WARNING:  If you haven’t already bought the Letter Factory DVD by Leap Frog for your toddler, then this video will make you head straight to Amazon.com before you can say “Leap and Lily”.

Several years ago, I had bought the whole Leap Frog DVD series to introduce Edie to reading.  We have about five of  these movies, and I keep them all of them in our van’s DVD changer.  As a rule, I don’t let my kids watch movies in the car unless we’re going to be riding for an extended amount of time, and then when I do turn it on, the DVD has to be educational.  Oh yea, I’m one of those moms.  Not only do I make learning seem like a reward, I make them beg for it.  “Can we pleeeeaaassse watch a movie in the car?  Pleeeeaaassse?”

By the time Edie was two, she knew her ABCs, and this was before I even knew Leap Frog DVDs existed.  She would ask for me to quiz her every night, and not because she’s a genius, but because she has just always been a very motivated child.  In stark contrast to his sister, Roark could barely speak a coherent word as his second birthday was approaching.  And although I had thought it would be really cool to have two motivated kids, I really wasn’t too worried.  I just thought, “It’s a good thing he’s so adorable because he’s not winning any extra points with his smarts.”

Anyway, since Roarkie started riding face-forward in the car, he’s been inundated with Professor Quigley and his shenanigans at the Letter Factory.  I didn’t really think much was sinking in until recently, when out of the blue Roark identified all his letters in his little box of cards, and then not only did he know the letters, he knew the sounds too.  I couldn’t believe it.  It was just like when he decided to start talking.  One day he knew a couple of words, and the next day, he was using full sentences.  Crazy kid.  Now he begs me to quiz him every night as well, and he’s further along than Edie was at this stage in the game.

While Edie was at the beach for Spring Break, we had the rare opportunity to capture some video of Roark. Here’s Roark showing off his stuff from the Letter Factory…along with singing the intro to his favorite show. Enjoy!

So the other night I escaped to the only quiet place in the house to read…Edie’s room.  Go figure.

However, it didn’t take long before Edie realized that I was missing and came looking for me.  When she discovered what I was up to, she climbed in next to me and asked that I not make any noise because she needed to concentrate on reading her Bible.  Sometimes she is so cute I just want to squeeze her ’til her eyes bulge.

Then several minutes later I hear a camera clicking from the doorway.  I guess Ken happened to pass by Edie’s room, and even he couldn’t pass on documenting the cuteness of the moment.  Oh well, so much for trying to escape for some alone time.

On a side note, my book club just had it’s third gathering yesterday, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the turn out.  We’ve got a great group of ladies coming each month, and I really think we are learning a lot from the books and our spirited debates that follow.  Again, I want to invite anyone who would like to participate and join us each month.  For more info, contact me on FB, and I can send you to the group’s page.