H-E-N....what's that spell? CHICKEN!

That was Ethan's playing with his Melissa & Doug spelling puzzles a couple of months ago. It was so cute & funny that I didn't correct him. For me HEN does spell chicken. These puzzles were a Christmas gift for Ethan. He has always been drawn to the "academic realm"...shapes, colors, numbers, letters....so these puzzles were a perfect seg-way for him to use his knowledge of letters & start spelling!

But I didn't realize how much he was absorbing. My amazing Ethan is spelling & reading! We first realized it when we were on our way to my cousin's wedding in St. Louis. We were in a drive thru, and Ethan kept saying "Thank You" over & over again. This is not unusual for him to do. He often repeats cartoons, commercials, computer games, etc. to himself over & over again. But then, I realized there was a sign outside the car window that said, "THANK YOU". When I asked Ethan what the sign said, he replied, "thank you". That was where I realized he was reading.

As of today, Ethan knows his shapes (including octagon & pentagon...I don't think I knew those until high school geometry!), colors, animals & sounds, uppercase & lowercase letters & their sounds, can count to & read numbers to 100, and he is spelling & reading...he is amazing!

He has several games that have the letters of the alphabet. I noticed that "elephant" was spelled on my refrigerator...E-L-P-H-A-N-T. The reason for the 2nd E being omitted was because the pack of letters only includes one magnet per letter. So, I thought he would get a kick out of lots of letters.....and I broke out my Scrabble game. My child spelled 25 words right before my eyes!!!!!!!! So, I've started keeping a list of words he knows how to spell...we are up to 33 words!!!! Here is what I know he can spell....

Ethan, Mom, Dad, elephant, zebra, horse, cow & cows, pig, goat, dog, cat, owl, fish, worm, wand, towel, yo-yo, box, bell, mix, food, flower, x-ray, exit, jar, drum, read, gift, hat, apple, sun, chair, nut

What a wonderful gift he has been given! I know some things about Ethan are frustrating (aka...potty training), but he is such a sweet little boy. I am so privileged to be his mom! Every day is definitely an adventure, and I can only do it with God & lots of coffee. And I'm looking forward to the day when Ethan destroys me in a game of Scrabble!