As mentioned in Caden’s post, both kids were able to spend the weekend with Min, go swimming in Linden, and participate in a week long gymnastics summer camp. Fun was had by all!
Mentally, Kamy keeps hitting new milestones — especially when it comes to math. She loves reading “Bedtime Math” and being challenged to figure out the answers to harder word problems (multiplication, concept of division, halving a number, working in the 100s). Daddy also gives her a math question at bed time. We’ve introduced the concepts of negative numbers and she picked it up really quickly. Daddy asked her, “What is -2 x 2” and she thought about it for a moment, then answered, “Negative four. Like 2 times 2 but backwards.” That’s right sweetie! She also understands enough about how math actually works to figure out the following.: “What is 30 + 20 + 20?” She thought about it and then said, “20 + 20 + 20 + 10 because 30 is 20 + 10.” I love that she understands how the parts relate to each other — if that makes sense in her mind it’ll make it a lot easier for her to grasp some of the more challenging concepts. She can also count by 5s and 10s up to (and past) 100 with ease, even picking up mid-stream if you ask her to start at a random number like 40.
With all our trips to the Tyler area for house hunting, we made a detour and finally went to Caldwell Zoo one afternoon. It’s a relatively small zoo, but good for their ages. It wasn’t very busy and we gave Kamy the map. She LOVED navigating the zoo and figuring out which animal was coming next. Kamy could also tell us which way to go when we came to an intersection based on the map. She was more excited to see “the next” habitat than actually looking at any of the animals! She really likes to be given a special job and it makes her feel very important. Her love language is “words of affirmation,” so she thrives on opportunities to earn praise.
Because she really responded to the map at the zoo, Keller ordered a map of the NYC subway system so we could familiarize ourselves with it before our trip in July. Kamy really liked figuring out where each of the subway lines would run and which stops they made. Once she learned a few of the landmarks and where “our” subway stop was going to be, Daddy would quiz Kamy on how to get to a specific place on the map via subway. It was all a big puzzle to her and she loved to find the “best” way and give plenty of alternate routes too. =)
Kamy is also a bit … stubborn. She’s very by-the-book and thinks everything should be within the rules. She has no problem (and likes) to get Caden in trouble and I’ve even caught her egging him on to do something that she knows they’re not supposed to do. Is she doing it? No, but she’s getting him to do it by proxy. She’s a smart little one, and she definitely keeps us on our toes! If she doesn’t see the reason for doing something, she’s just not going to do it. Asking her to say, “I love you” will very very rarely result in anything other than “no, thank you.” So, we are working on compassion and empathy and ways she can express them. She’s going to be a handful!
