# 21 Month old obsessed with letters and numbers.



## Pumpkin_Pie (Oct 10, 2006)

My nearly 21 month old is absolutely OBSESSED with letters and numbers. He will go around trying to count all of the time "one two! one two!", and he constantly wants me to "help" him to write his name when he colors. I will write his name and say the letters while he holds the crayon under my hand. He also will bring me blocks with letters on them and ask me what every letter is. He is starting to recognize them when I ask, but it is NON-STOP. He also wants me to read anything with writing on it. He will literally bring me books for an hour or longer as long as I am willing to read them.

Does anyone out there have any suggestions on how I should be handling my early wannabe reader? It gets hard to read that many board books, but it feels wrong to say no to a request to read too. Also, his alphabet blocks are in lowercase script, rather than uppercase block print. Will that mess him up when it comes to recognizing letters?

Also, tell me I am not the only mama who sometimes says, "No more books!"


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## teeniebeenie6 (Dec 11, 2008)

You should check out the free website www.starfall.com. It has an ABC section that is phenomenal, it shows upper and lowercase letters and does all the sounds. It is really interactive and I find it more interesting then reading for hours at a time. My 21 and almost 3 year olds love letters too.


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## Pumpkin_Pie (Oct 10, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *teeniebeenie6* 
You should check out the free website www.starfall.com. It has an ABC section that is phenomenal, it shows upper and lowercase letters and does all the sounds. It is really interactive and I find it more interesting then reading for hours at a time. My 21 and almost 3 year olds love letters too.

Thanks so much!! That is so fabulous! I am definitely going to share that with my son tomorrow. I normally don't let him use the computer, but that looks like such a fun interactive mama/toddler sort of site to play around with. I bet it is going to be hard to tear him away from it!


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## KaliShanti (Mar 23, 2008)

My 19-month-old son LOVES Starfall and has since he was like 8 months old. He recognizes a lot of letters and knows their phonic sounds too.


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## Getz (May 22, 2005)

Another vote for Starfall. My kids just LOVE it!! My son calls it "letter game" and my daughter comes up to me and sings the pumpkin song when she wants to play.


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## ruvalokiteshvara (Jun 17, 2007)

our 2yo is the same way - he has been since he was about 1yo. a friend gave him the leap frog fridge phonics set for his birthday, and it didn't take him long to achieve visual recognition of the letters, as well as awareness of their phonics sounds, and full command of the ABC song!

he is also a big reader (DP and i are both librarians by profession!).







:

nothing much in the way of advice, though i will also be checking out starfall now! just that i think you don't need to worry too much - i am sure that he will be okay with the script lowercase alphabet blocks (eventually they will all need to recognize the letters that way anyway!). and i am sure that you can also redirect his attention from reading occasionally so you can have a break.

in fact, i just told my 2yo that i couldn't read him a truck book just now so i could post this!


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## Jess_n'_the_bean (May 12, 2006)

Our dd is very similar - the leapfrog fridge magnet set with letters has been wonderful for her. She is almost 24 months and knows her abc's almost completely. no tips on how to handle the constant requests - we get frustrated too but i just try to remind myself how lucky we are to have such a bright, pre-literate child! (often said with gritted teeth!)


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## kcparker (Apr 6, 2008)

So, am I doing my son a terrible disservice by NOT having all this electronic stuff for him to interact with? I hate all the electronic beeping and MIDI music, and we don't do any electronic media (no TV or computer screentime) with him at this age...

Will my child learn his letters just as well simply by playing with alphabet blocks, singing songs, and reading books with us as he would by using Leapfrog?


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## Lazy Gardens (Dec 11, 2008)

Buy refrigerator magnets with letters.

Or, get the sheets of magnetic material that can be printed on, make BIG letters in a nice upper and lower case font, and print them out and cut them apart to stick on the frig.

I've seen sets of plastic letters in school supply stores that would be good too.

They get so excited when they realize that combinations of letters have a hidden code.


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## lolar2 (Nov 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kcparker* 
So, am I doing my son a terrible disservice by NOT having all this electronic stuff for him to interact with? I hate all the electronic beeping and MIDI music, and we don't do any electronic media (no TV or computer screentime) with him at this age...

Will my child learn his letters just as well simply by playing with alphabet blocks, singing songs, and reading books with us as he would by using Leapfrog?

I highly doubt that it makes a difference. It's just an extra thing when mom can't stand to read _Brown Bear, Brown Bear_ one more time.

OP, DS loves to go out for walks and drives and point out the letters and numbers on street and building signs. He also has a name for the "walk" symbol on traffic lights (the little walking figure)-- "Mr. Cross." So that's another thing to do.


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## SeekingSerenity (Aug 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Lazy Gardens* 
Buy refrigerator magnets with letters.

Or, get the sheets of magnetic material that can be printed on, make BIG letters in a nice upper and lower case font, and print them out and cut them apart to stick on the frig.

I've seen sets of plastic letters in school supply stores that would be good too.

They get so excited when they realize that combinations of letters have a hidden code.

Melissa & Doug Letter Magnets... at one point I would have save those from a fire before I went for photographs, that's how much DS loved them.

My DS will be 6 in March and has been obsessed with letters and numbers almost to the point of hyperlexia for years now. He used to want to carry his entire set of alphabet magnets with him everywhere he went (in a pink purse). He now reads books on his own, ones that are supposedly "rated" on the cover for 2nd and 3rd graders. He's not in school (he'd be in kindergarten if he was) and he's taught himself most of the words he knows.

But yeah, there came a time when I wanted to cry every time I saw "The Napping House." What started as one of my favorite children's books became the bane of my existence for awhile.

My 3-yo DD is currently taken with a book called "Corduroy." Very cute. But getting old. Luckily, her big brother is more than happy to read it to her most of the time.


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## Pumpkin_Pie (Oct 10, 2006)

I am glad to see all the other mamas here with litte ones who go bonkers over reading. The funny thing is that I didn't read to him at all when he was an infant. People I know tried to make me feel like a bad mama for not reading to him, but it just felt weird to me. Now that he really gets books, I read about 50 a day, and occasionally have to re-direct him to stop the avalanche of books.

To the poster who does not allow electronics into her child's life, I don't allow my son to have any battery operated toys, and very little plastic, so I don't think I would get the leap frog refridgerator magnets, but I think I may play the computer game with him. It is really hard when I cringe when I see him coming at me with a book saying, "Read it please? Read it please?" It is so hard to say no to that, but the repetition is driving me over the edge. I think the computer game once a week or so might mix things up a bit.


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## Arwyn (Sep 9, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kcparker* 
So, am I doing my son a terrible disservice by NOT having all this electronic stuff for him to interact with? I hate all the electronic beeping and MIDI music, and we don't do any electronic media (no TV or computer screentime) with him at this age...

Will my child learn his letters just as well simply by playing with alphabet blocks, singing songs, and reading books with us as he would by using Leapfrog?

No, you're not, and yes, he will.







We don't do TV or computer games for the little one either, and he's almost as obsessed as Pumpkin_Pie's kid about letters and numbers (he's 21mo). He knows the ASL signs for half the alphabet (he can't quite make his little fingers _do_ them well, but he tried







), recognizes a few letters in Dr Seuss's ABCs and other places, makes us write his (and ours and others') names all the time, etc, etc. The more "fun" an activity is for a kid, the more they'll remember things from it, which isn't bad, but there's no evidence I've seen that they actually learn more in the long run from using videos and things like LeapFrog and Starfall. (Nor evidence that it's bad for them either.)


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## St. Margaret (May 19, 2006)

Find a good local library, and go every week. We get stacks of picture books and board books, ones DD can flip though on her own and enjoy and ones I can enjoy reading to her. We wrote words out on poster board for her, words of people/things she likes, like Mommy, Daddy, her name, park, eat, moon, body parts, etc etc, and she'll spend chunks of time looking at them and asking us what they say. We sing lots of different ABC songs, too, and affirm when she looks at letters/numbers out in the world and says what they are, and checks with us.

And yeah, sometimes I have to endure reading a book another millionth time, b/c she wants it and not a different one, and we get a bit sick of them. But we try to find fun good books like Maurice Sendak and Sandra Boyton and Dr. Suess that can withstand all those readings. Ask me to recite "Summer is Summer"


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## daytripper75 (Jul 29, 2003)

LOL! Get that boy some foam bath letters and a Fridge Phonics set.







Mine is much the same, I just make sure he has lots of fun things to do around the house and follow his lead.
He likes (other than the letter and number toys we have) pouring beans or water from one container to another, playing blocks (he usually ends up counting those though), Playdough, coloring, and puzzles.


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## justthinkn (Apr 11, 2008)

Another obsessed with the alphabet by 16 mos. I'm not into electronic toys, but use starfall, and it's saved my sanity! DD is very interactive with it... She picks which letters to see, tho we sit together and I man the mouse at this point. She leaves regularly to get toys that match the pictures she sees, or the fridge magnet letters, so that we end up with a little collection by the keyboard. She's starting to say the letters and their sounds... She loves their little songs and asks for them over and over in the car.

But the library and just having new books around that captivate her helps a lot, too. So I'm not reading the same thing over and over for weeks!!

A neighbor used to let her kids go trace letters and numbers on license plates and have fun naming them







We go to a spot in our apartment complex with numbered storage sheds and do the same thing - DD initiated that one, too!


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## Natsuki (May 4, 2004)

My DS is similar and his letter fascination started at 18 months of age (the number fascination started at 25 months of age). His lovey is a calculator







.

The Leapfrog Fridge Phonics letter magnets are a HUGE hit at our house - it's our only electronic toy and DS just adores playing with them.

Melissa and Doug make magnetic wooden numbers that DS is getting for Christmas.

Get him a calculator too - he'll probably love pushing the buttons.

Bath letters are also a huge hit.

There are some really cool ABC and number books out there too if you look around. And if it seems like he's drawn to music as well, letting him mess around with a CD player once he's a bit older (DS started at age 2 with his own player and CD's) will feed his love of numberes b/c of the track numbers and time elapsed, while also helping him love music.


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## skolbut (Feb 18, 2008)

See if your library has some books on tape or cd. No screen time, but someone else does the reading and doesn't mind the constant repetition!


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## petitchou (Mar 10, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kcparker* 
So, am I doing my son a terrible disservice by NOT having all this electronic stuff for him to interact with? I hate all the electronic beeping and MIDI music, and we don't do any electronic media (no TV or computer screentime) with him at this age...

Will my child learn his letters just as well simply by playing with alphabet blocks, singing songs, and reading books with us as he would by using Leapfrog?

Sure! I didn't have any of that and I was reading by 4...

Ds is 25 months and has been fascinated with letters and numbers for what seems like a looong time now. I think he knows most if not all of the alphabet in both languages now. And numbers - he loves to go around counting things. We don't have a magnetic surface for letters but we do have an alphabet mat that he LOVES. We also have an alphabet book with raised and textured letters - sort of like the Montessori sandpaper letters - and he loves to touch those as well. Lowercase is actually better for them to learn when they start reading as most books are written in lowercase. But at this point, I don't know that it really matters - most of our stuff is capital because that's what's available.

Somewhat related story...We were at a friend's house a few weeks ago -she has a 5yo and a 15 month old. Ds was playing with their alphabet blocks. He discovered they had letters and got so excited and started saying the letters as he was stacking them - in French. I didn't even know he could do that! She looked at me incredulously with her eyebrows raised - "He knows his alphabet???" I just shrugged my shoulders - I guess so!

A calculator - now that's a GREAT idea!


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## Pumpkin_Pie (Oct 10, 2006)

So, I just showed Starfall to my DS, and he was so not interested in interacting with it. He doesn't get any screen time other than seeing me type on here occasionally, so I am betting that is the main reason.

I think we are going to stick with the books and blocks for now, as now that I think about it, I don't think I am ready to open the door to electronic media for him yet. He will get so much of it eventually.

I will definitely look into some magnetic letters though! Thanks for the ideas mamas!


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Is your DS willing to let you break it up a bit by having him tell *you* stories from the books? My niece (39 months) likes to call it "reading", but it might be upsetting for some kids to be asked to "read" a book when they can't.


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## Pumpkin_Pie (Oct 10, 2006)

That is a great idea. He will occasionally sit on the floor beside me while I wash dishes or cook dinner and "read" to me. He will point to the pictures and describe what he sees. He has even called to me to come look at a particular picture when he gets really excited. I may see if he is ready to "read" to me one of these times when I in book overload.


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## Jennifer Z (Sep 15, 2002)

The nice thing about the Melissa and Doug letters, as opposed to the regular fridge magnets, is that the entire back of the the M&D letters are covered by magnets, so that when you put them on those magnetic FP Doodle Pro things they make the actual letter instead of just a rectangular magnet shape. ds spent HOURS with a Doodle Pro and Magnet letters at that age.

It is fine to limit books when it gets to that level.


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## reezley (May 27, 2006)

DS1 was letter-obsessed too and ended up reading early. DS2 is following a similar path, currently loving letters. I second the Melissa and Doug letters (you can use them on a cookie sheet to play anywhere), and we use them with Doodle Pro too! Also, the foam sheet of letters, like a puzzle they can punch out the letters from - if you know what I'm saying - that is great and involves a little motor activity to give the letter play a little variety. We are using ours right now to stick in our tub, but only because I've lost the frame part.









Books, yeah... over and over. Do you have Dr. Suess's ABC? Curious George ABC is cute too. Oh, and for (hopefully) independent playing - we love the big DK book My First Lift-the-flap ABC Book . http://www.amazon.com/First-Lift-fla.../dp/0789474131 Lots of good sturdy flaps to keep him busy!


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## roostery (Jan 23, 2004)

I actually ended up hiding all of the books for a week or two when DD was 1+. It was literally all that she wanted to do and I had had it. So I put them where she couldn't see them and she started to play with other things.

It's still the first thing that she asks when she gets up in the morning.


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