New Digs for Ford

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Ford is in that whirlwind of development right now where literacy unfolds and reading kicks in. He is devouring books. On any given night you might find him lying on his back on the sofa, nose in a spy book, quiet as a mouse. I have been longing for this day. Suddenly, the whirlwind rests, content and cerebral.

He started his own pictoblog last week! a place where he can post his doodles and an outlet for his creative writing practice. This enables him to quickly express himself by dictating a story to me. I’m encouraging him to write his explanations at the bottom, too, so he can actually practice his penmanship. At this point, it’s faster to dictate, and the momentum isn’t lost– these small baby steps are very important.

If When you visit his blog, you’ll have to register as a user in order to leave a comment. Though it’s an initial hassle, from that point onward you’ll only have to login in order to comment and his site won’t get flooded with spam. Please leave him an encouraging comment and tell him what you think of his project. Feedback is a tremendously powerful thing at this age and I’d love to see a commitment from him strengthen over time as he realizes that an online sketchbook can become a place not only for self-expression but a springboard for storytelling and discussion and making new friends.

Thanks!
*steph

Ford blogs: Japanese Tea Garden

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Yesterday we went to the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco and we got tea.. It was Japanese tea, no, Jasmine tea. It tasted kinda good.
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A lady with a pink dress, a kimono, with birds on it, gave it to us.

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Mom look at me. Mom, look.
Mom, look at me!
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…And we had treats: cookies.
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Then we went for a walk where the pond was and we saw some fish. They were koi fish. They were white and orange and big.
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The garden looked like a big giant map thing, like a circle, with bridges that had no rails whatsoever. And stepping stones! That was really fun for me.
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We walked under a big red castle tower thing.
But we got cold.
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And I had to go to the bathroom.
But we went to the gift store. I got a Japanese paintbrush kit.
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I chose that ’cause it’s kinda cool to me. I like Japanese characters and it had those and some pictures on it. Now I want to paint with it. Period.
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