My Benedict now knows the Alphabet ^_^...hurray!!!

I remember posting before that I got pissed off 'coz a mom made a comment which to me came out as somewhat belittling my tiny munchkin's ability as he is not yet familiar with the alphabet. And is not even a bit inclined to learn it at that time. This was a few months ago. Honestly, I was so tempted to drill on him the letters of the alphabet then. Coz I really felt that I was not a competent mommy bec of a single, careless comment.

But my husband told me to just let it pass. And he validated that I am a good mom (best mom pa man gani, he said ^_^) and no amount of a stranger's comment can ever change that. But just the same, I still felt offended.

It took all of my willpower not to take out all the wall charts & stick it on every possible area in our bedroom. As I have them all these time. My SIL is very excited that he bought em all for his dear nephew long before my little boy can hold his head up...hahaha.

Looking back, I may have over-reacted. But when I took that careless remark positively, things began to turn for the better. How I did this? Not me really. All I can ever take credit for is that I prayed...so hard...that I may not turn to be a pushy mom..that I may have the patience to see my little boy through his milestones & wait for the time that HE is ready & capable & not push him bec. everyone else is doing/achieving such milestones na. Hmmm, I simply rested in God's care trusting that He is all-knowing & that verything happens in His time.

How did we learn that Benedict is ready for the alphabet na? Here's the scenario...twas Good Friday, we have nowhere to go...and sooo hot & humid. We decided to visit my SIL and so we hang out in their bedroom. As theirs is quite a small place, the tiny tike got restless & bored in no time. No amount of videos and singing can distract him. He took fancy on the markers in my BIL's computer table, so we took out a few pieces of bond paper and made him doodle. He was drawing circles "round and round" or so he says...twas more of a few streaks here & there in reality...hehe. Then my SIL thought of drawing letter A telling him "Benedict, this is letter A" and my boy nodded and repeated her Ah Ko's word "A..." We were actually surprised. That was the first time we ever realized that he has started to learn the alphabet na diay. Though the past few days he would nonchalantly quiz me on the the 3 letters (A, B & C) found on his (mine, handed down to him) cabinet...I never really seriously taught him that. When he would point to letter A, I'd just tell him "That's letter A", and "this is letter B and C" when he would point to B & C, respectively...but then he would also promptly lose interest so I guess I've never really taken his query as interest in the alphabet.

The most I did is to play Brainy Baby ABCs and 123s occassionally. But this is along with Dora, Barney & Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...plus some other videos like Jollibee & Bumblebee. It's more for variety rather than to make him learn the alphabet. Oh, he would sometimes mimic the sounds in the Leap Frog DVD that we have, I mostly credit this one for his learning fast the letters of the alphabet. Thanks to my Siobe for sharing this with us.

Anyway, back to my SIL & his beloved nephew, my son... we started writing B, D, E, F, M, O, P, Q, S, T (not necessarily in this order), and Benedict got all these letters right no matter how we would jumble it up. We were impressed! I'd really risk the fact of being called a smug, but I am so mighty proud of my little tyke...And who would not be? He learned all these on his own! I was not wrong after all, my Benedict is smart, if I may say so ...hahaha, now I am definitely loving my own...

Over the past few weeks, he learned the rest of the letters --> C is still "kha", but he can differentiate A from E, as well as M from N . And he added the ff. letters to the rest (H, I, L, R, U, X and Z).

To date, he only has to learn the letters V and W to complete his alphabet and he would still sometimes get confused with G and J. I'd say he is indeed a fast learner. He may be a late bloomer (though my SIL would definitely argue saying that he is less than 2yo) but he easily catches up, and when the interest hits him, he can learn it all overnight (such as the case of the animals chart)...uhm, not really on the alphabet though, but still, it had been less than a month since he started learning them.

Way to go Benedict!!! My-my is mighty proud of you...oh bdw, he now calls me "my-my" instead of mama...haay, I couldn't quite get him to say Mommy but he has no problem saying "daddy" all the time.