The Thinker

from babycenter.com: You can practically see the lightbulb go on when your toddler first figures out how to fit the pieces of a puzzle together. Simple puzzles, nesting blocks, and stacking toys not only draw on your child's mental resources, they help refine hisfine motor skills (which until now have probably taken a backseat to more physical activities like running and climbing). While your toddler will continue to burst with energy, he's also more interested in sitting still longer, especially when there's a problem to be solved.

from Adriel: It's hard to realize sometimes just how smart Laura is. Especially since she doesn't talk too much. Although, as she's said individual words (one time each) lately, I'm beginning to think that she can talk just fine, but she won't do it when I'm around. Right after I put her to bed on Thursday night, I heard her talking to herself. Most of the time, I would call it babbling, but I heard several words that I had heard once before. I think she was looking at all the things in her room and trying their names on her tongue.

I mentioned Friday that she spent quite a bit of time trying to screw the cap onto the water bottle. That was a problem that needed to be solved. Lately, I've watched her sorting things, grouping them. It's fun to watch, and it makes me realize just how smart she is. 

Tonight, however, she essentially asked me a question. And it makes me wonder if maybe I'm not working with her enough. I'm wondering if maybe I haven't been talking to her enough, teaching her enough, pointing out things enough. Maybe I'm wasting a great time to really build the basics in her brain. Sure, I'm doing all of those things. But am I doing them enough? Because after tonight, I'm pretty sure I have an 18 month old that is ready to ask, "Why is the sky blue?" and get the answer, "Because the atmosphere lets all the other frequencies through, but bounces back the frequency of light that looks blue to our eyes." Well, ok. Maybe she's not quite there. But she'll be there before three which is when the other genius that I partially raised asked that question.

If you start at the windshield and count each window of the car in a clock-wise direction, where the driver's window ends up being 6, then the only window with a stick-on window tint is Laura's--window 5.  Tonight Laura got my attention and twisted around so that she could point at 4 (rear windshield) and shook her head. Then, she pointed at 3, 2, and 1 and shook her head for each one. She was "talking" in her mumbling style the whole time. Then, she pointed at 5, her window. She nodded her head and then raised her hands into the sign language movement for WHY? She has used the sign for "why" many times so that wasn't amazing. But she was obviously asking me why does that window have a shade when all the others don't.

I immediately told Keith what she'd done, then I looked at her and said, "There's a shade on your window, so that the sun doesn't shine on your face." And Keith added, "We bought you sun-glasses, but you don't wear them. We want to protect your eyes." She immediately, then, pointed to windows 3 and 4 again and talked for a while longer with her hands back in the "why?" sign. I, oddly, understood. "We had shades on those windows before, because you were too little to have sunglasses, and you were looking out the back window. But now, you can wear glasses, and you're facing forward. And Daddy likes the back window clear, so that he can see." She nodded and immediately grinned. She had her question answered, and she picked up her hippo and sighed, contented.

Am I wrong in thinking that I have a very, very, very smart girl on my hands? I don't think I'm doing enough to develop her mind...

No pictures or videos today. Although it was Mother's Day, it was a typical Sunday for us. But she took a nice long nap all afternoon, which is when I usually take pictures on Sundays.