I’m pretty sure “Ah wee ah wee ah wee” is “Away, away, away.” When we were putting the rods away, I almost always sang him the first line of “Away, Away! My Heart’s on Fire.” It wasn’t long before he was joining me.

I think you’re right: the signing book caught his attention very early on. But even then, the heavy use of that book was largely his preference.

He says “First rods… Ah wee ah wee ah wee … first mess then play.”

What’s he saying at the end of the Cuisenaire rod video?

I assure you, Joseph is even more amazing in person than on video. He reminds me a lot of T and his dinosaurs. 🙂

You can’t really tell that he’s naming the states without knowing that what he says is consistent — he always says the same sound for Wyoming, Mississippi, Indiana, Connecticut, etc. even though it is not recognizable as the state name, except for Maine.

What struck me about the blackboard videos was that I could see what I couldn’t see from my vantage point behind him: his careful, consistent study of the words before lowering his eyes and asking for more. Also that you can judge how much he was enjoying the exercise by the fact that after Janet wrote “spin” he asked for more words, rather than to be spun around in Janet’s desk chair.

Note that when he says letter names he is often signing them at the same time. (That’s how you can tell K from J, which sound alike.) I have a suspicion that his alphabet signing book was a not insignificant contributor to his love of letters.

I did notice that all the states appeared to be blue.

S