Sal’s 18 months today. Lately - his letter recognition has sky rocketted. He went from learning the sounds of all the letters watching the letter factory to now excitedly pointing out letters and telling us what they are. He can’t pass a McDonald’s sign w/out yelling out a big “MMMMMMM” even though he doesn’t care much for the food he’s tried (the toys though - that’s a different story). He’s got most of the letters down and it’s been really fun watching him take this leap.

We never really used flash cards. Couldn’t seem to capture Sal’s attention. We completely agreed with the statement of “stop before they get bored” and that seemed to be pretty much instantaneously w/ Sal. Every kid’s going to be different. For Sal - there were a couple things that clicked for him.

I think the first thing that clicked for him was his letter factory dvd. Seriously the best 8 bucks we’ve spent. Immediately Sal was imitating the letters and although we’d limit his watching - he was eager to see more of his pal Tad. The dvd is really well done, perhaps a little repetitious - but great for a lil’n. Even when he wasn’t watching the DVD, he’d have a great time sitting in the car or while we went on walks singing the letter songs together as he supplied the letter sounds.

Whenever we go out to a store - we try to keep him entertained by finding things that he likes. Amongst those things has been letters. Any grocery store is filled with all sorts of items we can point out, look at letters, pictures to talk about - it makes for a better trip if he’s engaged rather then getting antsy. Not that it always works - but it’s one trick we’ll use. It’s also what we end up doing when we go out to eat and he’s reached his sitting down limit. We end up taking turns walking around outside. The bright neon signs are fun to point out and Sal seems to get a real satisfaction in identifying things (not just letters).

Another fun activity for Sal has been playing on the computer on starfall. Since Sal’s seen us on the computer so much - he was bound to be curious and we’ve found this to be one of his favorite sites. We even have to negotiate the number of letters that we will do. Sal’s favorite phrase right now is “one more!”. This site does an amazing job of teaching phonics. We haven’t progressed pass the letters portion, but I figure as he gets older we’ll be hitting the other parts of the site.

A bonus find for us that turned out to be fun for Sal was our letter puzzle mat. I mainly put the mat as a padding for his play area in the kitchen. It helped w/ cleanup - although - it’s big and bulky and Sal loved taking the letters apart. The maintenance can be a bit of a pain, having to take apart the mat to properly clean under it - but we recently found out that Sal’s great at helping to put the mat together by asking him for the letters. Since he’s a toddler - he loves to walk over - pick up a big letter and bring it back. It combines some of his favorite activities - identifying, and carrying things that are big (but luckily not heavy). So - although it’s a little bit of a pain to clean up under - it’s turned into another activity that Sal enjoys.

And finally - the refridgerator magnets. We got the LeapFrog Refrigerator Magnets as a gift when he was 1 year old. At first - they were just fun to stick up on the fridge. We’d play the magnets for him - and he’d smile and play with the buttons - but that was about it. The fridge magnets have grown with him as he’s learned to play the magnets on his own - each a little song about the letter sung by his pal Tad.

We’ve tried not to push him or to spend a lot of his time for letter learning - really just encorporating little bits here and there through the day in things he enjoys. It’s amazing what they can learn with some fun and some time.

…you have a meeting and need to leave for work at 7:15 am and you don’t bother setting an alarm clock.

We like our pediatrician. She’s kind, willing to spend time chatting with us about our concerns, and checks our boy out pretty thoroughly. She’s got a couple of kids herself, which makes the anecdotes that much more heartfelt.

That said, I sometimes take her comments too lightly.

But then, weeks later, I’ll realize what she was talking about.

Last trip, he was just starting to walk. And he’d stumble around, and was learning how to turn. He’d teeter and wobble quite a bit too. She liked his progress and asked if he was walking backwards. We said a bit. Because sometimes, as he stumbled around, he’d take a step or two back. She said that’s great. It’s a phase all kids go through, and its fun.

We just nodded and went on.

Now, a month and a half later, our boy’s walking around backwards. That is, he’ll leave the room backwards. He’s going to places backwards. And he used to turn his head and check often. But it’s gotten less often. He’ll use the door frame to realize that he’s in the hallway and that it is time for him to turn. And now I realize what our doctor was talking about.

So instead of us thinking this boy is nuts, we know it’s just a phase he goes through. Hopefully, it’s helping him build his spatial maps & abilities. But it is probably just a bunch of fun. Tracey Morgan was talking about walking backwards last week on 30 Rock.

She also mentioned, the Goodnight Moon book - and how that was a phase the kids go through too. Saying goodnight to everything. Which was educational for me, because I didn’t realize that was the point of the book, but it makes sense now. Anyway, Sal’s not too into saying good-night or going to bed even. But he is saying good bye to everything on his way out.

Part of it is a stall tactic. Which I guess is also what the book is about. But it’s still cute.

Tags: parenting, walking backwards, goodnight moon