In my desire to save on electricity, I usually turn off the air conditioner on most nights especially now that Christmas breeze is already around. The other night, I was busy arranging Cammie's things and I felt hot from the activity. Then, I noticed that Cammie turned the electric fan off.

I commanded her gently "Please turn the electric fan back on, it's hot."

She looked at me quizzically, shook her head firmly then signed "cold" by shaking her closed fists. True enough, I touched her skin and it does feel cold. My one-year old just opposed and reasoned with me.

Cammie spent her 1st Birthday celebration with the company of orphans who share her love for the simplest of things: fun, food, and family. We had the most wonderful time sharing blessings with these kids. The look of happiness on their faces is unforgettable..priceless...

Somebody asked me to share Cammie's schedule for lessons. Well..I'm ashamed to say that we have no schedule!

Others think that since Cammie is doing well on Doman, we must have followed a schedule and we must have followed it strictly. I would have wished that's the case because if it is, I can proudly say that we have been consistent, we have spent many hours making flashcards, and we sacrificed our personal time for the program but surprisingly, the answer is NO.

Doman has put most emphasis on the JOYOUSNESS when teaching and I guess that's what made our program successful.

Now that I think of it, what we have done isn't really a Doman program at all if you'll look at it in terms of number of repetitions, schedule, and retiring of flashcards. Take a look at our typical day:

• Cammie wakes up. We roll around the bed and talk to her gently about how she slept.
• Booktime: She would go to her books and open them one by one. We try to read some words to her but she's in control of the flipping of the pages.
• Light breakfast of Bob's Mill Organic 6-grain Hot cereal w/ Flaxseed and Earth's Best Organic Applesauce.
• Morning walk. She would walk around fifty meters before getting tired.
• Bath-time with Daddy or Ate Beth.
• Video watching: Tweedlewink (8-min) and Baby Signing Time (20 min)
• Playtime with her toys. Classical music plays in the background.
• First nap.(1-2 hours)
  
• Conversations at bed and book-reading.
• Lunchtime. She usually eats her 6-grain cereal, chicken and sayote. Banana and applesauce for dessert.
• Walking time again. (Around 30 min)
• Playtime with Ate Care
• Random flashcard showing (around 5 minutes)
• Video Watching: (40 min) Your Baby Can Read, Baby Signing Time, Little Reader
• Vestibular Activities
• 2nd Nap (30 min)
  
• Dinner Time
• Walking and playing time again
  
• Video Watching: (40 min) Tweedlewink, Glenn Doman Pict Dictionary, Baby Signing Time
• Playtime, a little of book time
  
• Midnight Snack: Banana and bread
• Rolling and signing on the bed for 30 min (this is her way of making sleep)
• 12 midnight: Finally, she's asleep!

We went to visit Cammie's Lolas last Sunday. She read all the flashcards that I brought with us, much to her Lolas' delight! We went back home the same day but accidentally left her flashcards. Having almost no materials to review for almost a week, I tried writing some words on the whiteboard for Cammie to read. Guess what? She recognized ALL the words I wrote! I guess we won't be needing the flashcards after-all!

One of the games we play with Cammie is called "1,2,3 Attack!". Tonight, after a long session of tickling her, I began to proceed to our "Attack Game". Right after I counted to "3" though, Cammie looked at me sternly and emphatically signed "STOP".

Not surprisingly, she had her desired response. I stopped, literally stunned at how she just "commanded" me by signing exactly what she mean.

We have been planning for ages to bring Cammie into a photo studio that specializes at kiddie shots but we're afraid her chicken pox scars might ruin the shots. Last week, I brought her into one anyways and I'm glad I did! These are fabulous pictures!

Here's a video of Cammie reading more than a dozen words. In the first video, she obediently did the actions the words represented but when it came to do the action for "kiss", she just continued to "spin". She doesn't want to kiss anybody else these days except for her mommy :-)

In the second video, Cammie pretty much did every single flashcard. She "signed" (American Sign Language) some of the words like "dog", "thank you", "ball", and "hat". ASL sure is handy! She wouldn't be able to express herself in such a specific way if not for ASL.

Historic events are by a handful these days. For the first time in the history of mankind, evidence of water in the moon has been found and an effective vaccine for AIDS has finally been formulated.

Moving down to our humble abode, Cammie is making her own little history. At 11-months, she is already mastering spatial concepts (under, on top, inside, out, etc).

Here's a video of her showing her mastery on putting her toys "inside" and taking them "out" upon my instructions. She knows much more than these two spatial concepts but that is another video session to capture (Doman moms, you know what I mean ;-)

Long before Cammie has her teeth, her favorite thing to munch on is corn. Not any of her teethers, nor her toys, but corn. She would suck on it for hours - no kidding! When you hand her a corn, you'll have an un-protesting angel who you could kiss and cuddle for as long as want.

Today, she now has two front teeth. Imagine her delight when she can actually bite on her favorite veggie! Here's a picture of her after a mall trip. She held her corn for around 3 hours and was holding it still even after she went to sleep on the bed.

I just bought this book and doesn't plan on implementing the suggestions any time soon but the way Cammie posed with it looks like she is advertising it!


Cammie: "Hi! I'm a product of this book. It really works!"

The other night at bedtime, Cammie has been very cranky. She wouldn't want to play with her toys, nor watch her videos, nor to be carried by Mommy. I was at the end of my rope but I gently asked "What do you want to do honey? Where do you want to go?" She looked pointedly at the door and signed "outside".

Sometimes "signing" puts us parents into a difficult position. Once the little one signed exactly what she wants, we could not just ignore it or pretend we don't know what's wrong.

Hide-and-seek has been Cammie's favorite social play. Over the months, she has been finding ways to play her favorite game with different things - the electric fan, the dining chairs, the curtains, and the blanket. Here's some of our blankie-peek-a-boo moments.

My poor darling has chicken-pox. It has been a week of sleepless nights and heavy hearts as we watch Cammie sprout new rashes everyday. Fever has been spiking on and off and I can tell that she's really uncomfortable. She would not sleep on the bed at all but only on my chest (daddy's chest is harder that's why).

As I write this, she is on her way to recovery and guess what? She is already on the mood to get back to learning!

On her "fruits" book, there are around 12-15 pictures of different fruits. On a whim, I asked "Where's the pineapple?" and she touched the pineapple. Same goes with "orange", "apple", "kiwi", "strawberry", etc. She really does know her fruits! Not just with her flashcards which we let her choose from two choices but she knows how identify them among a dozen.

10 mos old is time for "Baby Signing Time!" This has been Cammie's favorite video. She just loves seeing the babies singing to the tune of the fabulous songs of Rachel.

Cammie's first sign was "milk" and "sleep". We witnessed it during a long drive. She is getting cranky and elaborately wipes her hand down her face (sign for sleep) over and over. It took a while until we recognize it because we didn't think she could already sign.


After several days, she has been signing "dog", "ball", "airplane", and "car".

I never thought baby signing could be such a great help! Communicating with your baby in such a specific manner is sooo cool!

It's been almost two months since we have "tested" Cammie. Today, it's obvious to us that she's in a good mood so we decided to do a quick test. Guess what? She passed with flying colors!

Here's a video of Cammie reading. Our fault is we didn't get enough cards for her to read!

On my last post at Brillkids forum, I reported that Cammie has been recognizing words when she sees them AND hears them. Exactly ONE day after that, I tried to show some words WITHOUT reading them out loud and she did the actions the words represented!

When I first saw Aleka reading at 9 months, I had high hopes that Cammie could "read" early, but I didn't expect it to happen at 9 months too!

Now the problem on how to document it... She had showed-off just 3-times, reading 6-7 words. ALL the other times, she would just get excited and kick her legs or read 2 or 3 words. In this video, she is around 9.5 months & I have captured her reading just a couple of words and on some words, she would not do the actions so I prompted her by speaking the words.



*Another video. This time she reads 3 words then decided "spinning" much more fun. Haha!

Some of the things that Cammie knows are direct results of the Doman program but most of her abilities are INDIRECT results and these are far more amazing. For example, she will clap when she sees the word "clap". This is a direct result. She responded as expected.

The following story shows an indirect result of the program:

I have bought a set of Mega Bloks (blocks) for her. This comes with a large chunky blocks and a figurine of a little boy. These were not discussed in her lessons nor she have seen them before and I can sense her excitement. She began to touch and "taste" all of it, paying no particular attention on any of the blocks nor the figurine.

On a whim, I asked "Where is the little boy?" She looked at me then looked around - left, right, center, left and went back to center again, this time with a smile on her lips and eureka in her eyes. She found the little boy figurine and grabbed it.

Cammie, at her tender age (9.5 mos), can understand the meaning of the words "little" and "boy" and more significantly, she can combine the two meanings and connect it to a visual representation - the boy figurine.

The brain grows as you use it. It grows through knowledge and proper stimulation. Some would think that using flashcards are a way of just "making the child remember or memorize" but in fact, it also creates NEW brain pathways. And the more pathways the brain have, the more connections it can create.

Cammie's 9th month is full of new discoveries and wonderful moments. This month, she has been kissing us (especially her Dad) unprompted. She's so expressive of her emotions!

Also this month, her understanding of language has increased so much that she responds masterfully to an array of commands:

"Turn off the electric fan."
"Get one diaper".
"Brush my hair."
"Tap the milk-can."
"Kick."
"Clap."
"Find the remote control."
"Dance". (she would bounce up and down)

She also knows almost every single thing inside the house and we're running out of things to teach her!

Truly, her knowledge had multiplied a hundred-fold just as Glenn Doman discussed in his books. And to think this is only the beginning!

Cameron is 9mos old today! Time indeed flies by so fast. My once tiny and helpless baby has blossomed into an independent, creative, strategic, fun-loving individual that needs little help from me.

On this day, here are some of what she can do BY HERSELF:

- Climbs the entire flight of a 15-foot stairs (without any help!)
- Climbs a two-foot high table
- Turns on the computer
- Turns off the electric fan (this can get annoying)
- Opens the door by pulling on the doorknob
- Identify dozens of items
(body parts, things around the house, flashcards, toys, etc)
- Searches the room for things I ask for
(this is handy when Im trying to find something like the remote)
- Self-feeds with finger foods
- Chews deliberately & thoroughly until the food is processed enough to be swallowed (though she has no teeth yet)
- Operates toys that are fit for one-year olds
- Stay focused on her lessons for 20-30 minutes straight
- Initiate & actively participate in hide-and-seek
- Crawls, cruises , & climbs while holding something in one hand
- Sleeps independently without rocking
- Cues her needs and almost never threw tantrums
- And as always, lifts our spirits by her mere smile alone

There's so much she can do already and she's really,really ahead in most areas of development especially in memory functions and motor/fine motor skills.

However, she has some "weaknesses". For one, she isn't interested in imitating speech. I know she can though, I have seen her do it a few times. Another thing is she's more interested in other's body parts than her own. She could easily identify my teeth, my tongue, my hair, even the small mole on my shoulder but she's not responding when it comes to her own.

Overall, I can say I am very happy and proud of her milestones. Who would have guessed that this brilliant girl was once in danger of not thriving in my uterus? Thank God for our little angel.

Here's a video of Cammie climbing the stairs. I never allowed her to do this until today. This only her 2nd time doing this and yet her moves are calculated and confident - as if she's been doing this for a long time already!

For a couple of weeks now, Cammie has been giving us a kiss when we ask for it. However, she would not kiss us if she's not in the mood. And as if knowing that a kiss is a sign of farewell, she would kiss anyone who would say goodbye.

I taught her how to kiss by using Jacques (her plush toy) as a model. I would kiss Jacques first and let her do it. She learned in SECONDS.

Things are getting real interesting and BORING at the same time.

First, the interesting part - Cammie has been identifying new things. Here's a list of what she's added to her ever-expanding knowledge base: the water jug, her milk bottle, her toy car, Pooh (toy), Jacques (toy), Tucker (toy), the clock, the window, the sunflower downstairs, the doorknob, my mole, my teeth, my hair, etc.

Now, the boring part - I have more time to kill than I care to have.

Teaching her has been so easy and took so little time that I am wishing for something MORE we could do. Don't get me wrong, it's heaven when I'm with Cammie but for most of the day, all I do is chase her around as she crawls and climbs.

Time to be creative and think of enriching activities she'll enjoy.

Somebody asked me if I'm still using real flashcards. The answer is YES! Flashcards can go where NO computer program can go. They're an essential! Here's some pics of our flashcards and the labels I have put on household items.

Math became Cammie's favorite when she was 4-6 months old and then she lost some interest. When I "test" her with quantities, she would crawl away. But today, she surprised all of us!

The other night, I posted her math flashcards on our bedroom wall to form equations. I casually identified each card to her. I did this only TWICE. Just this evening, I asked on a whim "Where is 5-2=3?" Cammie looked straight at the posted equation! I asked another question "Where is 4+7=11?" She turned her head to look at the correct equation!

To capture this on video, I repeated the questions OVER AND OVER, buying some time for Donald to get the camera. When he finally got the video-camera going, he had captured the THIRD time I'm asking the same questions. As a result, Cammie has already figured out that I'm just asking TWO questions and is automatically facing the NEXT answer after finishing the current question!

We are in the most trying of times (in terms of teaching Cammie that is). She is an unstoppable force that crawls, cruises, and climbs at lightning speed. She wouldn't spare a single moment! She climbs the dining table when we're eating, climbs the computer table when we're showing her lessons and climbs ME when I dance her to sleep!

I know every Doman mom goes through this phase but I didn't know it would be this difficult! I'm wondering if she's picking up anything because she's so preoccupied with employing her physical faculties.

I must understand though that this is her time to master her somatic skills and we need to adapt the lessons to her - not force her to conform to schedule. She will come around in her own sweet time. In the meantime, I'll just take this opportunity to move my lazy butt and have an exercise chasing her around!

We are running out of flashcards for "testing" and I decided to make some more - this time it's Cammie's National Flags cards.

On a whim, I showed one set and asked where's the Philippines flag. She easily touched the correct card. She is in the mood for problem solving! Sadly though, I could only show one set because I haven't labeled the cards yet so I myself don't know which is which! I'm afraid the student is more knowledgeable than the teacher. Haha!

Cammie is the center of our universe and she is quick to remind us otherwise. Here's one instance:

Me and Donald are talking about his day at work while we let Cammie play with her blanket. We got deeper into our conversation and have not been paying attention to Cammie for quite a while.

After a few moments, I noticed Cammie pulling up her blanket to cover her face and then pulling it down. She did this 4 or 5 times before we realized - our 8-month-old is trying to get our attention by playing peek-a-boo!

Here's some short videos. Why does she always find the camera just when things get interesting?

As much as I avoid testing Cammie, I could not always keep reign on my husband's will. While I was sleeping, he tested her again. I was about to reprimand him but I quickly forgot my contrariness once I watched the video. She is sooo cute!

At the 3rd question, Cammie has her hands full of her toys so she just smiled at the right answer.

Donald: "Cammie, can you tell me which one is the elephant?"
Cam: (looked at the cards and gave a smile at the elephant)
Donald: "Where's the elephant?" "Elephant"
Cam: (looked back and forth at the two cards and smiled at the right answer)
Donald: "Elephant?"
Cam: (looked back & forth again as if she's confused why Donald didn't get her. "I SMILED at the elephant Daddy - like this! *smiles*)
Donald: "Oh you're tired na?"
Cam: (lost interest..Daddy just didn't get how she answered)

Donald grabbed her toys away and changed the set of cards and Cammie resumed to answer by touching the cards.

It's a shame to say that sometimes, we are inconsistent with the Doman program but we do photo-shoots on a DAILY BASIS.

As a result, our little one has learned to smile for the camera. At first, we would play peek-a-boo with the camera and click the shutter when she smiled. Not long after, she learned that we want to capture her "smile" so now we just point the camera at her and say "SMILE!" and she would give it her all.

When we look at most of the photos, her smiles seem spontaneous but here's a pic that DO look "choreographed".



On the other hand, you'd never guess these are her "automatic smiles"!