Jada Does Math

I am happy to report that yesterday, Jada solved her first math problem. She's always been good with numbers: thanks to her memorization skills, which compensate for her communicative difficulties, she has known how to count to 30 for awhile now. And her need for structure leads her to announce things like, "Three of us are wearing gloves," or "All four of us are wearing shoes."

But yesterday was slightly more complex. Jada and Amy were a tick slow in exiting the house for morning church services. While Aaron and I were waiting on the sidewalk, I busted open a package of cheese crackers and handed him two. He scarfed them down so quickly that by the time Amy and Jada joined us barely a minute later, I was able to hand him two more and Jada the last two.

As we walked to church, Jada noticed that Aaron had two crackers in his hands, and that she had two in her hands. Knowing that there are six crackers in a package, she asked me, "Did you have any cheese crackers, Dada?" I said no. She then replied, "So then Aaron had four cheese crackers?" I proudly said, "Yes, Jada, that's right," and then noted to Amy that Jada had figured out that six minus two is four.

Of course, Jada's math prowess merely served to emphasize the point she was trying to make, which was that Aaron got more cheese crackers than she did. No matter, I was so pleased with our little calculator that she dropped the argument quickly and basked in my praises of her instead. Amy, remembering me regale her with stories of my early childhood math nerdiness, rolled her eyes at me but also joined in affirming Jada.