adventures in spelling

I'm pretty sure that most parents think their children are the smartest kids ever, and I'm no exception. Madilyn continues to amaze me with how fast she can learn a new song or remember details that I forget. Sometimes, to keep her busy, I write letters of the alphabet and have her tell me what they are. Once she mastered that I started writing her name and was amazed at how quickly she recognized it. Then I started writing other words and realized that, to her, all words spell Madilyn! Maybe she's not quite as quick as I thought. Since then I've tried to explain that different letters spell different words, and here are a few of the words around our house she has tried to spell (and some other funny spelling things):

• "w-i-p-e-s spells diapers!"
• "D-E-L-L spells computer"
• "B-Y-U spells hat!"
• We have rubber alphabet letters that stick to the side of the tub when they're wet. I line them up and ask Madilyn to find various letters. The other day while I was getting Abby dressed I overheard Madilyn playing the game by herself, "Find the W...here it is!"
• She discovered that an M can be a W; an L can be a 7; and a 9, 6, and a little e can be used interchangeably.
• Madilyn picked up the movie Elf and said "W-i-l-l F-e-r-r-e-l-l spells Madilyn!" I told her it didn't spell Madilyn because Madilyn has an M in it. She quickly turned the movie upside down, turning the W into an M, and triumphantly said, "M...spells Madilyn!"
• Madilyn likes the PBS show Word World. At some point during every episode the characters sing, "It's time to build a word, let's build it, let's build it now!" Then they put the letters together and the letters become whatever they're spelling (b-e-e becomes a bee, etc). Anyway, Madilyn has a bunch of jelly bracelets and the other day she laid them on the ground and sang, "It's time to build a word! O-o-o-o spells oooooooh!"