Farm Life

We are at my Mum and Dad’s farm, ‘Amaroo’,  in the Hunter Valley at the moment.  Imogen and Henry are loving the farm life and enjoying spending time with their grandparents. 

One focus of learning for Henry recently has been animals- their names, the sounds they make, their colour and feel.  Children’s books and toys are always filled with animals so they have always been a great thing to learn about.  However nothing beats the real thing.  Amaroo provides a rich source of sounds and opportunities to talk the different animals that Henry now sees every day.  He is getting really good at imitating the ‘moo’ sound whenever Grandma takes him for a walk to see the cows.  He is not quite spontaneously naming them that first, but he definitely understands that the ‘moo’ sound belongs with the cows.  Amaroo has a huge variety of (noisy) birds and Henry can immediately hear the sound and start looking for where the bird is – ie. he knows that it is a bird making the sound and not something else.  Every day he is learning about new sounds and what they relate to –the sound of leaves crunching as he crawls through the autumn leaves, the sound of the wind chimes blowing in the wind, the running creek, Grandpa Jack starting the tractor, Mindy the dog yelping, Uncle Jase throwing the basketball against the backboard, Uncle Matt riding the skateboard.   My little boy who is profoundly deaf- all these sounds he hears, and processes and learns to associate meaning to.  I am still amazed how lucky we are!

Henry helping Grandma and Grandpa with the cows

Henry and Imogen on the bike

Henry and Grandpa Jack

Always learning - on the bike again