Her Brain

I've always wondered what goes on in that little brain of hers. She has a mind of her own, no ifs, and, or buts about it. I find myself chuckling when parents talk about how smart their kids are. Don't we all think our kids are smart? I try not to worry about it much. We try to do some sort of academic activity every day but there are days when we don't talk about numbers, letters, colors, and shapes. And I'm ok with that.

In case you are wondering, here is what she does have tucked somewhere in that 26-month-old brain of hers.

1) Counting 1-10. It's hard to get her to do it. It's kinda like she is thinking, "Come on, Mom. That is so lame." But she can do it. The number 4 always trips her up. She can't pronounce it well so it sounds nothing like 'four'.

2) Number Recognition. She can recognize a few written numbers (1, 2, 3, 8). Those are her favorites.

3) Numbers vs. Letters. She knows that 1-10 are 'numbers', not 'letters'.

4) Letters. She can sing parts of the ABC song. She skips the 'L-M-N-O-P" part. She recognizes the written A and B.

5) Colors. She knows orange, green, blue, pink, purple, black, brown. She is hit-or-miss with red and yellow.

6) Shapes. She knows what a circle is.

7) Name. She is finally attempting to say her own name. This double name thing has been hard for her. Most of the time she says, "Na Cares" for Anna Claire. Usually she just refers to herself as "Me (with much enthusiasm)."

8) Opposites. She recognizes the difference between big and little, fast and slow, up and down, stop and go, in and out.

She loves hopscotch. She doesn't play it correctly, but she really likes to run through the numbers. Today we practiced putting the number magnets in the corresponding squares. She surprised me with how many she could do!

Before I had a kid, I swore my child would never watch tv. There are tons of studies that tell you how horrible it is. Well, she didn't watch any tv until she was about 15 months old. And then in a desperate moment, I put on The Wiggles. That was a game-changer. For the first time in 15 months, I could clip my nails, go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, put dishes away. I felt horribly guilty at first. But when I realized that she was learning so much from the little tv she did watch, I had to rethink my stance. I realize that different things work for different families. TV (in moderation and later than 1 year old) works for my family. Every single day, I am amazed at the things she remembers from shows.

On a different and slightly more disgusting note, we had our first poop on the potty this morning! She only had 2 wet accidents yesterday and none today. I put a diaper on her for nap and she did pee and poop in it, but I'm just happy that she isn't afraid to use the potty. She wears training underpants during the day and a diaper during sleep times. It has to be black or white with my girl, therefore no pull-ups here. I feel like I started this whole process clueless, but I am so proud of myself and AC for being successful.