Alphabet Soup

I couple of months ago, I bought letters and numbers made of foam that could go in the bathtub. Jack knew his letters on the flashcards but I thought he memorized the pictures more than the letters. So in an effort to help him remember the actual letters, I put them in a big container and we made "soup". He now knows his letters with no problem whatsoever and loves making "soup" (picking up letters, putting them in the container, stirring them, smelling them and then shaking them all over the floor). Anyway, we have also been spelling things with the letters. He especially likes when we spell his name. We ask him what it says and he yells, "GACK!" (This is also his answer when we ask what anyone or any animal's name is.)

Today, Paul and I were sitting in the living room talking and Jack was on the floor playing with his letters. All of a sudden, he stands up and yells, "GACK" at us. When I went over to see what he was talking about I saw that he had spelled J-A-C-K on the floor out of his letters! We celebrated the first time he spelled his name with lots of cheers and then Paul asked, "Jack, are you a genius?" "YES!" he said.

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Jack also now knows the animals: tiger, snake, rhino, zebra, giraffe, lion, and antelope. He is pretty good on elephant and after he says it, when you say, "in other words. . . " he says (as best he can) "pachyderm". I guess watching all those Moose songs has really sunken in!