Phonics lessons from Julian

Thanks to the brilliant LeapFrog-produced DVD The Letter Factory, Julian knows all the sounds that letters make. This doesn't mean he's ready for Kindergarten or anything, he just has a faint notion that "D is for Daddy" has something to do with saying "Duh-duh-daddy." When I get tired of talking about Thomas the Train, sometimes I tell him about the initial letters of his favorite words.

Recently, he's schooled me on a few letter sounds that I was confused about. Direct quotes from Julian:

• "Emily" starts with "M"
• "Our house" starts with "R"
• "Theo" starts with "O"

In other news, we are headed to Mexico for vacation where we'll see who understands more Spanish: Julian with five months of bilingual daycare and a two-year old's grasp of English or Whitney with a minor in Spanish Language and Literature and advanced fluency in English? Or, perhaps it will be Ryan who doesn't get tripped up by vocabulary and just looks at facial expressions and hand gestures.