I asked some wise been-there-done-that moms how their kids started to learn about letters. Several recommended a DVD called "Leapfrog Letter Factory", which Maya quickly took to (given the choice to watch Elmo or "The letters" before bed, she's been chosing the letters).
They sing a cute song about the noises that the letters make, and Maya likes to sing along. . .
Don't get too excited about her tearing through the alphabet, her mouth isn't nearly ready to start making the C sound
Again, I'm not a big advocate of pushing educational stuff onto kids constantly (I'm a big believer in play), but if she's showing interest in letters, I'm going to ride this wave :)
PS-If you just see a black box, click it and the video will start.
1. Maya &Parker are BFFs. He likes to try to engage her in playing, which is adorable. When I unrolled the tunnel for Maya the other day, they immediately fell into playing this game: Maya crawls through the tunnel, Parker walks along the outside. When Maya passes by a window he would poke his nose with it, which makes her giggle wildly. Then when she emerges, he gives her a thorough sniffing to make sure nothing strange happened in the tunnel:
2. Maya makes animal sounds now! She can do a cow (Oom. It's "moo" backwards), a duck (which is clicking her tongue), and a dog (for some strange reason, a dog nods, apparently. I don't know if maybe I nod my head when I say "woof" or what. But if you ask her what a dog says, she nods).
Also, she'll "sing" for you, which is saying "la la la".
Stay tuned through the surprise ending.
As usual, if you don't see the videos just click play and they'll appear.
