.jpg)
Counting
Avey has known how to count to 10 for well over a year now. She’s struggled with numbers 12 through 19 for so long, however, that we figured we should do something about it. Her sequence would usually follow something like this: “11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 13, 19, 20”. So one day I scribbled up a quick chart demonstrating to her how our number system works – there’s a ones place, a tens place, and so on. I showed her how the numbers cycle through beginning at 0 and going up to 9 before starting over. She was very impressed, and was determined to learn how to count to one hundred. I finished up the chart, going to 100, and Avey tried a few times, always struggling though the teens, but as soon as she hit 17 she was home free. Earlier this week, she was still working on counting to 100 using the chart, sometimes going through the whole chart 3 or 4 times in a row. I decided to make a more sophisticated chart, color-coding the digits and everything. She’s been going through it religiously, several times daily. She’s getting it down, usually confusing 60 with 90, but nearly always catching herself. Tonight at dinner she made a real breakthrough as she was going over the chart and realized, “Daddy! I can still count them without pointing at them!” Spectacular, isn’t she?
I’m thrilled that she enjoys learning so much, and takes it upon herself to expand her horizons. She often requests to learn more about something when we’re sitting and having a chat. She’s asked about liquids and solids, vampires, temporary and permanent, and just the other day we had a long discussion about how the body is made up of cells. She seems excited to fill that little head of hers with whatever she can, and we hope we can keep helping her out with that. I’m sure she’ll be a great little teacher for her little brother!