Eleven

BJ has decided he wants to learn how to write his ABCs and 123s. This from the child who wants almost nothing to do with crayons, chalk, or markers. His idea of "art" is stickers, and when prompted to draw he shows very little interest. He'd almost always rather watch us draw or write something.

This should be interesting, I thought. To practice, I set him to work at the chalkboard. Draw some lines and curves and squiggles, I told him.

In short order, he drew two lines and proudly announced, "I wrote eleven!"

"Take a picture of I with eleven!" he insisted. So there ya go: he's now written his first number.

I would have predicted that zero would have been the first one, considering his ongoing fascination with his "hero".... all day we've been listening to "My Hero Zero" (the updated Schoolhouse Rock Rocks! version by the Lemonheads) and reading "Chicka Chicka 123." But there's a charming little song about eleven on a recent favorite kids' album, called "When I Get To Eleven." (It's on If You Ever See An Owl, by The Terrible Twos, and you can get a free download here.). So it's not like there will be a soundtrack gap in this stage of his education. That's a comfort.