The ABCs of Oliver

There is nothing so lovely as the ABC song as sung by Oliver. Or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. At first he just said the words in a haltingly staccato voice, but now he manages a more sing-song delivery and I take such joy in listening to him. Oliver learned both of these songs, and how to count to 10, from watching videos. I used to feel bad about parking Oliver in front of the TV when I needed a break -- or when he needed a break -- but now it appears that so much of his recent language acquisition has come from the TV and so I have been looking for videos that will enhance this. (Curiously though if he was first exposed to an image in the trailer at the end of another video it takes some work on my part to get him to agree to sit through the actual video.) The whole series of Dr. Seuss beginning reader videos have been great because we have also purchased the books that go along with them and one seems to reinforce the other. Since we introduced the ABC book and video Oliver has taken a great interest in the alphabet and can now recite all the way to "V".

Some time ago my mother tried to teach Oliver his ABCs by association: T is for Truck, M is for Mom, etc. So now that he has developed this new interest in letters I hear him calling out random words from time to time: "Truck!" or "Egg!" or "Bear!" For example, if he sees the word "Start" he will call out "Truck! Truck!" It was only after a few days that I realized he was calling out these words when he saw the letters that he recognized. I'm not sure where this interest in letters will lead us but I believe it is a sure sign of abstract thinking.

Also, a fun new development at our house is Oliver's new interest in having his picture taken. In the past it was quite a challenge to get a good picture of our little guy because of his refusal to look at the camera. Last time we tried to get a family photo the photographer nearly gave up and we had to settle for the only one in which Oliver was looking in the general direction of the camera. But last night I pulled out the camera and Oliver actually began posing for photos. Not only that but when I put the camera down he grabbed my hand and shoved it at the camera wanting me to continue taking pictures. I was only too happy to oblige. I will try to post some of the pictures from our photo shoot as soon as I can figure out how to download them!