Gratuitous Mommy Bragging: 01/20/05
Sean is one month shy of 2 ½ and I've been having fun reading up on those "milestones" again. The advice for parents of kids Sean's age is hilarious in it's obviousness and in the ways it so often seems to under estimate two year olds.

Parents should treat their children as they themselves want to be treated. Um duh. That's true of any encounter with anyone. So we're nice and loving to Sean, he in turn is nice and loving to us.

Parents should start introducing the concept of numbers and letters to their children. No problem there. Sean can nearly count to one hundred and has the alphabet memorized. In fact, Sean has started to ask us how reading works!

Parents should start giving their children simple chores like feeding a pet. Sean has been feeding the cat for four of five months now. He volunteered to do the chore himself.

Children should by this age know at least one color. Over Christmas Sean learned the colors of the rainbow.

Children should be able to name one friend. Sean knows all of his preschool buddies by name which is better than I can do. I'm always having to ask him who is who!

Children should be able to name one picture. Sean knows about thirty animals by their picture (and what sounds they make). To list out all the things he can name by their picture would take too long. He has a vocabulary of hundreds of words. I stopped counting ages ago.

But this long post isn't just to brag about my son. He doesn't seem any more advanced that most of the kids his age that I've met. Parents and teachers seem to underestimate how much toddlers are capable of learning or understanding or doing. Sean and his friends show me this daily. And in helping him pursue his interests I have learned things too but that will be a different post.

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