1. Answer it. As your dear is learning the world around him, he will likely ask you lots of questions. When he does, be intentional and thorough with your answers. Certainly use language that he can understand, but don't worry too much about overwhelming him. I'm convinced that far more can go in than comes out in the early years. If you're challenged with questions for which you don't have an answer, look it up. You'll be demonstrating habits that will help him down the road and you might be amazed by how much you'll learn, too!
2. Expand the reading. How many of us can recite Brown Bear, Brown Bear or Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? in our sleep? If you find yourself reading the same books over and over to your child, know that this is a wonderful exercise developmentally. It might become monotonous to you, and if so, try spicing things up by asking them questions about different things on the page. For example, "How many ears does the bunny have?," "What color is this? Is it red or blue?," or "Does the bird look happy or sad?" As they get older you can take it a step further by discussing the rhyming words or testing their memory to see if they know what happens next in the story.
3. Turn mundane routines into learning opportunities. Take the opportunity during routine endeavors to learn about letters, numbers, shapes and colors. We sing the ABC song while we're washing our hands (if you have a tiny one, you can sing while changing a diaper). At the end we sing, "Now I can wash this soap off me" (the grammatically correct among you might want to say myself instead of me) instead of "Next time won't you sing with me?" You can also create a stack of socks while you fold laundry and count the number of individual socks or count by 2s once the pairs are matched. When walking or driving, point out shapes on road signs and describe things by color (e.g. "Look at that blue truck"). They may not catch on right away, but with repetition, they eventually will!
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