Every letter makes a sound

We've been holding alphabet school at our house in recent weeks. After finding a super cool alphabet fridge magnet toy at a yard sale, Abby played nonstop beside the refrigerator for days until she knew every letter and its sound. Now I get to listen to her run around the house hunting for letters and singing the "Every letter makes a sound" song when she finds one.

I felt a little guilty that her primary education was happening on the floor in the kitchen, so I organized an informal curriculum for her that includes a lot of coloring and a couple of crafts, all centered around our letter of the week.

She can correctly identify every letter of the alphabet now, tell you what sounds they make (with great gusto), and even identify a couple of words (Abby, apple, elephant, book, and hat come to mind...there are a few more that I can't remember). This book-loving mommy is pleased, and hoping to turn my daughter into a bookworm like myself at as early an age as possible.

What I didn't think about, as we've talked about and scribbled the letters of the alphabet throughout the week, is that Abby might figure out how to create one on her own. I've seen her attempt to write a few letters (and she doesn't get credit for "O"--that's too easy), but I am compelled to brag a little at her most recent success, pictured above.

"Help please," she asked me, holding out her magnet pen. So I helped her get a good proper grasp on her writing implement, then turned to leave the playroom. I peeked in when I heard her singing "H says 'ha!'" and asked if she was drawing an H. Imagine my surprise when I found her doing just that on her magnadoodle! Abby managed to write the letter "H" all by herself, then proceeded to sing "H says 'ha!'" ad nauseam until we all knew how smart she was. You better believe I praised the heck out of her for that one.