Sunday, January 29, 2012

our alphabet prodigy

**Warning: this post blatantly brags about the talents of my child.**

For some reason, Genghis got really into learning the alphabet. It started with his foam bath letters. We spent a lot of tub time pointing to letters and telling him what they were. I didn't think much of it until he turned around and started telling us all about the "O" and "A". Then he started pointing out Os everywhere we went. On the address on our door (technically a zero), street signs, books, cereal boxes.

Of course, we immediately got serious about letter training. Genghis has to sit through countless sessions of letters every day. (I just finished reading Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and was conscientious of fostering success while still upholding free choice). In addition to the foam letters, we also had an alphabet chart posted in the living room, write letters on paper or Abe's new Kindle Fire (Amazon, you owe me at least $0.05 for that), and pointed to random reading materials. Genghis learned to recognize letters in all formats.

On the near-eve of 18 months, he now knows all the letters with the possible exception of U and W. I say possible because I think he knows them but refuses to repeat them back, often insisting that U is C and always insisting that W is M.

Here his is with a slightly more limited repertoire over Christmas.

11 comments:

Megan said...

While Andrew is trying his hardest to break into the knife drawer or jump dangerously from the ottoman to the chair, Genghis is practically reading. I should probably invest in some foam bath letters!

The Lunds said...

That is amazing! Dylan can only say one word, and hearing screams of mom all day every day can get pretty old. I can't wait to see what the smart boy can do by the time he's 2. Great job mom!

tpmotd said...

Fantastic!
What the video didn't show was Abe stopping the timer at the end and marking Ghengis's progress on a chart. "You shaved off 1.3 seconds that time!"

Erin Gong said...

His other favorite thing to do, Kami, is shout for Mama. We've been staying with my parents for a few days and Genghis has been pretty clingy. Pretty sure that's all I've heard him say, usually while literally clinging to my pant legs.

Jen said...

That's amazing! By the time your baby is born Genghis will be able to read his little sister bedtime stories.

Melaine said...

Holy Cow! My 18-month old can say "uh-oh." Does that count as the letter "O"? :)

Sarah said...

Dang it! I've been wasting my time on animal sounds...a completely useless skill. Maybe I should get Oliver some bath letters. But I think he would just eat them. Or throw them. Or pee on them.

Elsa knows most of her letters though.

Margaret said...

And I was impressed that my 3-year-old knows his letters...

Springer and/or Tyson (probably Springer) said...

I think it's totally awesome that he calls a U a C and a W an M. At least to me that says that he understands the shapes deeply enough to recognize that they're the same thing, just at a different angle. Brilliant kid! And way to parent him!

Janssen said...

Must starting doing some working with letters with Ella. This is impressive!

Dawn said...

Very cute! If he starts filling out college applications next week, well...let us know! :)