It's All About Numbers

This is his thinking face!  Don't you just love that toothless grin!

We've discovered that Wye (5) LOVES numbers!  A few months ago he couldn't count past 13.  He would hit 13 and then just start guessing on the rest.  One day he figured out all the numbers to 20 and then something just "clicked" and there has been no stopping him since.  He even counted to 1,109 (or so...I can't remember the exact number but I bet he would) one day.  It took him about 3 hours and he followed me around the house the entire morning counting.  Is it bad that I was VERY relieved when he decided to take a break?! ;)

After learning to count so well, I taught him how to add and subtract.  He loves to sit and figure out problems on his own.  Nothing too complicated, but he is doing 1st grade math assignments (he starts kindergarten this year).

Our most recent discovery is that he can memorize numbers very easily.  He remembers numbers much better than other things.  For example, at our family reunion this last weekend, he liked to ask people how old they were.  He spent Sunday afternoon following around my cousins Joel and McCoy.  When we got home he told me, "That boy I played with, the one who I can't remember his name but he's 18..." (Joel).  He also remembers how old Uncle David is, how old Whitney is (except that he didn't believe that she was 20 because 20 is an adult and she still looks like a teenager ;), how old Grandma Claudia is, and my favorites...how much Grandpa Wyatt weighs, how much he weighed when he was 18, and how much Grandma Carole weighs (Grandpa Wyatt may have had a little too much fun filling Wye's head with numbers! ;)  He also still remember the ages of everyone that he quizzed at our reunion a few weeks ago. 

I guess I'm just amazed at this since I'm HORRIBLE with numbers.  I can't remember numbers to save my life and here my 5 year old is running laps around me in the number department!

He definitley didn't inherit his love of number from me.

He cracks me up every day when we go to read the chapter book that I've been reading to him this summer.  Every night when we are done reading, I fold down the corner of the page to mark our spot, and every time he unfolds it and tells me that he will remember what page we are on...and he does...ALWAYS!

But, even though I could go on bragging for days about how amazingly smart my boy is with numbers...If you happen to ask him what sound the letter "D" makes...he's at a loss.  I've had a hard time teaching him his letters and sounds because he has absolutely NO INTEREST in learning them.  The only way I can get him to practice writing his letters is by challenging him to see how many times he can write a letter (because that involves counting you see ;)

Has anyone else had a 5 year old this fascinated with numbers?