Boggles the Mind

Saturday afternoon E found Boggle in our game drawer and tried putting all of the letters in alphabetical order, only he couldn't get past I because J is on the same cube as B. He was starting to get frustrated, and C brought out some other games--Cootie and Don't Break The Ice. I took a break from making dinner to rummage in M's closet for the Boggle Junior game I thought might be up there--we have several games geared toward the 4-5-year-old set that we rarely if ever played when M was little because we had two babies for goodness sake. I handed the game to C and soon he had E and Z lining up letters to match the words on the cards and spelling/reading them out loud. I swear that man has never been happier--he's wanted to do flashcards with M since about the moment he was born, and has had to suffer a wife who wants to let kids learn at their own pace, and who thinks flashcards are a punishment (which they were--for me, because I couldn't do math!) When I left them Sunday morning they were again happily spelling Boggle Junior words.

It is pretty awesome to watch this burst of learning and development, but I do worry that it comes too soon/too fast, and wonder if we're encouraging right brain development and equal amount. Coincidentally, C and I watched Spell Bound Saturday night, the documentary about eight kids who are in the National Spelling Bee, and I have to admit I had a little bit of, "I bet M could do that" kind of thoughts (after all, his spelling lists now--which he creates himself--contain words like Geomorphology and Ecosystem and Metamorphosis), then I started imagining myself quizzing him from the dictionary...yikes, scary thought. But C, who had a traumatic spelling bee experience, would totally get into grooming M as Spelling Bee material (perhaps not to the extent of the dad who hired French, Spanish and German tutors for his kids). Please stop me before I start wearing black and yellow striped sweaters.