So while I was visiting home, I did some story reading duty for my older nephew (3 YO). I ended up reading him Curious George in the Snow about five or six times.
In this book, George and The Man In the Yellow Hat (TMITYH) visit a winter sports lodge. TMITYH leaves George on the porch of the lodge (you’d think he’d know better by now) to rustle up some hot chocolate. George, by some shenanigans, wanders off and ends up at the bottom of the toboggan run. He returns to the lodge and the table, but TMITYH is still nowhere to be seen. (Note this point in the story.) George then tries to follow a skier that looks like him.
At this point, my nephew points at the picture on one of the pages and says “there he is!” I look; the picture in question depicts the above noted point; the POV is kind of pulled back compared to other pics, so it shows quite a bit. In the background of this pic, fairly tiny, is a line of people. And there’s someone who’s clearly TMITYH! He just hadn’t gotten to the front of the line for the hot chocolate yet!
This is a book I’d read many, many times to this kid, and I’m a mystery fan who cut his teeth on pictorial mystery tales. I hadn’t noticed this at all. I was equal parts proud and astonished.
Of course, this same wit and intellect puts him into “too smart for his own good” territory sometimes, but that’s another tale.
I was always impressed by how much kids notice- things that adults just ignore and/or are not interested in. For them, everything is new I guess.
I never liked that naughty monkey and his irresponsible owner. Who lets their monkey jump all over the dinosaur bones at the museum, etc.
My kids loved Richard Scarry. Those books also have a lot of details for kids to look at while it is being read to them. I once read “Pie-Rats Ahoy” 9 times in a row!
Oh wow, I loved his work. I remember having “Richard Scarry’s Best Story Book Ever,” and with all those details in the drawings, it sure felt like it was!
My 3 year old does my taxes. Top that:D
Wait a minute. I guess that explains why I’m being audited.
All kidding aside most kids that age are just very observant. It’s funny how everyone thinks their kid is the smartest. I’m guilty of that too. My 3 year old draws a picture and in my mind I’m thinking she’s going to be the next Picasso.
I’ve been on parenting boards before and my experience is that anytime you comment on your child being advanced you will get attacked by other parents and accused of bragging.
My grandson, now nine was at his 4 yo checkup and the doctor asked if he could print his name. My daughter-in-law said that he could and the doctor (who sitting on the other side of the desk from them) gave him a pencil and paper and asked him to print his name. He did–upside down and backwards so the doctor could read it!
I could go on for hours, if not days about my other grandchildren, but I refrain.
pshaw. My children could have read that book to you at three.
(no really, they could.)
But your nephew is a smart cookie. I love three year olds. They are so observant and excited about life and learning. I prefer 2 year olds though. Three year olds are more stubborn.
Yep. Last year we were reading a batch of essays written by kindergarteners (the fact that the US government requires essays on standardized tests for ESL kindergarteners is a whole different issue) who had to write a story based on a series of pictures and a bunch of the kids mentioned a cat in their stories. No one could figure out where the cat was coming from, because the pictures clearly depicted a kid hearing a strange noise and finally realizing it was dad using a power tool in the garage. But when the cat idea kept cropping up, we went back and looked, and there was a cat we’d completely ignored since it wasn’t doing anything in the story but sitting. It wasn’t important enough to the adults to warrant notice, but to kids who are still trying to learn what’s important and what’s not, the cat mattered. Some people were quite embarrassed when they realized the kids had noticed something they didn’t.
I notice on parenting boards that all the kids and kid activities have adjectives now. No one has a cold anymore- it’s always a “severe” cold or an “extreme” sensitivity or whatever.
My daughter was sitting in the backseat writing furiously in a notebook, occaisionally asking me how to spell words. Mysterious. Rabid. Apocalypse (and about 5 or 6 other words that were higher level than other 5th graders and conscience.)
My husband and I make quiet comments on her smarticles (I receive full credit, which I humbly accept.) as we drive to Point B.
Somewhere along the way, my daughter starts reading what she is writing. I am expecting a Manifesto of girly adventure story that is CHOCK full of all her 900 bff’s running into a wacky hijinks and a creepy night in a corn field ( or something. It is usually all NAMES and no plot.)
What she came up with with a list of BAND NAMES.
Shiny Death
Sunrise Apocalyse
Rapid Ponies the winnar
Mysterious Cow
My daughter’s 16 months old. We were playing the “where’s your ___?” game. I started with body parts (Where’s your belly button? Where are your toes?), then started doing toys.
Me: Where’s your frog? (She has a stuffed frog toy)
Munchkin: Points at feet
Me: No, those are your toes. We already did those. Where’s your frog?
Munchkin: Points at feet
My kid does some pretty brilliant stuff (she learned the entire alphabet in 1 day), but then turns around and is easily fooled. She is 2.5 years old. She was being lazy and refused to go get her own cup of juice from the other room. So, I said, “Would you go get that cup of juice for me?” and she was more than happy to help me out. I laughed and said to myself, “dumbass!”
Aw! I love kids like that: they may be a bit selfish, but they also really want to help mommy and daddy.
I know of a parenting book that tells you to take advantage of this: phrase their chores as things that would really help you out, and such a kid is more likely to do them. I like it better than motivating through fear of punishment.
Kids really are amazingly observant, aren’t they? It’s astonishing.
One of my nieces was out with us for a lunch date, and was going on and on about the kitties. (She was young, maybe 18 months or so, so it was one of the words she had and she was excited about being able to communicate with us.) We were all, “there’s no kitties; I don’t see the kitties” and then I finally notice them, little tiny ones on a calendar. I made sure to praise her for pointing out the kitties.
Now, I try to stop and slow down and really see what they’re pointing at or where they want me to look. Because they see it better than I do, clearly. Of course, now the youngest is 5 so it’s easier.
When I was little, I had a book I called the “spider and grasshopper” book. “Read to me from the spider and grasshopper book!” It was one of my favorites. For a while, Mom was clueless about which book it was. Turns out it was one of those “Little Critter” books - while clearly not the main character (or his family), there was a spider and grasshopper drawn in different places on each page, kind of watching the goings-on as observers. No idea why I’d focused on them.
