Sound it out!

Lately, Bella has bee figuring out what words start with by sounding them out. Randomly, she'll bust out with "b-b-Bella! Bella starts with b!" or "n-n-nose! Nose starts with n!". At first, I figured this came from books or songs that try to teach toddlers how to spell out the sounds of words but tonight she amazed me by doing this not only continuously for about 10 minutes but by figuring out words that are less common. "Garbage" or "Fridge" for example. We were in the kitchen finishing dinner, so most of the words were kitchen or food related - fork, light, plate, milk, etc. She got them all right, too! The only one she didn't get right was phone... "ph-ph-phone! Phone starts with F!" Almost! I really need to have the video camera handy at all times because this would have been ideal to record - she was so happy and proud each time she figured one out!

I know what has helped a lot with this is the "schoolwork" my mom has started doing with her. All this means is doing activities from Kumon-like workbooks - matching, figuring out what doesn't belong, putting items by the letter they start with, etc. but she loves it all and loves to show off what she's done. She does a lot of cutting and pasting as well, which just makes her seem too big. The other day she told me "one and one makes two!!!" - my god, math! Slow down, girl!