Friday, July 11, 2008

Letters and numbers


We have a big bucket full of those plastic magnetic letters and numbers. There are both upper-case and lower-case letters and the numbers from zero to nine. Amy, my 20-month-old, loves to play with them. She dumps them on the floor and then picks them up one at a time and drops them back in the bucket. So, about three weeks ago, give or take a couple days, I walked into my kitchen and found her doing something that left me a little stunned. She was sitting in front of a big pile of the plastic letters and numbers, picking them up one by one, NAMING EACH ONE CORRECTLY, and dropping it into the bucket. This is the same child who didn't even speak two words as of her 18-month check-up. She talks a blue-streak now, but two months ago there was nothing. Anyway, I was stunned. I sat down on the floor with her and slowly determined that she knew ALL of the upper-case letters and some (not many) of the lower-case. She also knew ALL the numbers from one through nine (calls zero "Oh"). So I'm asking you: who says TV is bad for kids?

I tried for the last few weeks to get it on video, but whenever she sees me pull the camera out, she runs over to see the little screen, so I've been unsuccessful.

And totally apropos of nothing, here's a picture of our cat. His name is Milo.

11 comments:

ccr in MA said...

Aren't kids amazing?

Great cat photo!

TheWeyrd1 said...

Some kids are very verbal internally and then just sort of start talking practically in sentences... My nephew did that somewhat and now he speaks in English, some Chinese and some Spanish. He's a budding linguist I think and now at age four he's writing short stories. Go figure.

Jess said...

I love that she runs over to see the screen. How totally cute. You should turn off the LCD display briefly, to get her over that, and then tape her! I want to see!

LoriD said...

What a little genius! We've been working on the letter sounds with Bart and Maggie is picking it up faster than he is! In my limited experience, girls are much quicker with these thing than boys. Or, I could just have a dim (but very nice :-)) boy.

moo said...

gorgeous cat ... and congrats on the words/letters! That's fantastic!

CP said...

She does sound like a genius!

My oldest, E, wouldn't speak for a long time, refused to mimc, etc. Then he busted out with full sentences. Apparently, as a perfectionist, type A, anxiety-ridden kid (such a nice picture I just painted of him!), he wouldn't speak until he had it down perfectly.

Nowheymama said...

"So I'm asking you: who says TV is bad for kids?"

HA!

Pickles and Dimes said...

Isn't it amazing how some kids are totally silent and when they do start talking, it's in full sentences?

Milo is a very pretty cat. I love him!

Melessa Gregg said...

Your Milo looks like our Milo except for the color. Ours is an orange tabby. Actually, your Milo looks like our Milo's sister Angel who lives at my sister's house. Same color and everything. (Hope you followed that.)

Swistle said...

Ohhhhhh, what a pretty kitty! I love the color! He blends right in with the driveway!

Shelly said...

Holy shit, woman, in one week, you have given me hope for both of my kids. Wildman isn't talking much yet either. But he's at the 19 month mark. (Not that I'm really worried, per se, more nervous tummy-ed). But still, thanks for the rays of sunshine.