Pictures and conversations

I have been trying to teach Jane the proper conjugation of verbs recently by phrasing things different ways in conversations with her, like this:

'Jane, did you go to class today? Yes, you went to class.'
'Jane, did you see the squirrel? Yes, you saw the squirrel!'

It makes for a bit of a repetitive monologue on my part, but it seems to help clarify the rules somewhat. Or at least it would, if English weren't so chock full of irregular verbs and exceptions to rules.

Last night I was winding her down for bedtime and asking her questions about her day. She remarked, 'Jane plew with Cate.' That one threw me for a loop, and it was only after further questioning that I figured out that she was applying the blow...blew/throw...threw rule to the word play. I can't say that I blame her.

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Ella, meanwhile, finally cut her third tooth on Monday. She is fond of pulling herself up on furniture and then panicking when she finds herself stuck there - kind of the opposite of the classic 'Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!' After disdaining solid food for months on end, consistently spitting out and spluttering over every single spoonful we tried to feed her, she has decided in the last week or so that she does actually like solids, on her terms. Meaning, she will still automatically spit out anything we try to put in her mouth, but if we put her in the high chair and hand her the goods, she'll dig in with a right good will. Having recently read the Little House books, I am reminded of Laura's comment on trying to teach the calf to drink from a bucket: 'In the end, some of the milk was inside the calf.'