Tuesday 13 May 2008

Constantly amazed

Do your kids amaze with their capabilities?

This morning Colin was watching a type of "Baby Einstein" video, that features music by Beethoven. As he was sitting on the couch listening, he started to move to the music. But he didn't just sway to the beat. First of all, he started analyzing the music for me: "It's going to get faster!...It's quiet now...Now louder and very, very fast!" Then when he heard a quick succession of piano notes, he put one hand over the other (so that his left hand fingers pointed up and right hand fingers pointed down) and wiggled his fingers quickly, imitating the fast music. Underneath the piano notes was a repetitive pattern of deeper notes on a horn. Each time the pattern started again, Colin would switch which hand was on top and lean his body to the side. I'm not sure if this description makes any sense to anyone else, but suffice it to say that I couldn't believe he could hear the different components of the music and that his brain could process it all and perform the different actions at the same time!

Yesterday Colin pulled out a "toolbox" set, complete with a little work bench. He found his screwdriver and wanted to screw in the screws. He asked "how's it work?" and I showed him that if he turned the screwdriver one way, to the right, the screws went in, and if he turned it to the left the screws came out. I showed him my hand action, the screw going into the workbench, and then I lifted the bench up so he could see where the bottom of the screw was disappearing to. I barely got one screw in when he took the driver from me and proceeded to screw and and take out the screws for the next 15 minutes - no further help or explanation needed.

This afternoon we went to the grocery store and on the way out the wide doors slid open automatically. Colin stopped in the doorway, touched the open door, looked up at me and asked with amazement: "How does it work?" I pointed up to the sensor and explained that it could tell when a person was coming, and then the computer inside opened the doors automatically. He is full of such wonder and perceptiveness.

Perceptiveness - that's what I really think it's all about. Nothing escapes his view, no question remains locked up inside his head, and he processes everything he sees, hears and learns immediately. I am constantly amazed by him.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It sounds minor, but for not even a month old yet, at the time (I think, somewhere in there), I think it was pretty impressive. He loved his mobile, and one day the batteries died, but he was still excited to see it, so his arms and legs would flail, making the mobile shake. By the end of the day, he had figured out that he could get the mobile to move by deliberately kicking one foot. That was the first time he amazed me by doing something. Course, now he tries it on anything he wants to make work - the tv to unpause, me to blow more raspberries.....
-Heather.