Spider Boy, Spider Boy

We went to the zoo the other day. They have a new exhibit called "Spider City" and I'm happy to report that Wendy made it all the way through the entire thing without freaking out. She was a brave little camper. We had a great time with our friends from down the street, Nino, William, and Baby Isabella (sadly Jessica, the mom, had to work). It's been fun going to the zoo over the course of Kiernan's development. It's interesting to see his progression, from the time he was a little baby sleeping against my chest in his Baby Bjorn and getting nursed by his mother near the giraffes, to going with his godfathers and riding in a backpack, to now when he runs around on his own, actively excited about seeing the different animals. And just as excited about the snow cone stand.

I'm proud of him. Researching whether snow cones--or the ice cream he eventually opted for--taste the same in captivity as they do in the wild is an important area of study. The work can take years, I'm telling you. Years.

He was even upset when we left because we didn't have time to visit the snake place. Snake house. Snake pit. I don't know what they call it. Anyway, we'll have to go back, not only to see the snakes, but because the next day, upon waking up, Kiernan's first words were, "I want to go back to Spider City." Mom couldn't have been happier.

Here's a picture of Kiernan with William, goofing off at the house.

Statesboy

Kiernan is crazy about the states now.

It really is amazing to me how quickly he picks up on things. Once he decides to go after a particular thing, he goes after it whole hog. He's like his mother in this way. It's important for me to mention this, because I want people to realize we're not pushing Kiernan to learn all of this stuff. We introduce a wide variety of concepts to him, and he takes some of them and runs with them. Like letters for instance. He has always loved letters. Now it is true that we bought him many, many sets of letters to play with. Several sets of magnetic letters for the refrigerator. A couple sets of foam letters for the bathtub. Some big foam letters he could play with outside and make a mat out of if he wanted to. We both love letters and words so we focused on that. Still, he has cars and little plastic jungle animals and play-doh and stuff like that too.

But he really took to the letters. He loves writing his letters on the sidewalk or on his dry-erase boards. He loves the "ABC" song and insists we sing it with him--in a variety of voices--throughout the day. He sometimes takes his letters to bed. Sometimes I'd rather play with his toy cars--I admit it, singing about the alphabet two-hundred times a day in a sad imitation of Piglet's voice can get to me--but he won't have it.

His state puzzle was the same way. Wendy bought Kiernan a little state puzzle, pictured above, and he was immediately interested. I was a bit leery because some of the pieces are tiny, so not only is the puzzle a choking hazard, it is also really hard to do. I'm not sure it's clear from the photo above, but there are no channel lines for the puzzle pieces. The puzzle is a simple wood cut out and it is smooth, and the pieces don't click together or anything, so every time you bump it the pieces move. Two-and-a-half year olds don't tend to have the best fine motor skills, so there is plenty of bumping going on.

The choking thing was of no worry. Kiernan was a kid who put everything in his mouth when he was still crawling around. He seems to be over that now.

Of greater surprise to me is the fact that the level of difficulty issue was also of no worry. I cannot express to you how amazed I am at his learning curve on this thing. For the first few days, maybe a week or so, he wanted us to do the puzzle with him. Over and over and over again. Then he wanted to help. Then he would ask for help, but it was clear he didn't really need it. Either he was using us as a crutch, or else he was trying to make sure we didn't feel useless. I'm not sure. But within the space of about two weeks he was doing this puzzle on his own. Even the fine motor skills thing became a non-factor as he became able to maneuver the smallest of the pieces into place without help. Another few days and he was naming all of the states as he did so.

I'm not kidding.

Kiernan is not yet three years old and he can name every state in the union.

He's not reading them. Yes, he can read short words and recognize longer ones, but he has somehow memorized all fifty states by their shape and size and where they go. If I hold up Missouri, for example, and tell him I think it's New Hampshire, he'll say, "No, silly Daddy. That's Missouri. New Hampshire is over there. Next to Vermont."

Again. I'm not kidding. He knows the states better than we do. Far better. It's a little scary.

But as the man in the infomercial says, "Wait...there's more..."

Ask him if Washington, D.C. is a state. Go ahead. I dare you.

"No," he'll say.

You will inevitably then ask him what it is, if it isn't, indeed, a state.

"It's a district," he will say.

I'm working on the concept of commonwealths next.

What have I gotten out of all this? In addition to extreme parental pride I've learned each state's motto, so next time you see me, be sure to quiz me.

Otherwise, how am I ever going to get any use out of the knowledge that North Dakota is the Flickertail State?


Just don't ask me what in the world a Flickertail is. Or, for that matter, a Palmetto.

No matter. By that time I'm sure Kiernan will be able to tell you.

Tricky Letters

'E' is missing.

I just realized this. I was just going to post some pictures of vowels, because Kiernan is still into them. Not exclusively anymore. Of late he's taken to carrying around L, M, N, O, and P instead, which is a big shift, because for awhile the vowels were the favored letters to carry around and jump on the bed with and use as sleeping companions alongside Meow Meow Kitty Cat, Pooh Bear, and Guinea Pig.

I have to say this is entirely understandable. The "L, M, N, O, P" portion of the "ABC" song was always my favorite part, even if I did spend a ridiculous amount of my childhood thinking that "LMNOP" was a single letter.

After 'E' went missing the vowels gradually fell out of favor. Not that he is actively against them, they are just no longer as important. I have no idea where the letter 'E' has gone to. We've looked in the mesh bag that holds Kiernan's bath toys and letters over and over again, to no avail. We've looked under and behind furniture. We've looked behind his bed, the most popular place letters go to hide. We've looked in the toy box, in the cupboards, in the cushions, in both cars. 'E' is nowhere to be found. But now that I see this picture again I realize I have a clue, at least. 'E' was still around the day this picture was taken. So there's that. Now all I have to do is call "CSI: Bathtub" and I'm sure we'll crack this case.

Oh, and we have a "Vowel Update": it is understood now by everyone in our household--yes, this includes our cat Cali--that 'Y' is what is termed 'A Tricky Letter'. I wrote previously that while Kiernan knew his vowels, we were avoiding The 'Y' Conundrum ( a new thriller by Robert Ludlum) because we thought it would be too confusing and anyway, Y's refusal to pick a team annoyed me. But then I went and bought a "Sometimes Y" t-shirt to commemorate Kiernan's learning his vowels. He noticed 'Y' in the middle of the Ven Diagram all alone, and so his mom taught him about 'Y'. We needn't have worried about the confusion. In no time at all, he was on it.

"Y is tricky!"

"Why is that, Kiernan?"

"Because it's sometimes a vowel and sometimes a consonant!"

When my dad heard Kiernan say this over the phone he said to me, "You know his Kindergarten teachers are going to hate you."

Dad didn't really say this. Nobody really says this. It's just a joke I throw out there because it's a creeping fear I have. I'll get over it.

You should also know that 'G' and 'J' are tricky letters. This is because 'G' sometimes sounds like "guh" and sometimes sounds like 'J'. This makes them tricky. In case you were wondering.