Geographer Jack

Dad writing here, for a change. Since Jack is only two and a half, we are never 100% sure what he knows and what he doesn't. However, we suspect that he knows more than he's letting on. What better way to get what you want, right? A few days ago, he surprised me with a little impromptu interactive geography lesson. The pictures below are of Jack (of course) with some foam houses I made for him. The houses aren't really as interesting as what they represent in terms of what he knows.....and what I don't.
When we got the blocks out, I asked Jack what he wanted to make. He said he wanted to make Carter's house. Carter is a little boy who lives next door in a white brick ranch-style home. So, I made Carter's house (which is in the top left of the picture) and then told Jack I would make Jack's house (shown in the top center). The next thing that happened is that Jack asked me to make "the brown house," which I took to mean the brown ranch-style house on the other side of our place. I built this house (shown on the bottom right) with some amazement since, as far as I can recall, he has never mentioned that house to me before.
Finally, just to see if he knew what I thought he knew, I built one more ranch house, shown on the bottom left and asked him whose house it was. He told me that it was Margie's house. Margie lives across the street and I was indeed trying to represent her house. Overcome with geographic emotion, I then started adding lots of detail. For example, it was I, not Jack, who cleverly parked the matchbox car in front of what would be our garage. I also put in lots of other round blocks to accurately portray the location of as many trees and shrubs as I could. Then, just to show me whose game this was supposed to be, Jack tore two contributions to my foam arboretum from the "ground" ..........and stuck them to his face (as above).

If there are any lessons to be had from our little reconstruction of the street's geography, they are:

1. Even at two, our kids have an inner world that is unknown to us and, as a result, know more than their parents realize.

2. No matter how hard we try to let them be themselves, we are still in danger of making a big fuss when our kids do things that remind us of ourselves (witness this entire post, for example).

3. MY KID'S A MAP GENIUS !!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!! In your FACE, MAAAAN!

4. See #2, above. Um, sorry about that.