![\"girl-by-fence\"](\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/yuma-mom-daughter.png\")
When Amy Crawford gave birth to her baby girl, she felt an overwhelming anxiety.<\/p>\nWhen Amy Crawford gave birth to her baby girl, she felt an overwhelming anxiety.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u201cWe felt lost and scared and did not know what to do,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cI asked for advice from my mom and my mom-in-law, who had come out to Arizona to help us as we started our journey from a couple to a trio.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bThe advice was always well-intended, but Crawford and her husband, who live in Yuma, often found it conflicting and not always up-to-date with the latest research.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bAbout this time, Crawford discovered First Things First.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u201cI found they had resources galore,\u201d she said. Soon after, Crawford enrolled in the FTF-funded, Arizona PBS Yuma Early Literacy Project. The program offered parenting education classes, where she learned how babies develop language skills through high-quality interactions with caring adults in their lives.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bMore tips included reading to her baby while she nursed.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u201cWe started reading to Katie when she was just days old,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cAt first I thought it was weird to talk to her. I shared my concern with the Program Educator and she advised me to tuck Katie\u2019s head up under my chin, or her cheek, and I would sing to her, so she could feel the vibrations from my throat.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bSoon, she was talking to baby, explaining everything she was doing, from changing her diaper to putting on her clothes.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u201cI still remember I would say \u2018first we do one arm, then two arm and over the toppie (for her head),\u201d Crawford said. \u201cThese were just silly little, mommy and daddy made-up rhymes. But you know what? It helped build our child\u2019s vocabulary!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bToday, Katie is 6 years old and Crawford credits the Early Literacy Project as helping her establish the foundation so that her daughter was ready for kindergarten and now first grade.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"