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| Helping Q sign his name to a picture he drew. He also knows most of the colors in his crayon box. |
People often tell me how smart Quinn is and comment on how well he talks. I always smile and say thank you, and I try not to brag
about him. (No one likes that mom.)
But today, I have to brag. The kid blew my mind this weekend.
He started stringing two, sometimes
three, words together a couple months ago, but only on occasion and never a
complete sentence.
Over the last few days, all that changed. It’s like a switch
flipped in his little genius toddler brain when he turned twenty months old
last week. Now he’s more than capable of holding up his end of the conversation. In fact, he doesn’t even need
me to have a conversation at all.
The Sky
Q and I were snuggling in the rocking chair before his nap
on Saturday. He was almost asleep when a super loud airplane flew over the
house.
QUINN: Pane!
MOMMY: Yes, that was an airplane.
QUINN: In da tie.
MOMMY: Yes, the plane is in the
sky.
QUINN: Owside.
MOMMY: Yep, the plane is in the sky outside.
QUINN: Touds.
MOMMY: Yes, the plane is in the clouds.
QUINN: Biwds.
MOMMY: Birds are in the sky, too... Quinn, are you naming all the things you know that are in the sky?
QUINN: Yeah.
MOMMY: What else is in the sky?
QUINN: Sun.
MOMMY: Yes, very good. The sun is in the sky.
QUINN: Moon.
MOMMY: Yes, the moon is in the sky, too.
QUINN: Bwue.
MOMMY: *sighs, smiles* Yes, love, the sky is blue.
Pop Quiz
Later that night, we were again in the rocking chair before
bed. He sat in my lap and nuzzled into my shoulder as I sniffed his
baby-shampoo hair. I sang “Hush Little Baby” and got to the part about how I’m
going to buy him a billy goat.
QUINN: Maaaaa! Dat sound? Doat (Goat) sound!
Yay!
MOMMY: *stunned* You make great goat sounds. (I knew he could make a goat
sound, I just didn’t know he could have a conversation about it!)
QUINN: WOOF! WOOF! Dat sound? Dog sound! Yay! (Again, he answered his own question.)
MOMMY: *trying not to laugh* Very good doggie sounds, Quinn.
QUINN: *snorts his nose* Dat sound? Pig sound!
MOMMY: *laughs too loudly for bedtime* Look at you, smarty pants, quizzing
yourself on your animal sounds.
“Hush Little Baby” is no longer an effective lullaby.
Eyes closed
Quinn has two back-up lovies, a giraffe and an elephant. The giraffe stays in his crib, and
the elephant stays in the car. They both have small half-moons for eyes. I put
Q into his car seat and handed him Lovey Elephant.
QUINN: Fefant. Eyes toesed.
MOMMY: Yes, Lovey Elephant’s eyes are closed.
QUINN: Seeping.
MOMMY: Yes, sweetie, your elephant is sleeping.
QUINN: Yiaffe.
MOMMY: Elephant’s eyes are closed like your giraffe’s eyes?
QUINN: Yeah. Fefant eyes toesed. Yiaffe eyes toesed. Seeping. Night, night.
*kisses elephant’s trunk* Muah!
1-2-3
Quinn has been able to recite the numbers 1-2-3 in order for
a little while, but I thought he was just repeating what he heard. This
weekend, he proved that he understands the concept of numbers and counting and that
he knows what each number looks like.
Q has foam numbers that stick to the sides of the bathtub. I often put them in
order and we count them together. Friday night at the end of his bath, he
handed me the bath toys to put away.
MOMMY: Quinn, will you hand Mommy the number one?
QUINN: *looks around the tub for a moment, picks up the purple number one and
hands it to me* One.
MOMMY: Very good, Q! That is the number one. Can you find the number two?
QUINN: *Looks around again, finds the green two quicker this time* Two.
MOMMY: Yes! That IS the number two. Can you find the three?
Quinn successfully identified and handed me all ten digits,
one through zero, and the letter “Q” since that’s the only foam letter he
currently has in the tub. All on the first try. He also figured out that a six and a nine are the same when you flip one of them upside down, so that didn't even trip him up. How long as he known all his
numbers?
Quinn also counted three buttons on his Learning Farm,
touching each one and saying the appropriate number. He also counted all three
of us at the dinner table. Then yesterday, he spontaneously counted to four for
no apparent reason other than to show us that he could.
I wonder if Quinn could count the number of times my jaw hit
the floor this weekend.
