Jan 12th, 2007
Notes on mental development
OK, forgive me for the noting of verbal and mental achievements here, but I just have to do it so I don’t forget when Colin gets older - plus I am his mom so I am allowed to be proud of him right? Plus, every day I really underestimate him.
He is 2 years and 5 months now - he knew all his letters before he was a year and half and we have gotten used to that, but now it appears he can read more and more words every day. Before he was 2 he could read “Stop”, “Go”, “Fun”, and his name. I thought it was all within context but about 2 months ago I just wrote them down on a piece of paper and he could read them all. Stop, Go, Fun, Zoo, Colin, Do, Go, No, Yes, Big, Dog, One Way and sadly (Lowes, Home Depot, Whole Foods and Best Buy - tells you where we take him on the weekends 
I am sure he knows others that I am not aware of yet. Sometimes when we are driving he will just yell out - “Mom- says “Do” - usually it does, like “Do not pass” or “Do not enter”
The other thing of note recently is that he is really into the earth and planets. He likes to take the big world atlas out (a kid after my own heart) and look at pictures of earth. The other day he asked Chuck “What is that?” while pointing at Jupiter. Chuck says “It is a very big planet called Jupiter.” Colin replies “What is a planet?” Chuck kinda faltered at this…how to answer? I said “A planet is a ball of rock and gas.” Colin said “Where is it?” Chuck says “Very far away, in space” Colin replies “What is space?” - OK we had to stop here - not sure how to explain that one. Right after he talked to Chuck about it he turns to me and says “Mommy, Jupiter is very, very, very, very, big and very, very far away.” He points out “earth” all the time - like on the UPS truck we saw today.
He seems to also be able to identify instruments by sound. He can pick out violins/cellos, pianos and the other day there was music on the radio and he goes “Mommy, it is xylophone” - which to my amazement it was…or at least I think…I have to defer to him on that one