Learning every day

Aaron loves to learn new things. I suspect this is common for toddlers, but since this is my first, I don't know what is normal for this age. Aaron practically taught himself the alphabet and his numbers by prefering books that are alphabet or counting based (I have Ten Little Ladybugs and Dr. Seuss' ABC's memorized). And he often stops us mid-book to point out the words he knows or to ask what a specific word is. But other than this self-directed learning, Thom has really taken the lead in teaching Aaron the things that he knows.

I remember when I was pregnant, Thom used to take Aaron on walks in the stroller to get him out of my hair on the weekends. After one of these walks, Aaron came back able to recite his street address. Thom had mentioned prior to this that we should teach Aaron his address in case he were to get lost. I never would have imagined that he could learn his address at age 2. I think I often underestimate what Aaron is capable of because I am often surprised by what Thom is able to teach Aaron with simple games.

For example, he taught Aaron his left hand from his right during breakfast time. Aaron has a bowl of oatmeal every morning. We usually still help him fill up the spoon and then he puts it in his mouth. (Aaron could probably do it all on his own if we wanted to clean up oatmeal off the table and floor every morning.) So Thom would put the spoon on either the left side or the right side and tell Aaron which side it was. Later, he'd ask Aaron "Left or right side?" and Aaron would respond by holding up the hand that he preferred and saying what it was (at which point Thom would correct him if he was wrong.) He still gets his left and right confused, but most of the time, if he is looking for a book on the shelf that I can see, I can direct him to it by telling him it is more to the left or more to the right of where he is looking.

Now that they have mastered left and right, Thom is teaching Aaron time by placing the spoon at twelve o'clock, 3 o'clock, etc.

Aaron now also knows all the sections of the Wall Street Journal (his favorite is the elusive Journal Report that seems to come sporadically). He knows names of plants and trees in the backyard, as well as birds he sees out the window from the kitchen table. Thom has also taught him to say "May I be excused from the table, please?" rather than just saying "All done!" And he could spell both his name and Audrey's name well before he was 2 1/2.

I'm really impressed with how easily Aaron picks stuff up, but also by how easily Thom integrates learning into their daily routine. He seems to see a learning opportunity in everything. Sometimes he'll be explaining something to Aaron in a way that I think is too mature for his age or is too complicated for Aaron to understand. Lately it's been addition and subtraction. But I've learned that Aaron is often more capable than I expect. In fact, he already knows that 100-100=0.