Is Three Too Young for Kindergarten?

I've got a smarty-pants on my hands, and it's not easy. She was about 20 months when she started to read letters off my shirt. By 22 months she could identify most of the letters of the alphabet, and all of them before she was two. The grocery store set the scene for her favorite game, reading letters off the wall. "Where's 'M'?" "Where's 'I'?" "Where's 'L'?" "Where's 'K'?" Nonstop. Now she has to add the phonetic sound to each letter. Reading from my shirt again, "K k-k-k" "S s-s-s" "T t-t-t" "P p-p-p" (She reads the 0's in 1500 as o's, however, "ah-ah-ah.")

I have to sheepishly admit that I did not sit her down to teach her all this. No, embarrassed as I am, she learned most from Sesame Street (which she now finds too "babyish" at her mature age of 25 months) or her favorite movies, The Talking Letter Factory, The Talking Word Factory, and The Storybook Factory.

But her favorite movie by far is Math Circus. She was counting to 10 months ago and now can count to 20 with help. She was even getting it when I dared to take her up to 30.

Unfortunately, she has my mind in more ways than these and can throw a righteous fit when it suits her. Despite the tantrums and incessant spelling, I really don't mind. I understand her. You see, she's just like me.

I am thinking, however, that I'm ready for her to start kindergarten. If I started at age four, so can she!