When we moved, we got all sorts of coupons and offers in the mail as new residents in the area. One of these was from Metrolink, the commuter train in Southern California. They gave us four free one trip tickets on the train. We thought we might take the train up to LA some Saturday or something, but when it came down to it, that takes 90 minutes each way, it would take the whole day, and oh wait...we have an 18 month old who really struggles to sit still.
The tickets were about to expire, so we took a 20 minute ride south to San Clemente on Saturday afternoon. San Clemente has two stops about 2 miles apart. We got off at the first one and took a walk/hike through the neighborhoods to get to the other one, which is at the San Clemente Pier. We got there about an hour before our train came, so we played on the beach for a while. The waves were really big and we got to watch some surfers. Ellen also played in the sand with the little boy sitting next to us. She's so friendly and social. We caught the train home and enjoyed looking out the window at everyone on the beach.
Doing the sign for "train" on the train. We counted recently and Ellen knows 32 signs. I should do a post on that soon...
Doing the sign for "train" on the train. We counted recently and Ellen knows 32 signs. I should do a post on that soon...
Starting on our walk/hike.
We were glad it was overcast because it was still plenty hot without the direct sun
beating down on us.
We stopped at a playground about halfway and let Ellen get her wiggles out.
It was a great afternoon outing!
I love the picture of you and Ellen on the train. You have that pregnancy glow! That's awesome she knows so many signs!
ReplyDeleteFun outing!
ReplyDeleteMy sister-in-law teaches her kids to sign, and it seems pretty neat, although her kids took a while to talk. Have you noticed that with Ellen at all?
Megan, sorry I'm so slow to respond to your comment. Ellen hasn't made a lot of progress on speaking until the last month or so. (She's 20 months now). I feel like signing has been a life saver because otherwise the lack of communication would have been awful. While she hasn't been the first of kids her age to talk, we know other kids her age who don't sign who are at about the same place as her with speaking. She likes to babble and once she learns to say a word, she has stopped using the sign or she says the word while doing the sign. (That's very helpful for when she isn't saying a word clearly yet, so it helps me know what she's trying to say.) I don't think it has had any long term negative effects and research shows it actually helps in a lot of ways. Overall it is the benefit of communication that I have loved! I highly recommend it. :)
ReplyDelete