Ben keeps you on your toes

Benjamin is known to be a very literal child, in some instances. He's always been interested in the nuances of language and colloquialisms. A few weeks ago he was on the phone with MomMom would said to him, "Talk to you later" and he replied, "when?" The convo went something like this (it was on speaker phone so I heard the whole thing, but don't remember it perfectly). "When what?" "You said 'talk to you later', so when?" "Oh no Ben, it's just an expression that MomMom said." "But why would you say that if you didn't mean it?" And the funny part isn't that he was being sassy or anything, just genuinely trying to understand.

At school this week they invited parents to come in and observe the class for an hour. When one little girl said she wishes her mom was there and could she come a different day, Ben's teacher said, "sure, just have her write me a note in your folder. we're here everyday." A few seconds later, Ben's hand goes up and Mrs Hampton says, "yes Ben?" He said, "Well, we're not really here every day." "You're right Benjamin, we're actually here on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We don't come to school on Saturday or Sunday."

As the class continued on, it became time for a story and Mrs Hampton taught them "concept words" which were paper, garbage, recycling, Earth and bottle. She told the students to look at the pages in the book and see if they can identify the concept words in illustrations, etc. She began reading the story and Ben's hand goes up to say that he sees the words. She continues on and each page she turns makes half the class' hands go up and the kids share totally random, unrelated tidbits of information. Ben each time mentioned that on the previous page she missed certain pictures and she had to turn back to show that yes indeed she had missed identifying the concept pictures. Clearly the story was about "being green" and protecting the environment. At one point they started talking about ways they can each protect the environment. Mrs Hampton offered that you should turn the lights off when you leave a room. You can also turn the tv off when you're done watching it. You can turn the water off while brushing your teeth. This prompted the hands going up and random things about "my mom tells me a story when she brushes my teeth" sorts of things. Mrs Hampton said, "you turn the tv off when you're done watching it, but you don't turn the tv off if someone else is still watching it. You don't turn the lights off if someone is in the room. Right So-and-so, you wouldn't turn the lights off in the kitchen if your mom was in there, right?" And all of the kids agreed. Cue Ben's hand raising. "Yes, Benjamin?" "Well, actually there is a time when you turn the lights off with someone in the room, when you go to bed." She paused and said, "Yes, you're right Benjamin."

What this observation taught me is how much Ben pays attention to. He's always thinking, deconstructing ideas and putting them back together. I don't know if it's related to his passion for playing chess, but the way he thinks ahead and can connect abstract concepts so quickly is really neat to see. Especially when comparing to the kids who raise their hands and contribute "I saw a bird outside" Makes me a proud mom.

It's not surprising that his progress report came back with him having excelled in all of the areas they want kids to be competent in by the time they get to kindergarten. He can read any word that teacher puts in front of him.