The smartest toddler on earth – and despite what his grandparents think, it’s not my son.

A few weeks ago, while I was at the Toronto Zoo (my favourite new kid-friendly place in Toronto), I met a stay-at-home dad and his 27 month-old son, Jacob. We started chatting as the father overheard me speaking Hebrew with Kyle. He told me that he’s teaching his son four languages: English, French, Hebrew and Mandarin. Half an hour into our conversation, I realized that I might have just met the smarted toddler on earth.

The father, very casually, started explaining to me that his son can say words that he spells out to him. To “prove” it to me he said “Jacob… what does b-a-l-l-o-o-n spell?” and Jacob, on cue, says “balloon”. Father: “And Jacob, what does s-h-a-r-k spell?” and Jacob replies back “shark”. And so on, and so on. I’m not sure if the dad noticed or not, but my mouth was wide open, speechless, the whole time this was going on. When this back and forth stopped, I finally said “well… Kyle is a model!”

I know the father wasn’t trying to be malicious or even show-off. In fact, he was telling me that he believes that his son is able to do all of this due to the TV show Word World. While maybe some of his amazing ability might be due to this show that his father insisted he watch, I was sure there was more to it. As the conversation progressed, the father told me that his own father spoke 11 different languages, and he spoke about 5 different languages. And so, I figured that it must be genetics. When I tried to point this out to the dad, he still insisted that he only had the TV show to thank. Modest? Maybe… But haven’t scientists being saying all along that kids shouldn’t watch TV before the age of two because it’ll make them dumber or something like that? If that’s the case, this guy just proved this theory wrong!

Later that day while our kids were playing innocently enough in the big sand box in the zoo, I pointed out the cute backdrop which was a small part of a dinosaur skeletal. I couldn’t finish my sentence fast enough, when the dad asked his son what type of dinosaur it was. So not only does Jacob know spelling at the young age of 2 years and 3 months, but apparently, he knew the names of over 200 dinosaurs and would recognize them just by their skeletals. AND….he was in the process of learning which ones are herbivores and which ones are carnivores. All I could think of was the fact that I could only pronounce the names of five dinosaur’s and that’s only because I recently learned them because of Kyle.

Wow! I kept thinking over and over while the dad spoke.  While Kyle’s vocabulary mostly consists of the word “Ga”, I didn’t even try to compare the two kids. I just realized that each one is unique in their own way. But I couldn’t help stop thinking that I might have just met the smartest toddler on earth.

Have you ever met or know, or have a kid that you think is kid-genius?

P.S. If you haven’t voted for me for top 30 mom bloggers in Toronto, you can do so at this link: http://www.torontomomnow.com/2012/vote-for-your-favourite-toronto-mom-blogs-of-2012/  It’ll take 2 seconds; Maya Fitzpatrick mayahoodblog.  Thanks 🙂

Top 30 mom blogs in Toronto – Takes 2 seconds to vote for me!

To my amazing blog readers and followers.  As some of you may already know, I made the top 30 mom bloggers in Toronto list on Toronto Mom Now (TMN).  An honour in itself considering how many mommy bloggers there are in Toronto.  If you like my blog, please vote for me 🙂  It doesn’t take more than 5 seconds.

http://www.torontomomnow.com/2012/vote-for-your-favourite-toronto-mom-blogs-of-2012/

There are some other amazing bloggers on the list as well, so check them out while you’re looking.  You can vote for up to 5 bloggers.

If you’re bored by this post, here’s an updated family picture with our cute new puppy that we got last weekend 🙂

 

I don’t want to be JUST mom enough!

If you’re a parent, you’ve most likely seen the newest cover of TIME Magazine which shows a mother with her 3 year-old son breastfeeding while standing on a chair, with the headline “Are you mom enough?”.  I first took notice of it last Thursday when just about every other post on my Facebook News Feed had the picture of the cover on it with a tag line question such as “What kind of mom do you want to be?”  While most mothers reading this were uneasy with the picture or disagreed with attachment parenting, the majority of mothers were just plain disappointed with TIME putting out such a story, creating what is commonly referred to as “mommy wars”, especially so close to Mother’s day.  Some mothers were so upset that they didn’t want to comment on it one way or another.  While I understand their reason for concern, I think there’s nothing wrong with a healthy debate and conversation on parenting styles.  And so, buying into the hype, I went and purchased my copy the day it hit newsstands.

What I really want for mother’s day this year

Mother’s Day card (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As a blogger, I’m always checking out a lot of other blogging sites and local mommy sites. The trending topic these days is “what is your ultimate mother’s day gift?” Most people have answered with something along the following lines: Hugs, snuggles and kisses from my kids. Or, spending the entire day with the kids. And while I generally agree that hugs and kisses from my son are amazing and spending time with both my husband and my son are my favourite days, it’s not what I want for a mother’s day gift.

I mean, I receive the hugs and kisses daily. I’m a stay at home mom and I sneak them in (wanted or not) at least 100 times a day if not more. I also love my husband to death, and I’m very fortunate that we get lots of time together either at night after Kyle’s asleep and on weekends.

What I REALLY WANT for mother’s day this year is: ALONE TIME!*

Are we raising the next Sidney Crosby?

While my husband and I (okay, mostly my husband) are completely devastated that our beloved Leafs, or any other Canadian team for that matter, didn’t make it (far) in the playoffs this season, we may soon have another reason to cheer.

It appears that our 19 month old son is slightly obsessed with hockey. Every morning when he wakes up, he immediately heads downstairs, grabs his two little hockey sticksand net, and says “Goal” while heading to our front door. Yes, that’s right, he wants to go and play hockey! Not to mention, “Goal” and “Ball” were two of the first four words he learned to say.

Why this year is the most important mother’s day for me

Last year was probably the most special mother’s day for me.  It was my first!! But this year’s mother’s day might be the most important. Not so much for me, but for my mom. You see, it was almost 11 months ago that my mom had a stroke.
Luckily, it was just a warning sign. My mom’s recovery has been nothing short of remarkable considering what happened to her. When people see her, they’re shocked to learn that she ever went through that. Physically, she looks fine. However, her brain is still recovering, and may continue to heal for years to come.