05-24T08:44:00.003-04:00

Milo woke up and asked to talked to Papa. Yea! This was, in fact, my main reason to build grandparent games. I want him to wake up and figure Papa is awake and ready to play. He is still too little to do that on his own, but we are not too far from the day when his mother doesn't have to be involved at all. Today he actually read DAD. I decided to see if he could read apart from the games themselves which have plenty of cues to hint at the words.

So I put the large letter keyboard up and typed BUG, an animation that he loves. He said it spelled MILO. Of course, I had always written MILO before on the whiteboard, so this was not unreasonable on his part. Then I pushed him to answer and he made B sounds and then asked what U sounded like (and said Umbrella before I could answer), and then said, hard to believe, BUG! I wrote TUG, another animation he loves, and he fumbled around a while, made noises and then said TUG. Later, after we read the MAX and the CAT story, I put up the words at the end and asked him to point to the word MAX and he did (so said Hana.)

We are getting there, and by that I don't mean he is getting to where he can read, which he is. I know he will learn to read at some point. But learning that Papa is a regular part of his life? Priceless.

Milo runs to the kitchen

2008-05-23T19:18:00.001-04:00

Milo decided today that when he wanted a letter on grandparentgames he should first run to the kitchen and get a letter off the refrigerator to show me. This was fun for both of us. We counted. We read stories. We read three letter words. We made lion noises at each other. And, we cried when we heard we had to go to bed. A good time was had by all.

Dinner with Milo

2008-05-21T20:00:00.002-04:00

It wasn't planned that way. But Hana couldn't drag Milo off grandparent games when it was time for him to eat. So he ate in front of the computer. The mango looked good. In the mean time we played with the three letter words. I realize that now that Milo knows what words and animations are there, he can ask for his favorites in the "build a word" part. This means that if he wants to see CAN, which he likes a lot, he has to tell me what letters go on either side of the A, which he can do. He loves BUG and there were a few requests for DAD too. When he is motivated he knows which letters go where. He may not be reading, but he sure is getting the hang of the idea of constructing words. He will do what he has to do in order to see the animations that he likes best. More importantly he loves being on the computer with me. I had to quit so I could eat dinner too.

20 minutes with Milo

2008-05-20T18:25:00.003-04:00

I was having a pretty dull day. Then Hana called to say that they were back from the store and Milo was ready to talk on grandparent games. He asked for letters but I moved into the "build a word" we have up now that lets him construct a three letter word of his choice. His eyes lit up from excitement. So many choices, and a grandfather who did whatever he asked. He asked for BUG 6 times, and RAT and CAT and the joy on his face was the best part of my day by far. He read those words, plus MAX without much coaxing. All right. He has lots of external cues, so maybe he isn't reading them exactly. But he is pretty close.

Milo, Milo, quite contrary

2008-05-16T18:10:00.004-04:00

Despite the fact that Milo knows all the letters he keeps asking to see them. He just loves the animations, I guess. He also loved the new "pick a letter to go before and after the vowel" game. He wanted to keep playing that long after we were out of letters. We did keyboard practice because he said he wanted to spell MILO, which in fact he never did or even tried to do. When I suggested counting, he said ok, reluctantly, and resolved his conflict by saying there were 3 dogs when there were actually 2, a number he indeed knows. When I showed him what 3 looks like, he said that was 2. There is a pattern here. We did get through a whole EZ to read story, but, despite laughing at the cat in the sax pictures, he simply demanded more letters. That's my boy!

milo fights back

2008-05-14T18:19:00.002-04:00

Milo liked the new bat picture but mostly he wanted to see letters again. I decided it would be fun for him to type MILO on the keyboard after reviewing the M and L and I and O on ggames. Milo had other ideas. He loves the Owl picture and the Milk picture, but getting him to type the M for Milo on the keyboard was another issue. At first, I thought he was having trouble finding the I, which I guess he was, after easily finding the M. But what was actually going on is that he was enjoying give me 15 P's when I asked for an I. So, we had fun fighting with each other sending all the wrong letters. When he put up 10 K's I erased them and then he fought back with 15 Z's, a letter he seems to like a lot. The upshot was that I did get him to type just one M (he gets it about 1 and 2 so far) followed by one I until we did indeed write MILO. I cheered, then got him to write DOG, asked for RAT and got every letter he could send at me. So we laughed, and, of course, that was really the point now wasn't it?