33 & screw Dick, Jane and Spot (long)

[twilight33]

Our HMO used to have a wonderful program where we had the support & help of a nurse trained in early childhood development for a year after Kieran was born. When he was one week, she did a test and pronounced him 'highly organized'. This meant that from the start, he could fixate on one thing & tune everything else out. We weren't too surprised considering how borderline OCD I am, but some days he rivals me in sorting/organizing everything possible into various categories.

Kieran's known (not just counted) 1-10 for a few months, which all the co-op preschool moms commented on in surprise but I didn't think much about it. On Christmas Eve he counted to 20 for the first time out of nowhere, then grew impatient with number books & a Scholastic poster that only went up to 10 so I added 11-20 to them. He picked up identifying those in no time, and then I realized we were in trouble because I was out of room to write more in. Keep in mind he just turned 2.5 on Christmas.

Yesterday I went to a fantastic place called Math n Stuff while Kieran was in preschool and picked up a laminated hundred board (1-100 written across by 10s), a placemat with colorful numbers, a card game & a magnet/drawing activity board. The owner was thrilled to hear about what he's up to & said her main goal is to help people heal from their math wounds and enjoy learning with their children. I have some doozies so this should be interesting.

Kieran can not leave any of the things from there alone. The hundred board is now hauled all over the house, and he figured out numbers up to 33 on his own off it last night. This absolutely cracked us up, as 33 is a core number to both my husband & I.

Kieran's also known the alphabet for a few months, and he adores the weather report on the news when he can spell out 'F-O-G' and (of course) identify the numbers for all the temperatures. Again, nothing I've thought much about until my husband said Kieran could read a few words last week. I was skeptical about this, thinking it was the typical memorization of phrases that makes it look like they are 'reading' books this young.

I now have to reverse my skepticism regarding one word. We were at Albertson's this morning, and after I put the groceries in the trunk Kieran pointed and happily shouted ".com! .com! .com!" I first looked at him like he was from another planet, then looked at what he was pointing to. It was their delivery truck, which had Albertsons.com printed on the side of it. "Yes sweetie, that does say .com, great job!" So much for affirming a normal first read word like 'dog'.

I don't know if this is what comes with the territory of living in Seattle, or if my baby is a geek. God help me either way, this is uncharted territory as far as I'm concerned!

Comments

[torquemada.livejournal.com]

SHRIEK

That's hilarious. I can't wait till you discover him drinking coffee.

[twilight33]

He already likes café au lait truffles from See's. We're doomed.

[miss-becki.livejournal.com]

Wow- that sounds like stuff my four year old is doing! That's great!

[twilight33]

It's scary though, I was expecting this at 4 & now am trying to figure out how to keep him challenged yet have everything be fun when I have zero ECE background!

[sunneyone.livejournal.com]

bah hah!!! he's reading .com. lol. it's slightly indicative of this age. :) lol. and so very cute. :)
that's awesome about the numbers and the reading. :)

[twilight33]

I sometimes wonder what the future holds for this generation who is being raised from the start with interactive websites/IM/etc at DSL speed compared to me in college with my 2400 baud modem disconnecting when the phone rang while yapping on IRC ;)

[sunneyone.livejournal.com]

hahahaha, at least you got to stay in your room, i had to go to computers labs to talk on IRC. ;)

[thirtycats.livejournal.com]

I am having the same thing with Jack (although not with math...it's the one thing he seems to average in)

But like you...I sit there and think "I didn't expect to be doing this when my child was 3. We weren't supposed do be doing this until you were 6."

Then again, for us it evens out. I find myself thinking "We're not supposed to STILL be doing this. I thought that would be over MONTHS ago."

[twilight33]

Too true, Kieran only figured out how to jump last month way behind everyone else. Even the preschool teacher said (out of his hearing of course) that she thought of him as her little white man who can't jump because he'd wave his arms around & squat down but get nowhere :) Jack's geography is far better than mine ever will be!

Go Kieran!

[(Anonymous)]

I need to get the place mat for Victoria. She is showing "girl" math skills. Still not recognizing numbers and just gets excited and points out how number 2 looks like a slide. She's not that blond... ;)

Re: Go Kieran!

[twilight33]

I think that's cool, it shows imaginative/creative association :) Kieran's not into that much, although my guess is that will change when he's older considering what a scifi/fantasy nut his father is.

[deadrose.livejournal.com]

He's about the same age I was when I started reading, according to my dad. Don't know if I was also a math fiend, but probably was, considering the joy I took in math until 8th grade. I used to grab my dad's college calc text and see how much of it I could puzzle out for myself.

It's interesting, though, I absolutely cannot remember being unable to read well. Most people have some memory of deciphering the code, but I don't. Both my boys learned to read early (Alex was reading 'The Neverending Story" the summer before first grade), and Bethia was the only one who learned after starting grade school.

[twilight33]

What happened in math in 8th grade for you? For me it was 2nd grade with timed quizzes to a record player when I'm a highly visual learner. Hopefully they don't subject kids to such torture these days.

I never thought about it but I don't remember being unable to read either, I could always read the comics & asked my parents about words I didn't know. Tying my shoes on my own is something I didn't figure out until the end of kindergarten & an embarrassing memory though :)