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How High Can You Count?

The five year old can read.  It's adorable to watch him sound out all the words in the "Bob" books.  He can also write.  He's been working hard on a letter to Santa.  We've been working hard to decipher it and read it phonetically.  We're almost there.  He can also count.  Mostly.  Usually up to ten.  Except he skips ten and goes to sixteen, back to fourteen, and then who knows from there.

During dinner my kids and I were sharing counting stories.  Apparently, my ten year old could count to 100 by the time he was three.  In fact, 3 was a banner year for him.  Most of his accomplishments (in retrospect) happened "when I was 3." 

My weirdly photographic memory places me outside with two older girls, sometime before I moved to the small, unincorporated town.  This places my age somewhere around 5 or 6.  The older girls were having a competition to see who could count the highest.  I wanted to join in, too.  I already knew how high I could count.  It was pretty high.  When it was my turn, I showed off my great and enviable skills. 

I counted all the way to 29.  I was so proud. 

At the end of my story, one of my children quipped, "Oh!  That's why you keep having birthdays and never get older than 29!  You still can't count any higher!"

Touché.

Comments

  1. Lisa Page RosenbergDecember 8, 2010 at 8:28 AM

    Of course that child is now grounded, right?

    ReplyDelete
  2. JeanieDecember 8, 2010 at 9:53 AM

    LOL! Did you tell that child that they were absolutely correct?

    ReplyDelete
  3. A Musing MotherDecember 8, 2010 at 9:44 PM

    Lisa,

    Duh. He's grounded for the rest of his childhood. Or 29 days. Whichever comes first.

    ReplyDelete
  4. angieDecember 9, 2010 at 1:22 PM

    Hilarious. One of my twins always skips 14. I'm starting to fear he won't pass kindergarten because of this. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. M-CatDecember 9, 2010 at 7:29 PM

    I'm with you and can't count any higher than 29.

    PS - Wish you had left your post up "That's not how you really feel"

    Crying and touched and boy could we swap some stories.

    xoxox
    M

    ReplyDelete
  6. KatDecember 10, 2010 at 4:54 AM

    Kids are hilarious. My oldest keeps losing 4 in her quest to count to 10. I am no idea where it goes. She i able to count to 14 in spanish, but in English? Apparenlty mommy's language isn't as important as daddy's! lol!

    ReplyDelete
  7. CrystalDecember 10, 2010 at 9:32 AM

    Too funny. I'm with ya though. I'm not counting any higher than 30. However, my dudes like to point out that "mommy is older than daddy"...ok, by 10 months. Big whoop! But that also means I'm smarter...and prettier!

    ReplyDelete
  8. CountessLaurieDecember 21, 2010 at 10:33 AM

    Ha! I love that you grounded him for the rest of his life or 29 days... too funny!

    ReplyDelete

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