We may have another smart one...

I got pregnant with Cecilia when John Paul was around 9 months old.  This meant that from about 10-12 months, I lay on the couch feeling sick a whole lot while John Paul created new games to play to amuse himself.

Some of his favorites were:

-  Throw metal mixing bowls and wooden rings from the stacking toy on the coffee table repeatedly.  The more times you get them to rotate and clatter loudly, the higher your score!

-  Eat books.

-  Bring books to Mom and maybe even let her read a few pages to you!

His absolute favorite thing to do was bring me different letters, either from the magnets on the fridge or from the set of foam letters he loved to chew on.  He would bring me one of his favorites and then stand there, waiting expectantly.  For every letter (or number, but he preferred letters) I had to sing the song his little Fridge Phonics toy sang.  He knew all his letters and the sounds they made by the time he was about 14 months old.

Cecilia has begun the same thing.

I was sitting at the computer while she played with the magnets on the fridge, and she grabbed one from its holder, brought it to me, and waited expectantly, a small smile on her face.

So I sang the song.  "F says fffff, F says ffff, every letter makes a sound, F says ffff."  She looked at me solemnly and said, "Fffffffff."

From a baby who calls everything "Gah" this is a big deal!  Looks like she might be motivated enough to be an early reader, too...  (John Paul, by the way, has advanced so much that now he is sounding things out in his head before speaking an unfamiliar word aloud.  He understands plural endings and -ed endings.  What the heck.)

She's growing such a personality - she found a baby wipe on the floor (we use cloth ones) and snuffled her nose several times, bringing it to me and shoving it at my nose.  I've been blowing my nose a lot on these lately, and apparently she has finally picked up on their purpose!

And every time she walks a few steps, I clap for her to try to encourage her to walk more.  So now she pulls up on something, stands on her own, and looks at me and starts CLAPPING AND CLAPPING AND SMILING!  Then sometimes she'll walk, but I think she thinks the purpose of this game is just "LOOK AT ME MOM I KNOW HOW TO CLAP AND EVEN I AM STANDING TOO!"

I just don't know what to do with these kids - they just learn things so quickly!