I've touched on Kendall's love of stacking/lining things up before. What I didn't know when I wrote that post was that those couple of pictures were just the beginning. Since then I have taken a photo, almost every day, of something new Kendall has lined up. I've even started hash-tagging #liningup so that I can keep better track of her accomplishments.
It started with her diapers. She lines them up, perfectly. She gets frustrated when one doesn't face the right way or isn't perfectly in line with the others. Some times she even makes patterns out of them. Sometimes she just stacks them as high as she can and then gets SUPER frustrated when they fall down.
We found a $3 box of Dora dominoes at a garage sale a couple months ago and I have to say that was the best $3 I've ever spent. She can line them up on their side, usually along the edge of a table, which takes a lot of precision. She always makes sure they are all facing the same way and is pretty meticulous, making sure they are perfectly straight. Other times she'll stack them up, "really high" and, again, when they fall down she gets irritated.
Then there are her Dora figurines that came with her Busy Book. I'd say these are the things she lines up the most. I think because it's a challenge with them. Their feet are so tiny and they fall down so easily that it really makes her have to work to line them up. Dora's mom is the hardest, her feet are uneven so she falls all.the.time. But? She still manages and says "oh NO! Doe-rah mammi all fall down. Feet TOO smaww!". And then other times she lays them on their back and lines them down my stomach.
We have a wooden box full of interchangeable bears. You can basically make your own bear by changing out the heads, shirts, and pants. She's had this toy forever but just recently started to play with it all the time. Sometimes she stacks the bear parts, other times she just makes line of all the parts. The most intriguing part is that she normally groups together the pieces when she lines them up, heads, shirts, then pants or whatever the pattern may be, but there's always a pattern.
And then there's the times when I find her lining up random things. Lotion bottles in her room, remote controls, bath products while I try and get ready for the day, fruit snacks, nail polish, tampons {omg}, blocks, you name it. If there are multiples of something she is sure to line them up.
I got so many comments via Instagram, "she's so smart", "do not discourage this", "she's ready to read", "these are signs that she's ready for numbers", etc. It's been mind-blowing. I'm just glad I didn't get any comments saying, "this is weird" or "she's destined to be socially inept" or something negative. I'm glad to hear that these are all positive signs.
Over the weekend we got her 3 letter word flashcards. I was going to get normal flashcards but I think she'd get bored with them really quickly and thought that the 3 letter word ones would challenge her a bit more. We bought them Saturday and I showed them to her, she scattered them across the floor and I showed her how three of them spell a word and make a picture. That night I separated them out and handed her the 3 that she'd need to make the specific picture. And she did it. Some of the pieces were upside down but they were in the correct order. The next day she found the box and opened it and managed to put 6 of the puzzles together, by herself, facing the right way, with no direction. And I cried.
She literally amazes me every day. I bought the flashcards thinking this would just be another thing that she'd line up and maybe eventually we'd work on the puzzle pieces and here she is putting them together after less than 48 hours.
This weekend I was in the bathroom, you know, and I heard "tenty fife, mama!" and I looked over {knowing she's about 25 lbs. and sure as the day is long she was standing on the scale pointing at her weight. And then I cried. Again.
And, to think, this is the child that I was worried about when she wasn't talking at 18 months.
Every day she amazes me. Every day, it seems, when Jimmy comes home from work I'll say, "guess what Kendall did today?!" and he's always shocked by what she does/knows. We both are. I mean she's not even 2 yet!
Dare I say I'm raising a baby genius?
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My niece does this as well, lining this up and her dad did too! My mother in law seems to think this is a sign of OCD since her dad is very OCD (not in a bad way, he is just very tidy and helpful around the house). I think its pretty neat that she is that young and learning things to quickly.
ReplyDeleteMy niece just turned three and she's been doing this since she could walk!
that is really cool!
ReplyDeleteWOW! Such a lil smartie! That's so great! Looks like she is going to have a love for learning! That will TOTALLY help you in the school/homework days! Go KP!
ReplyDeleteI have NEVER seen a kid do this, but I think it is so cool! She is obviously very smart and it seems like she genuinely enjoys learning. I'm jumping on the "she's ready to read" boat...C learned to read when he was 3 years old and he still has the biggest love for books (and still adds to his collection constantly). You must be doing a pretty good job teaching her :)
ReplyDeleteWow, this is amazing!! I can't believe she isn't even 2 yet... what a little genius. I love it. So awesome that she took to those puzzles right away. We have similar ones in our school and our 5 year olds still struggle! Amazing. And saying 25!? What a girl!!! :)
ReplyDeleteConnor lines everything up, too. He lines up everything - for him it's typically cars, trucks, airplanes, helicopters...anything transportation related - we always joke that he's going to be a car salesman because our living room usually looks like a parking lot. I've had a couple people comment about him being OCD! Haha. Honestly, I LOVE things in order and am pretty sure I have a bit of OCD, too - so I'm totally fine with it. I'd never heard this was a sign about them being ready to read, etc - but that's really encouraging! Connor didn't talk until around 18 months either (and I got a lot of negative commentary on that!), but now at almost-2 there is NO word he can't say!!
ReplyDeleteOH my gosh I love it... Do you line things up too, where did she pick up on this... I esp love the diapers going two directions
ReplyDeleteI love it! love love love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Kendall's story, very interesting! She seems very intelligent!
ReplyDeletethis is so amazing! you must be so proud of her :-)
ReplyDeletehaha this is so cute! Just wanted to say great blog girl! If you want to check out my blog I'm having a Giveaway going on! Feel free to check it out! I can't wait to read more about your blog :) Happy Th!
ReplyDeleteShe is SO smart! Keep it up KP
ReplyDeleteShe's definitely a little smarty pants. You're doing a great job with her mama!
ReplyDeleteI love this! She is so smart!
ReplyDeleteAND...LOVE Y'alls toy selection. I need to get Easton some domino's and some bears. he would LOVE those! Might need to get some flash cards too! He's so Type A, i'm sure he'd enjoy that!
She's a cutie! And you're a GREAT MOMMA!!!!!!
Such a sweet post about your daughter!!! How exciting!
ReplyDeleteThis is so amazing! I have loved seeing all the pics on Instagram. She is jus the sweetest, smartest little thing and I love that you get emotional over it. I totally get that way with the milestones we have had in the past 8 months--I can only imagine as they get bigger!
ReplyDeleteShe's amazing!!!!!
ReplyDeleteShe is really getting good at this. I think we need to submit lining things up to the olympics. KP gets the gold!
ReplyDeleteMy Isabella didn't talk until she was almost 2. She also liked to keep things in order like KP. Now she's 8 and reads WAY above her age :)
ReplyDeleteThis is THE SWEETEST post, Shannon!! HAPPY for you all :-D
ReplyDeleteThey're really amazing aren't they? I love posts like this.
ReplyDeleteShe is so smart!!! :)
G didn't talk till late either. And he lined up those teeny tiny skateboards last night (as you know since I IG'd you about it). The only thing is that when he messes his line up (he did before I took the pic last night) he doesn't get upset at all. Now I wonder if THAT is weird. LOL!
ReplyDeleteShe is definitely one smart girl!! She's so awesome. Keep up the great work with her!
ReplyDeleteUhm yeah. Can you say baby genius?
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome Shannon! You've got a smartie on your hands for sure!
ReplyDeleteMy now 12 year-old was just like this as baby/toddler. He is OCD and I just laugh at those early signs. He likes having all his clothes on matching hangers, makes all his friends wash their hands after they come in from playing and has the nick-knacks in his room arranged just so, he can tell if any little thing has been moved. He is a great kid, read early and above grade level. Enjoy your little organizer.
ReplyDeleteMy now 12 year-old was just like this as baby/toddler. He is OCD and I just laugh at those early signs. He likes having all his clothes on matching hangers, makes all his friends wash their hands after they come in from playing and has the nick-knacks in his room arranged just so, he can tell if any little thing has been moved. He is a great kid, read early and above grade level. Enjoy your little organizer.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know she wasn't talking at 18 months! I've been worried about Chase who is now 15 months and not saying much.
ReplyDeleteI think that's SO great that she's been doing all of this. She is SO smart!!!
ReplyDelete