everything is better than the alphabet

Avery has been really into letters lately. She doesn't always point out the correct ones, but it's still cute. She's really good with A, S, O, sometimes E, and M. We've been going over D recently and after a couple of coloring and tracing pages, I brought out some alphabet chips I made several months ago.

They've been patiently awaiting their use. That was personification. But really, if our alphabet chips had thoughts and feelings I imagine their feelings would be hurt from lack of use. And they'd be all, "WHEN WILL SOMEONE USE US TO SPELL SOMETHING?!" Today, Alphabet Chips, today you will be used.

I was planning to just let her guide our play and randomly pick out letters and go from there. Then a minute later I decided to spell out a couple of basic words and have her pick out the letters and place them on the paper. Super fast worksheet, I think that's obvious. It took about five minutes to draw everything out and she sat in my lap the entire time rifling through the bag of letters.

I think my illustrations are pretty spot on, though she kept asking, "Dat? (that)" and pointing at the girl. Dat indeed, she doesn't even know her own face. I kept things simple by only pulling letters she needed to use.

But after I got it all set out she was having none of it. Because you know what's better than learning the alphabet and how to spell? EVERYTHING. First she stood on her chair and acted completely cute...and crazy.

Don't go into the light Avery! Don't do it!

Then I put the camera down and she did pick out an A and T. Then she frantically scattered all the letters and made a mess. Then I had her help me put them up because she really wanted "Dootdy Motmah!" or as some may know him, Cookie Monster. Playing with a Sesame Street pop-up set is definitely much more fun than learning the alphabet or, you know, how to spell your name.

Also more fun? Standing on your head.

Though I think falling's fun is debatable. Avery has once again been fighting a virus the last few days and my poor baby girl is exhausted. I feel like it's a repeat of February though without all of the antibiotics, thanks goodness!

For today, playing trumps school time and that's okay. I know she's soaking it all in. Anyway, alphabet chips/wooden circles are really easy to make with a bag of wooden circles from your local craft store and a set of alphabet stickers. I did A-Z capital letters on one side and reversed it for lowercase on the back. They're a great (and inexpensive) educational tool for tots. You can do all kinds of activities and go over letters! And actually, we have a set of numbers too because I had extra pieces. So get to countin' with your baby! I count out all kinds of things with Avery, the number of times I fill the cup to rinse her hair in the bathtub, the number of items on her plate, how many coins she's dropping into the piggy bank, how many babies she's holding in her arms, and the list goes on because, counting? It never ends. I'm not sure if this will lead to OCD or just helping to promote early math skills. I'm going with the latter. We've caught her several times counting objects on her own, usually just to three. That's about the time we interrupt and ask if she's counting because we're so excited to see her putting her skills to use (and we also like to ask the obvious), then she gets all bashful and stops. And see! See how I'm talking about numbers and counting instead of letters?! Poor alphabet.