He Can Write!

Declan, who is 3.5 years, recently learned the alphabet and how to write his name. Of course like everything else, there is a story. A little over a month ago Declan was playing with his buddy Solomon (on the flying trampoline) :
I asked Solomon's Mom about his mastery of the alphabet (I had noticed he could identify several letters). She said he did infact know the alphabet. I thought "oh my goodness, I'm neglecting my child, he's already getting behind, what kind of mother am I!?" Declan has been able to identify "D"'s for a year now, but I hadn't worked with him at all on the alphabet. That night I went out and bought the Lap Frog magnets for our fridge and started a "Letter Wall" by his bed at night. I knew it would be too easy to put off working on this during the day, and I would be faced with the reality of "do it now, or skip a day" if I neglected to work on his Letter Wall at night. It worked great, I started with three letters, and I reviewed them nightly, encouraging him to trace each letter with his finger as he said it. As he learned 3 letters, I would add the next letter . My Mom helped out and purchased the Letter Factory video by Leap Frog. Declan really took off then. He LOVED the video, watching it four times in a row the very first night.

Two weeks go by, we are halfway through the alphabet on the Letter Wall, and he has probably logged 15 viewings of the Letter Factory. I'm working on a puzzle one night and Declan walks up with his little chalk board and says 'this is a letter" - he has drawn a PERFECT 'Q' - I was STUNNED. The last time I had practiced drawing with him was months ago when I was drawing circles and squares. I have never worked on letters with him. I praise him and tell him how amazed I am...but I'm ashamed to say I go back to my puzzle (vs. jumping up and writing letters with him) He comes back a few minutes later "Mom, this is the letter A ". Okay - now I'm floored. I decide it's time to show him how to write his name. I show him, he writes it 2x, then the next morning he remembers how to write it all by himself! Here we are a week later, and I haven't asked him to write in 3 days, so I ask him to write me his name this morning. You can see the great job he did above! Okay I know this was a long-winded brag session, but I am just proud of my boy. I've also learned just how much and quickly they can learn at this age. The night of the "Q incident", I immediately finished putting up the last 13 letters on his letter wall (he knew almost all of them) and thanks to Leap he can also tell me the sound of each letter. I guess we're on our way to reading! Woo-Hoo :)

I know I've blogged a lot today. I'm getting the hang of this and I'm a big talker with lots to say. I have another topic/story that has been simmering in my head for a few days, so I'm sure I'll be blogging again soon!

M