Friday, June 20, 2008

Goober gloating.

Since folks seemed impressed, yesterday, that the Goob knows what a triangle is, I am going to take a moment or three to gloat.

I have always believed that since it's impossible to guess what a child will understand or remember, it's best to dump all the information you can on them, and hope for the best. Better too much than not enough. Plus we talk to her with real words instead of the 'oogoo geegee' stuff that many folks use with babies.

So. The Goob knows her colors, and her shapes (including exotics like pentagons and diamonds). She can count to twenty, backward from ten (usually during rocket launches), and seems to 'get' what numbers are for. We're gradually working on recognizing written numbers, and learning the alphabet. She can sing the ABC song when she feels like it. Lately she's been into learning opposites; open/close, up/down, etc.

I would love to think she inherited this intelligence from us, but my hand feels like someone's hammering a knitting needle into it after weeks of doing things I knew I shouldn't. And the husbeast just cut through an extension cord with a hedge trimmer.

Must be luck.

8 comments:

historicstitcher said...

Awesome. Mine knew that a cherry was shaped like a "sphere" at that age (thanks to my little brother) and could recognize and label "forsythia" in the spring.

At the same time, his dad built scaffolding for the 24-ft high staircase work out of chairs and lumber like Lincoln Logs, and I was doing lots of things I shouldn't (and knew it).

Kids are smart, if we let them. We skipped the baby talk, too. And when he could talk - folks were amazed he used real words. Go figure.

amy said...

Kids pick up an amazing amount just from being in a stimulating environment and getting some feedback on it. I never "taught" my kids colors, shapes, etc--they just learned them through the things we did together. I'm getting tired of the "what did you do in school this year" question. My oldest would have been in kindergarten. What do people think I do, sit him down for four hours a day? Gee, we interacted. We played. And look! He understands the concept of mulitplication. Sigh. It's not rocket science...

Anonymous said...

You have a wonderful bright child. This is not unrelated to who her parents are and how she has been raised. Give yourself credit.

Maggie Tipping said...

You're doing a great job. A lot of people make the mistake of trying to get their kids to write as soon as possible. By focusing on shapes at this age she will be much better equipped to learn to write when she is ready.

roxie said...

Oh, yeah, definitely time to start encouraging her to use her powers for good. She's going to be hell on a jet sled when she turns sixteen.

Donna Lee said...

No baby talk here either. And lots of books. None were off limits and they picked up so many that were probably way too old but I let them look. And now I am the proud mother of three very intelligent and eager to learn new things adults. They amaze and delight me all the time with their knowledge and their thirst for new things to learn.

Amy Lane said...

Hee hee... my kids just had a kissing contest. There is NO intelligence in this house! I'm glad the Goob got something good from mom & dad (there will be no convincing me otherwise!) because all my kids got is a propensity for smart-ass-ism, and my fat.

Anonymous said...

I'm not surprised at Goober's brightness, not at all. What I AM surprised at is how much you do...including blogging, for heaven's sake!....with a two-year-old in the house. I couldn't do anything. I finally packed them off to daycare for 2 hours twice a week so I could practice (I'm a violinist), without which I'd have lost my tiny mind.