Something clicked.
M has been working on counting. The development has proceeded approximately in the following manner:
(at this point, alphabet memorization and numbers converged)
(Notice the addition of One here. His counting was one digit off up until this point because he would start with Two. So he would count six garden steps instead of five, for instance. We stuck with double-eight, nine, ten in various forms for a while, and it should be noted that there were times when he got all the way through 1-10 in the way generally accepted by the Arabic-numeral-using world).
(Here’s where we are most of the time now. Double-u and Double-eight have departed, but with them have gone five and six).
He’s been counting items for a few weeks now. He’ll tell us he has Two Drinks (milk and water), or that he wears Two Diapers at night (we were changing the sheets every morning). But he hasn’t gone much past Two. If you ask him to count items on a page, he’ll go through the motions of pointing at each one and saying numbers, but it was more like a trick than a real comprehension.
But yesterday, he crossed the threshold into real live counting. He had ended up with two drinks—a water and a cup of PediaLyte (he’s had some, well, intestinal issues). He told me he had two drinks—a water and a “special juice” (he wouldn’t drink it when we called it PediaLyte—would you?). That was normal—he’s been doing that for a while.
But then he pointed at each one in turn, counting “Own, Two.” He then asked me to do it, and I did, and then he held up two fingers and counted them, touching each as he did so–“Own, Two.” There was a new sparkle in his eye.
Then he pointed at each finger again, saying “Water,” “Special Juice.” He repeated this several times over the next five minutes, pointing at the first finger for water, and the second for “special juice.”
When I changed his diaper, he said, “Oh,” and touching his upraised two fingers, said, “Poop, Pee.”
1. Doo, Fee, Door, Ive, Dix, Sebben (not always in this order)
2. Doo, Fee, Door, Dive, Dix, Sebben, Eight, Nen.
(at this point, alphabet memorization and numbers converged)
3. Two, Fee, Door, Dive, Double-u, X, Y, Z
4. Two, Fee, Door, Dive, Dix,
Double-Eight, Nine, Den.
5. Own, Two, Fee, Door, Dive, Dix, Double-Eight,
Nine, Den.
(Notice the addition of One here. His counting was one digit off up until this point because he would start with Two. So he would count six garden steps instead of five, for instance. We stuck with double-eight, nine, ten in various forms for a while, and it should be noted that there were times when he got all the way through 1-10 in the way generally accepted by the Arabic-numeral-using world).
6. Own Two, Dee, Door, Sebben, Eight, Nine, Den.
(Here’s where we are most of the time now. Double-u and Double-eight have departed, but with them have gone five and six).
He’s been counting items for a few weeks now. He’ll tell us he has Two Drinks (milk and water), or that he wears Two Diapers at night (we were changing the sheets every morning). But he hasn’t gone much past Two. If you ask him to count items on a page, he’ll go through the motions of pointing at each one and saying numbers, but it was more like a trick than a real comprehension.
But yesterday, he crossed the threshold into real live counting. He had ended up with two drinks—a water and a cup of PediaLyte (he’s had some, well, intestinal issues). He told me he had two drinks—a water and a “special juice” (he wouldn’t drink it when we called it PediaLyte—would you?). That was normal—he’s been doing that for a while.
But then he pointed at each one in turn, counting “Own, Two.” He then asked me to do it, and I did, and then he held up two fingers and counted them, touching each as he did so–“Own, Two.” There was a new sparkle in his eye.
Then he pointed at each finger again, saying “Water,” “Special Juice.” He repeated this several times over the next five minutes, pointing at the first finger for water, and the second for “special juice.”
When I changed his diaper, he said, “Oh,” and touching his upraised two fingers, said, “Poop, Pee.”
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