One, two skip a few, 99 - 100!

My dad likes to tell the story about when I was little and I proudly declared I could count to 100.

"Well, lets hear it" he said.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 a bunch more 100!" I replied.

That pretty much sums up my relationship with math - avoiding all non-essential numbers and cutting corners where I could.

Math permanently scarred me in my high school and college years. Countless nights I stayed awake studying, getting tutorial lessons from my dad over the phone while he worked night shift and I desperately tread number frenzied water trying to keep my head afloat.

In college one of the last classes I had to conquer before graduating at the end of that year was College Trig. To this day I can still vividly remember frantically dialing Shaun under the eaves in the pouring rain, bawling hysterically because I had found out my professor didn't allow the use of any calculators in his class - my one lifeline. We had to learn all formulas and theories by hand and head alone. And in a panic I saw two things happening - I would be 40 still trying to pass those final math credits or I would pass, but my GPA would take a nose dive in the process. Yes, I was that girl.

In the end I passed with a B, thanks to my dad and Shaun spending countless nights helping me study - and numerous tutorial sessions and office hour visits with my teacher. But to this day, I couldn't explain the differences between Sin, Cos or Tan if I tried. I'm pretty sure I've blocked out that 5 month period of my life to save myself from any further permanent damage.

Needless to say, my son doesn't get the math gene from me.

From his father.

From his Papa.

Not not much from the lady who still counts on her fingers.

Sully has been able to count almost up to twenty for a long time now, sometimes with a few helpful hints, but more than not completely unassisted. We've started with the twenties now, which is hit or miss. We work with numbers at home. We count whenever we cook and measure. We write numbers and listen to number songs. We read number books. But up until recently, aside from the counting, it was take it in and spit it back out verbatim like some kind of mathematical parrot.

A few days ago we were at Target, and he said "10. Number 10!" and pointed to the 1o flashing the aisle over from us. Shaun started pointing and asking him what numbers aisles were, and without missing a beat he would shout "FIVE! THREE! ONE! Look, theres a FOOOOOOUR."

He's also realized he can count backwards. He'll count from 10 to 1 on his own. And recently he's been trying to put numbers together, like when he saw a 155 and said "Fifteen five" - or something to that effect. He's also started understanding the basic fundamentals of adding, like when I have one of something and another one of something I now have 2 of that something. Oh, and telling time and the difference between big and small, less and more- that's something we've been doing a lot of too.

I'm pretty sure his mathematical abilities are going to soon surpass mine.

And since I'm currently riding the SS Brag Boat - he's also been interested and currently learning phonics (Daddy, Daddy Duh-duh Daddy), knows and sings over 30 songs (he plays a mean Itsy Bitsy Spider on his ukulele), can navigate his way around a computer and camera solo and plays Mario Kart with his daddy. (We start them young in this house.) He's also been dressing himself lately, can use kid scissors fairly accurately and has been speaking using full, clear complex sentences for awhile now. No more guessing what this kid wants, like ever. My favorite though is that he's become very self aware and has learned that he's funny - and can get a response out of people or use it to avoid trouble. (That, he definitely gets from me.)

But he also laughs at his own farts and thinks guinea pigs are small dogs, so - you know. I take what I can get.