Tiptoes, Gate, Zero

On Tuesday, Jonathan discovered how to stand on tiptoes, and he thought it was great fun and asked me to "Watch!" him and share in his joy.
Yesterday, he figured out how to open the front gate. So now keeping him inside the fence is truly a matter of discipline and not force. But he understands the rules, and so far has obeyed. When we were talking about it with Jon in the evening, Jonathan said, "Jon opened fence." (He says "Jon" consistently now for Jonathan.)

He has been happily interested in his bits, including the words and the math. I haven't yet written down the rest of the subtraction equations, so I make them up on the spot when he asks. Yesterday I did "82 - 82 = 0" This time, he really noticed what zero was. When I got to the zero part, he stared at the blank bit card and said, "uh-oh!" I said, "That's right, zero is no dots!" And he said, "zero."
Posted by Heather Daley on August 18, 2005, 8:19 am | Read 2011 times
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Comments
I was wondering why children often call themselves by their names before they master "I." I'm sure there are many reasons, but I did realize how much we do the same when we're talking to them. "It's time for your nap; Mommy's tired!" "Come to Daddy!" "These are Grandma's glasses." I'm not saying that's bad; like the louder, higher-pitched "mommy-ese" mothers naturally speak to their babies, there's probably a good developmental reason for it. But I hadn't thought about it before.
Posted by SursumCorda on August 18, 2005, 9:10 am
I think a large part of why adults and children do it is because "me" and "I" can refer to anybody, depending on the context. Referring to people, including yourself, in the third person, is a way to ensure that your listeners know exactly who you're talking about.
Posted by joyful on August 18, 2005, 9:25 am
"Hold you"
Posted by jondaley on August 18, 2005, 1:14 pm
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