This really amazing thing that Ben's been doing

Ben can recite the alphabet (usually with several omissions -- he's had a down on N for awhile now). It's pretty cute -- he tries to sing it, but since he can't carry a tune yet, it just comes out as this very soft, whimsical little chant.

Now, I always feel self-conscious about bragging about Ben, and I always manage to overcome that and do it anyway, on the premise that heck, it's my blog, and the whole original purpose of this blog was to brag to the relatives, who can't get enough of that sort of thing. But now I'm really pushing it out there, and I apologize for being so crass. The thing is, reciting the alphabet in a little singsong chant isn't the amazing thing. He's actually been doing that for awhile.

The amazing thing is that he's gotten bored with it, and he's decided to take it up a notch. Specifically, he'll say the entire alphabet with each letter sound starting with, say, /b/. As in the following: "Bay Bee Bee Bee Bee Beff Bee, Baich By Bay Bay Bell Bem Ben Bow Bee, etc." And he goes all the way to the end, and finishes off with, "Bow by bow by Bay Bee Bees, bext bime bon't bou bing bith be."

Granted, he still tends to skip a letter or two, but otherwise he's able to keep very good track of which letter he's on. And he doesn't do it slowly, either -- it's full speed ahead. I can't do it that quickly. Also, keep in mind that I've made no attempt to reproduce his toddler articulation. For example, he certainly isn't saying either "next" or "bext" correctly yet. But he does say them the same way -- meaning that he's correctly substituting a /b/ for an /n/ and otherwise keeping the word the same.

Talk about phonological awareness. Must be all that Wonder Pets we let him watch.