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My son is a smart kid. I know this because the day he could stand without holding on to something, he unlocked all of our baby locks. (10 mos). He’s never shown much interest in baby puzzles because he’s yet to meet one he can’t assemble in seconds. And as soon as he could walk, he figured out the locks on the doors, and then how to tie intricate spider webs out of any string like material he could get his hands on. But, at just 4, although he can do simple math under 10, he is not very interested in writing or identifying his ABCs for that matter. Oh, he knows the song. He knows the important letters like W (for Will), S (for Sarah and Sylvie), and countless others. He just has no interest in identifying leading sounds of words, tying those back to the letters in the alphabet, or even drawing his letters… When pressed, he can. Its just lack of interest. The director at preschool assures me that this is very common with boys, and he’s at least on par if not a little advanced in this area. Call me an overachiever, but as much as I get that the kid will excel when his time comes, I also understand that it couldn’t hurt to find interesting ways to increase his command of the alphabet. I’ve found two things I’m excited about – Super Y. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is TV. But it is PBS, and they spend an incredible amount of money on experts who design programs to replace preschools for the kids in this world whose parents can’t afford preschool. So, once in a while, Will gets to watch Sesame Street (my favorite) or Super Y. There’s just something about Super Y that resonates with Will, and who doesn’t love to hear their kid spelling along with the TV? Okay, even just SPELLING! And second, the capital letter blocks available at Handwriting without Tears. My mom used to draft line after line of letters for me to trace when I was 3, and we’ve started that practice at home. I’ve seen an increase in interest from Will, and the subjects of his school art have changed to be more writing focused over the past few months. We get plenty of Pirate robots, and if anything those have become more identifiable. But, who isn’t proud to see identifiable letters in the mix, too? So although he is definitely beginning to sprout in time for focused pre-k, this child who used to only sit still when he was building with blocks definitely seems to be the type that would really appreciate his own capital letter blocks. So, we’re trying those, too.

Since I’ve already classified myself as a nerdy mom by advertising that I’ve bought my kids capital letter blocks, might as well take this moment to spread some more nerdy interests… The Large Hadron Rap. It’s right up there with the ABCs as a song the kids ought to learn.