first words

zoom loves letters and numbers.
he got to pick out a new comforter cover and picked the one covered in colorful numbers. while we read books in bed he looks at all the numbers, talks about how many 8's he sees and whether there are more 5's or 3's. he learned the european 7, and we spent at least five minutes talking about the differences between the number 1 and 7.
letters and words are becoming more important to him too. reading together or passing signs he'll sound out the letters he sees.
we have a 'word whammer' and i'm sure that has helped him learn the different sounds that each letter makes.
i've put most of the word whammer away because i'm a little annoyed with the voice, and so that we can bring it out as a fresh toy in the new year. i had a few letter out for the girl since they are nice,big magnets, and an easy game in the kitchen. the other day zoom said, "look, i spelled purse!"
sure enough, and in just four letters:

PERS

the sign for book is holding your hands together and opening them, as if they were a book.
the girl loves her books, and claps viciously with a very serious expression when she wants one - her version of the sign. and she wants them all - her books, zoom's books, my books, work books.
as previously mentioned, her favorite is the Big Red Barn. she likes looking at most books, and turning the pages quickly, but i have noticed that she prefers books with people or animals (and doesn't really like the truck books that were a favorite with zoom) she has created a few of her very own animal noises:

• a horse does the raspberries
• a dog pants
  
• a pig breathes loudly through the nose

zoom's special stufty is a dog and she points to it and pants.
another favorite book of ours is Jamberry, byBruce Degan. it is a fabulous rhyming tale of berries, a bear and a boy. in the final page the bear and his boy are buried in berries. zoom and i began a tradition of pretending to nibble on the berries, sharing them with each other. claire refers to this book by smacking her lips together as if to eat it. this afternoon she initiated the berry feast, offering one to me. so sweet!
i hope it isn't confusing our longstanding house rule, "books are for reading, not for eating!"