Learning Stuff!

Beowulf is kind of blowing us away. He can now count to three. Genius, right? Okay, maybe not. I guess it's just the process of watching him acquire knowledge that's truly amazing. And actually, what's cool to me is that he actually seems to understand the concepts behind the memorization. 

He can say one-two-three, but he won't just say them if you ask. He will only do it if there's something to count. It started with counting the number of "O's" in a particular word. Now if I line up three kernels of popcorn, he will count them. If there's more than three of something, he'll make up some "numbers," but he'll point to each in turn. So he gets that we're quantifying items in a set.

He also seems to understand that letters make words that can be read. I started by running my finger underneath the words as I read them in some of his books. Now he will do the same thing when he sees words in other contexts, pointing to them and wanting me to read what they say. He can identify the letter O and is working on S, P, and B.

This morning was Beo's 2-year well baby checkup, where he clocked in at his usual 85% on everything. He's now 35 and one quarter inches tall, which means he can go on the Matterhorn at Disneyland! 

As for us, we got a tree this weekend and put up decorations! Kelson and I have finally experienced that strange reversal of parenthood - we're now super excited for Christmas not because we'll be getting presents, but because we get to watch Beowulf open the gifts we got for him! His favorite movie continues to be My Neighbor Totoro, so I found him this wonderfully soft stuffed Totoro at the Asian mall in town. I cannot wait to see his reaction when he gets up and finds Totoro sitting in his chair on Christmas morning!