Just the Normal Stuff

Coloring on the easel

We went to Target to get food and "stuff" so it was a longer than normal shopping trip. Both kids are in the basket and are doing fairly well - not hurting each other. As long as we are moving and there is stuff to look at they are good. By the time we get to the check out they are done. We still have to wait our turn, pay, etc. While my husband deals with loading stuff onto counter, paying, and loading stuff back into cart I'm trying to keep the kids from screaming, jumping out, or hitting the other one.

More coloring

I start playing one of their favorite games - body parts. I say, "Where are your hands? Where are your shoulders? Where are your feet? etc." They touch the body part and laugh. We go through 10-15 different body parts and it's going well. Both kids are playing along and happy. The check out girl asks my husband, "Do they know how to read?" I pause, assuming I heard her wrong. What in the world would cause her to ask that? They just turned 16 months old, they are the size of 12 month old kids, they aren't looking at any type of print, etc. All of these thoughts distract me as I look up at her. My husband tells her we haven't taught them to read. (Guess I did hear her right.) She then says she doesn't know any kids who know their body parts but can't read and how did we teach them. He replies, "We just do normal stuff like talking to them." She looks dumbfounded and repeats, "just normal stuff?" At this point we are done and head out.

Tools! Now we can break more stuff.

It's one of those interactions that just keeps coming back to me. My kids do not know how to read. We read to them all the time and they will correct us if we read it wrong so I know they have the books memorized. We talk about body parts among other things, but having the kids roar, oink, etc in a store isn't a quiet activity. I don't think we are doing anything extra and I certainly don't think my kids are worse off because we haven't taught them to read. The connection of knowing body parts to reading is the most baffling thing to me.

 Reading a book

I've got the kids figured out, but the adults, they continue to confuse me.