Number Nine

Alex wants so much to be a big boy like his brother. Combine that ambition with the fact that he is without fear, and we all have our hands full watching the Bear.

Last month I thought I'd introduce Alex to "two-six." That's what Jonathan used to call it when I held his hands to help him walk up the stairs. We'd count the steps one at a time, and his first sentence fragment was "Two-six!" (Actually, I think there's a blog post about that, which is making me feel pretty old all of a sudden.) Anyway, Alex was totally charmed with the game. He decided that crawling was obsolete, and now insists on holding on to the railing and walking up and down the stairs on his own.

In addition to the walking, which he's so impressed with, he seems to be pretty interested in counting. He's adding words daily right now, and I noticed he would say "Un. . . ooo. . . eee" as he went slowly up the stairs. We went for our usual walk around the neighborhood the other night. Jonathan pedals his tricycle and Alex rides on his push-trike. One of the highlights for Jonathan is the driveway with the basketball hoop. There are numbers painted around the key for shooting practice. Jonathan likes to ride over all eleven in order.

As we approached the hoop, Alex hopped off the trike. I tried to put him back on, but he stuck his legs out so his feet hit the handlebars and I couldn't wedge him into his seat. Then he twisted around and pitched himself forward so I'd put him down. He ran over to the closest number - it was a two, in a bright yellow circle. He reached down to pat it with his hands and yelled "NINE!" We told him "Very good, Alex, that's a number, but it's a two." He looked down on the ground, and said "Oh." Then he ran over to the three and shouted "NIIIINE!"

Nine is definitely his favorite number. We put a handful of Cheerios on his tray - he pokes two or three with his finger and announces "NINE!" He works his way laboriously up the steps - we hear "oooo. . . eeee. . . NINE!" I ask him to show me some numbers. He pulls down a box that's labelled with them, points out a four, and shouts - wait for it - "NIIINE!"