Matthijs the intellectual

What a guy! Ok, so maybe Matthijs can't ride a bike yet, but he is a logical thinker. Really, it seems he can't get enough of learning, whether it's English - which he is getting very proficient in, counting or spelling.

This morning while we were still in bed, he proceeded to count to one hundred, a feat that is pretty impressive for a 3-year old. What's more, he's already been adding and subtracting for about a month. We started off pretty easy (well, not necessarily for a 3 year old!) - but he could use all ten of his fingers. He knows a fist-full is five and now gets that anything minus zero is the same number and can now take off his shoes to do the tough 7 + 5 calculations.

He's not averse to asking for help either, and will get me to open my hands, or take off my shoes too so he can get the work done.

Reading is another thing he's excelling at - in English and Dutch. He long mastered the alphabet in English and Dutch, and for the past 5 months or so has been able to pick out all the letters and recognize them - in Dutch and English.

What blew me away though is how quickly he got the "sounds" of the letters. My parents bought him an "Every letter makes a sound" that Lola had on her fridge and after the first month, it started to get stale and sat on the fridge. But lately, he's been pulling the letters off again and sticking them in to hear the sound.

A couple examples to put this in perspective. He's hooked on "Guess Who" the Milton Bradley game where you have to guess who the other person has but asking various "eliminating" questions. He gets all that, and at the end, he asks - BY NAME - if you have Peter, Tom, or Maria... wow.

Another example, he's playing computer games and likes the LEGO site where he can build with virtual blocks and steer trains. At the beginning of the game, he has to put in his name. So he types in "Matthijs"... wow again. Sometimes to be funny though he types in Papa, Opa or Lola - just so he can pretend he's playing as someone else.

What a clown.