Major milestones – ABCs and 123s

Yesterday and today brought exciting new developments – we are so proud to say that Maeve counted up to 10 yesterday in the car and today said her entire alphabet! Tonight at dinner we captured both achievements – the proof of course is on video in the 2008 gallery. Although she said the ABCs more clearly earlier in the day than she does on film and her numbers are clearer when she doesn’t have her mouth full of bread! My favorite part is that she giggles every time she gets to 10. I should also note that she is watching me sign the letters as she is saying them, so we are extra impressed in the possible recognition of/response to the ASL alphabet.

There have been other ways in which Maeve shows us that she is learning to identify letters – such as picking them out on her fridge phonics (magnets that say the letter and the sound it makes) and on her alphabet playmat. Examples also include at a friend’s house yesterday when she pointed to and said the letter I, and on Sesame Street when she said the letter E when it was on the screen. We are not pushing her to do this because we know it will all come in time, but we are very excited that she is showing an interest in learning them in context as we spell things like her name and count her toes.

As an added bonus and since I can’t seem to stop bragging, she is recognizing/saying some colors and seems partial to purple and blue. She took her bow out of her hair tonight and said “blue” and when I pointed to the stained glass windows at the restaurant, Maeve correctly identified the orange and purple ones. WOW! We can’t wait to see what’s next…

We had a wonderful visit to the Nature Museum yesterday to see the butterflies and slide down the slide with Maeve’s friend Jackson and then had a playdate with Evan and Max. Today we enjoyed a lunch date and nature walk with Olivia and her parents! Tomorrow will bring a fun trip to Itsy Bitsy Yoga and hopefully more sunshine.