The Amazing Minds of Children

Children amaze me. Every day it seems like something that Alex or Abby does, just amazes and inspires me. It seems like every day is something new with them both. This week has been a busy week for them. They have been showing me all their new tricks. It's wonderful to witness each thing they do. And the other day, my friend asked me if it is just as exciting the second time around. I said that it is. When Alex first rolled over (he was an early roller), I was amazed and so proud. When Abby rolled over (also an early roller), I was just as proud and amazed. So here we have the new discoveries we have made this week.

First up, Abby is laughin'! She has laughed before, but only small giggles of a laugh. Almost nothing really close to being an all out laugh. But last night we had our first belly laughs. And who other than Alex was the one to make her crack up. It was so hilarious. I was laughing too. I was giving Alex his bath and Abby was sitting on my lap watching him. He started splashing around and she starting laughing. And it went on for about five minutes. I think they could have done this all night. She was entertained by Alex and Alex was laughing at her reaction. The water was getting cold so I had to stop the fun and games. But it was the perfect ending to a long day. I think I was smiling all night afterwards.

Next up we have a couple of fun Alex moments. He is learning SO fast. It's mind boggling how fast he picks things up now and just how observant he is. I was worried for a bit about his speech. He really didn't say too many words and it made me wonder if he was having some problems. But in the last week, he has picked up on the average of 10 words a day. He is so excited to learn new words. He used to never even try, but now he will point to something and say, "This?" he wants to know what it is called and as soon as I tell him, he tries his hardest to repeat it. It's so cool. He has taught himself just about every 'learning toy' we have now. He has mastered all the shape sorters, puzzles, stackers, buttons, and whatever else we have. So for his birthday we are hoping to get some new teaching toys for him. But what REALLY knocked me over happened a couple of days ago when we were playing with his wodden blocks. You know the kind with letters and numbers on them? Anyhow, he was picking them up and as he starting showing me them, he starting spouting off the letters that he was picking up. He picked up a 'K' and said K. I thought it was a fluke, so we looked at all the letters of the alphabet and sure enough...that kid can recognize about 10 or 12 letters. He will see letters on books, toys, and anything he sees and tell me what they are. I had no idea that kids his age could regognize letters and actually get them right. Amazing. The funny thing about that is that I really haven't been teaching him letters. I sing the alphabet song a lot, but no visual aids are present. He also regognizes some of his numbers too, colors, and some shapes. This is why I love to be a stay at home mom. It's the best job in the world.