Current Interests: Writing/Word Building/Reading, Gymnastics, Social

I wanted to record some of my daughter's current interests and areas of growth at 28 months.

We got my daughter the Leap Frog Talking Word Factory DVD for Christmas, and she LOVES it.  If we let her, she would watch it 5 times a day.  We've limited it to once a day at most, but since we got the DVD she has become incredibly enthusiastic about figuring out how to build words and write.  Her writing is mostly scribbles, but it has become much more precise from her tireless, self-initiated practice.  She can now make a pretty good "M" and a relatively big "O."  Once she somewhat accomplished writing the word "MOM."  As for building words, I am astonished at how she really is getting this.  We have the big letter mats that stick together on the floor like puzzle pieces, and she is engaged for hours making words with them.  Like, she'll say, "Let's make the word 'hat'!"  And so I say, "What letters do we need?" and, often to my persistent shock, she knows.  If she doesn't know, I can make the h sound and say, "What letter says this?"  and she instantly knows and locates the H.  She also likes building words with the Leap Frog Word Whammer.  And then there is always good old pencil and paper - she'll scribble a word and then hand it to me and tell me to write a word, and we'll practice recognizing the words I write.  (As a side note, she is currently playing in the bath tub, making letter sounds into words "C-c-c-c-c-CAT!"  She is so super into this right now.)    

Her other big interest right now is gymnastics.  We enrolled her in a toddler mommy and me gymnastics class just as something to do that is active through the cold months, and she LOVES figuring out new little skills at home.  It is amazing to watch her grow physically - it is like watching her figure out how to crawl and walk all over again.  One day she can't do something, then she sees and wants to do it, then she tries to do it, and then she can do it!

She also is figuring out how to play with other kids.  She's always had a social bent, but being an only-child two-year-old she can be pretty possessive of whatever toy she is playing with.  She has grown tremendously in this regard over the past few months.  She self-identifies new friends who she meets and likes to play with.  She shares without prompting (sometimes).  She is polite when she speaks ("please" and "thank you" - sometimes).  I'm not entirely sure how else to describe this progress, but I see it.