Learning how to add

Sterling surprised me last night with a little math lesson as we were lying in bed, trying to fall asleep. "Mom," he said in his little voice. "One and one is two." Perhaps one of the most helpful things that I have learned from Montessori is to play it cool and not blow things out of proportion, at least not in front of the kids. "Yup, that's right," was all I said. And then he continues, "and two and two make four." Big pause, you could see the wheels cranking around. "Three and three make... six. Four and four make seven, hmmm, eight." He was on a roll. "And what do five and five make?" I asked. "TEN!" Triumph.

He has no idea what addition is. He often counts by saying, "one, two, three, four, five, the number after five, seven, eight..." But little by little this world of numbers is making a home in his head.

It's a Small World

Last September, my in-laws took a trip to the Galapagos. While there, they left two postcards, addressed to Sterling and Siena respectively, at the "Whaler's Post Office." Marked "hand deliver only" these postcards are left to be picked up by someone who can, as it says, hand deliver the cards to the recipient. Amazingly, we received Sterling's within two weeks (faster than real post), hand delivered by a couple from the mainland who thought a trip over to Bowen would be an adventure.

But Siena's did not come. She was pretty distraught when a card did not come for her, but, as three year olds are wont to do, promptly forgot about it. And frankly, after several weeks, so did I!

Then, a few weeks ago (four months after the postcard was left in the Galapagos), the kids and I were at Parent-Tot Gym time. I hollered across the room, "good job, Siena!" and a mom turned to me and asked, "is her last name Hansen?" Not the usual response, and I cautiously said, Yes... turns out they have been looking for us! This other mom's in-laws were in the Galapagos last October, and picked up two BC postcards. They grabbed Siena's because their son and his family lived on Bowen, and it had taken them that long to get it onto our little island. My mother-in-law had transposed a number on our address, so this family had been looking for us... and found us at play gym! When I got home later that day, the postcard, as well as a photo of the Whalers Post Office, was waiting on my desk for me! Siena was delighted.