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.
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