I am aware that I am a biased person when it comes to you. I know for a fact that I cannot and will never be able to view you objectively. But I grant myself pardon because what parent isn’t like that when it comes to their own child? You see, to me, you are the cutest baby ever born, you were the best baby there ever was, and basically, you just do everything better and earlier than any other baby who’s ever been born. Probably not a fair judgment, but like I said…I’m biased. And since parents everywhere think the same thing of their children, I’m also not alone.
Of course, this “overestimation” in your abilities (which is not at all an overestimation in my humble opinion) extends to your brilliance. Yes, brilliance. You, my dear son, are incredibly smart. You can already say the alphabet and recognize letters and numbers. And you don’t just recite the alphabet – you actually know what letters come after which (as J told me yesterday)! You can count to twenty. You pick up on new things incredibly fast, and from everything I’ve heard in my developmental psych class about “the age that babies develop the ability to (fill in the blank),” you are always ahead of the power curve. I brag about you a lot. Even if those things weren’t true, I couldn’t be prouder of you.
Speaking of my developmental psychology class, (I know, I refer to it a lot, but it’s just so relevant!) we were discussing the other day about the age when toddlers start to recognize themselves. My textbook says it’s generally at or a little after age 2 that kids start to recognize themselves in pictures or videos or even the mirror. However, I happen to know that you’ve been able to recognize yourself for a long time. Last time you visited, one of the ways we kept you entertained was to show you videos. I showed you ones I took that day and your parents showed you ones they’d taken over the past few months. Any time you saw yourself, you would point to yourself in the video and say, “Me!” And you’re still four months away from being two years old. Who woulda thought?
But actually, that was not the first time you demonstrated your ability to recognize yourself. You did that even earlier. E sent me a video at the beginning of February depicting your new (and fairly prodigious) skill, which means you were able to recognize yourself even before that.
I know, it’s a small feat, but I get incredibly excited over the little things you learn to do. You could learn the word “garbage” and I’d squeal about it for days, telling everyone I know. I know it’s silly, but I can’t help it. I just get so proud of you! I know a majority of your smarts comes from having wonderful parents who give you books and educational games and sit with you for hours on end while you learn the alphabet. I’m sure it also comes from having a brother who loves to teach you things. But there’s a little part of me that likes to think maybe it’s just your stellar genetics (I graduated high school with highest honors, and have been on the Dean’s List every semester of college. Just saying). Maybe mama had a little something to do with it ;)
Also, you’re insanely adorable when you learn to do new things, which is also partly the reason why I brag so much – you’re just so cute and you make me so happy, I figure I should spread the joy. Kind of like this :)
Letters to Little Man 