I have an 18 month old. The delta that's occurred over the last year is immeasurable. I can't imagine how much more is going to happen between now and 4 years old. I optimize my day to ensure that I spend as much time as possible with him. It's definitely paying off for him, but selfishly, it's the most fun I've had in a long time.
> I can't imagine how much more is going to happen between now and 4 years old.
Just wait until they're school age and can make the conscious decision to learn what they're interested in at a much deeper level. You're just helping them lay the physical and mental groundwork for a love of learning when they're toddlers and pre-schoolers. It really is amazing when all that work pays off (as long as you can deal with the fact that your kids may not be grateful for it until much later in life).
I’m actually seeing it now. He’s teaching himself the alphabet. Of course, we kickstarted it by singing the ABC song, and counting objects/food with him. But he loves it so much, he’ll cry for the song and/or Sesame Street videos of Elmo singing it.
But he taught himself using a talking book. It’s an ABC book that has buttons on the side for each letter and a voice says the letter and some associated word. He loves one button the most, the one that sings the whole alphabet. He presses it over and over again. Sometimes, he misses and hits X, Y, or Z. One day we were playing and he started pointing at X, Y, and Z and yelling it out to me. I was floored because I never taught it to him.
Now he manages to recognize letters and numbers in the real world. Signage on end caps in grocery stores, license plates, etc.
Also, I have video proof so I’m not making this up.
It’s totally crazy. He’s 18 months, been doing this since roughly 15 months.
