T-Ball Tikes

Alexander and Anna spent the afternoon Sunday playing T-Ball, one of Alexander's birthday presents from his grandparents. Alexander was very generous with sharing what he calls his softball game with his sister. Mikel helped the children with their form, while I snapped photos. Shreve oversaw the fun while guarding the house from his shaded spot on the front porch.

... OK, I know parents love to sing their kids' praises and think they're smart and great at everything. I'm going to be one of those parents for a moment. Hope you don't mind.

I'm amazed at how quickly the children have picked up the English language. Alexander commonly says three-word sentences now. He likes to point out stuff: "Boo boo right there," pointing to a place on his crib where he bumped his leg or head; "Big garbage truck, Mommy." "Diaper off, mommy," he said, stating the obvious today as I walked into his room after his nap. It even sounded like he'd said "I" on the front end...as if to say "I took my diaper off, Mommy." And last week he suddenly began pointing to letters and saying them. I was taken aback one morning as he pointed to the letter "G" on the Huggies wipes box and said "G". I said, "What? What did you just say?" It sounded like "G" but then I couldn't be sure. Later that afternoon, he pointed to the letter "A" on a magazine cover and correctly named it. Again, I was floored because, although we sing the ABC song and play with letter blocks and books and such, I haven't really sat down with him to point out specific letters in a little school session. Maybe he got it from Sesame Street! It could be a fluke. I don't think I've noticed anything else, except for him pointing to letters and incorrectly saying them. But, hey, at least he's making that connection. He has been, for a bit, however, making the counting connection with fingers. I can hold up 1 or 5 or 2 or 4 fingers, and he almost always correctly tells me the number! He seems to get stuck on 3.

I haven't mentioned Anna because it's not so shocking — maybe because she's older and it has always been obvious to us that she is so bright (whereas occasionally Alexander exhibits that deer-in-the-headlights look) and, after all, she does know many of her letters and numbers. She doesn't know all the alphabet, but she has been for the past month or so correctly pointing out letters. Also, she'll see a number somewhere and tell me what it is. Mikel has the number 12 on his softball shirt, and when she saw him wearing it she informed me that Daddy had a number 1 and a number 2 on his shirt. In an amusing little bit, when she correctly points out something to me (even if unsolicited) Anna very often pats herself on the back with a "Smart girl" comment.

When any sort of counting bit or counting song comes on Sesame Street, I have noticed that both children look up and really pay attention (otherwise they might sometimes be playing with their toys as Sesame Street airs in the background).