The ABC's

For the past couple of weeks, Bella has come to love a particular song... that song being "the ABC's." She has several toys that sing the ABC's but she recently began singing along. Her alphabet is pretty good for a 22-month-old and I'm quite impressed that she is learning her alphabet. Not only is she singing along, but she will bust out the ABC's all on her own.

She has foam letters to play with in the bath tub and she has also recently began identifying a few letters here and there. She is familiar with the letters "M", "P" and "J". When she doesn't see one of those letters, she immediately asks for the letter that is missing. I have no idea how she learned this, but again I am very impressed. She talks and she talks a lot. I love that about her! I once made a list of words Bella commonly used. Well that list has expanded immensely. It's difficult to keep up with her new words, so I'll spare y'all (and my brain) the trouble. She also puts sentences together, which can be hilarious. One of her favorite phrases is, "Uh oh, Kaiser pooped outside."  I also admire her politeness. She says, "please" and "thank you." Her verbal communication skills are expanding each and every day and I love being able to communicate with her to ensure her wants and needs are being addressed.

Bella also enjoys counting. While she only counts up to 5 on her own, she will count with us when we count to 10. For awhile she would count "1, 2, 4, 5" and completely skip over 3. We often ask Bella questions about how many things there are or count while we're waiting for something. Hopefully she is a little bean counter, like Ian, because my skills are certainly lacking in the numbers department. Actually, I hope and pray that she inherits her father's numerical intellect because I am REALLY deficient in this area.

And no, I'm not claiming that my child is a genius or a child prodigy. Nor do I think she is smarter than any of her peers. Children develop intellectually and learn at different levels and I think that my child is developing just as she should be. I will say that I think my child is pretty darn intelligent and I am very proud of that. Learning her ABC's and counting is just two more milestones in Bella's childhood. And I suppose her ability to count and recite her ABC's are just a few reassurances that Ian and I must be doing something right... either that or the child really is a Mensa.

Love always,
Ian, Kim, Bella & Baby #2