My Kid is So Smart!

Sure, that's what every parent says, but I'm serious, my kid is really smart. In reality, we are always comparing our children to others around them. Daycare has some advantages in this field as there are always kids below and above his age level that I can compare him to. For instance, he was a late walker - kinda. I felt that he should have been walking by 12 months but my boy had other plans. You see in order for him to move up from the baby room to the toddler room he had to be able to walk. You can imagine my surprise when they moved up a girl who not only wasn't walking but was two weeks YOUNGER than Elliot. Sure, she crawled sooner and she was much beefier than my kid, but she wasn't walking either. So, fast forward to a couple weeks ago when Elliot was spending all of his time in the toddler room, even though he wasn't walking yet. But apparently, watching the other kids walk was enough for him because my kid is walking and little girl in his class still isn't! That's only one of his many brilliance's - he's a fast learner. He's gone from taking two to three steps at a time, to walking from the kitchen to the living room (at least 30 steps) to practically running tonight!

Brilliance number 2 of about a gazillion - my kid talks like you wouldn't believe! He's always been vocal, loved to make noises. About 4 months ago he started saying something that resembled "tickle tickle". That has progressed to words, mini sentences, and even repeated recognition of items instead of just repeating. Take this weekend for instance - he points to the dog and says clearly "puppy". He picks up a ball and not only says "ball" but "my ball". He knows mama and dada. Brilliantly, the kid says "caca" when he's pooped (the Spanish word for poop). He says "baby" in reference to himself, especially when he's upset about something. When he's excited or proud, he can be heard saying, "I did it". He talks constantly!! I just wish most of the time he made sense. My kid is so cool.

Did I mention he's brilliant?? Apparently they've been working on body parts in daycare. This has been a focus for Sam and I as well. I really hope that I can get the following on video, but as of now, you'll just have to take my word for it. When asked where his "belly" is, he takes one or both hands and pats his belly. When asked where his "nose" is, he promptly sticks a finger up his nose - not the most hygienic but he knows where his nose is. When asked where his "head" is, he smacks himself on the head repeatedly. The other day when asked where his "foot" was, he did two things. First, he took off his sock and second, he put said foot in his mouth. After meals when we go to clean him up, we ask for his hands, and he will give us one but not always the other.

So feel free to compare all of my kid's brilliance to yours - hands down, mine will always win. (No bias here!)