N A C H O

These are the letters Grafton was able to write last night, following Mom's instruction.

Grafton and Dad Read "The Lorax"

Grafton recites pieces of "The Lorax"...from memory!

Training Wheels

Grafton's been having a ton of fun at school riding the red tricycles on the playground. He's told us about it a number of times when we've asked him what he did at school that day. (Usually he'll also explain that he didn't crash into anyone.) So realizing how much he was enjoying the pedaling experience, we headed to the bike store and traded in Grafton's Specialized Hotwalk bicycle for a Schwinn Gremlin pedal bicycle, with training wheels. At first, it didn't go so well, as he kept hitting the breaks (turning the pedals in reverse), and had lots of trouble getting started. Then Dad realized that the cranks were binding for some unknown reason. After a quick repair at the bike shop, the pedals were turning smoothly, and Grafton did much better. He still would hit the breaks at inopportune times, and didn't always apply them after picking up speed on a downhill section. But the couple of times we've taken him out for a ride, he has been able to get cruising on the sidewalks around our house. For short bursts, at least. So far, each time, we've ended up dragging the bike home ourselves. But I'm sure it won't be long before we can't get him to bike back home at all.

Letters (ASCII 0x40-0x90)

We've been working with Grafton to start teaching him to recognize the letters of the alphabet. His Baba made him a nice flip book of the alphabet, one letter to per page, with accompanying pictures. Most nights we flip through a number of pages to recite the letters and ask him what letters he's seeing. (He likes to do this with his Dad by flashlight, after we turn out the lights in his bedroom). With the exception of 'G' he has yet to demonstrate he's learning the alphabet. But I actually think he knows more than he lets on, as he has a tendency to tell us "I don't know" any time he's not entirely certain about an answer.

Tonight, at dinner, we were pointing out to him the letters that start various words of items at the table ("pizza", "cup", etc.). He was more attentive and engaged than usual. After running through a number of words, we recited a list of 'B' words, and asked him what letter they started with, after sounding out the 'B' sound for him a few times ("buh, buh, buh"). He called out "B!" and we could tell he was very excited at being able to identify the letter. This motivated him a bit more, and he started asking us what letter various other words started with. He went on doing this longer than we would have expected, showing us that he really is getting interested in figuring out how letters relate to words (you know, what we adults call "spelling").

Lately, Grafton has also really enjoyed putting together his alphabet train jigsaw puzzle. He will often call us over to help him identify the letters so that he can piece together the train into the full alphabet.

Hopefully, his interest in the alphabet will continue to grow! I feel like he's on the verge of a minor intellectual jump...if we can keep him motivated to learn.