We live pretty close to this Irish pub called D4. Actually, it’s been our annual tradition to have lunch there on Valentines Day (and by “annual tradition,” I mean Ankur and I happened to do this two years in a row).

Anyway, one of the streets we could take to his school passes the pub/cafe.

And Ishu will always say, “I want to go the D4 way!”

And then he’ll smile and say, “Oh, no no. Actually I want to go the A-1 way.”

“Oh yeah, A-1. A-1. Yeah, that’s right,” we’ll respond.

He will smile again, “Actually, B-2. B-2. Let’s go the B-2 way.”

And he’ll carry on.

C-3, D-4, E-5.

All the way down to Z-26.

The other day we did this little game.

And when we got to Z-26, I said, “And those are the numbers of the alphabet!”

That kid straight up snorted.

Which made me feel a little bit proud because it’s one of the greatest feelings in the world to make your kid snort laugh.

The thing that boggles my mind is how his little brain can do this.

Like, how he can hold the letter in his brain while also trying to figure out what number we are on. Bouncing back and forth between letter and number. I mean, even I have a hard time keeping it in my brain. (If I lose track later in the alphabet, I always go back to “I” because I know, for certain, that that’s the 9th letter of the alphabet because of a former student).

Maybe this is actually not that impressive and I’m just being one of those parents that thinks their kid has some genius tendencies. Maybe. But, regardless, sometimes I want to go for a little swim in his brain. WHAT IS HAPPENING INSIDE OF THERE AND HOW PLEASE?

Also, yesterday we took the day off work/school and went to the museum. And there’s a section in there for infants where they can crawl around a little bit. And there’s an L-shaped mirror.

Ishu stood in front of it and said, “Mama, I see three Ishus.”

I said, “I see four.”

And he was so confused.

I stood in front of the mirror and said, “I see three Mamas. How many do you see?”

“Four,” he responded.

And he just stood there.

Taking that in.

Absorbing it. Trying to process it. Asking questions about it.

And, God, do I love this kid. Even on days like today where he’s just having so much fun throwing the ball around with friends that he can’t identify his hunger cues and the HANGER made him go a little crazy on our walk to dinner. Even on evenings like today where the house is a mess, I stepped on something sharp, the baby is crying and Ishu is saying, “MAMA, MAMA, MAMA, MAMA, LOOK AT THIS.”

I love him. His brain. His inquiring mind and curiosity about the world.

Some days, I can’t even believe we made this kid.

He’s pretty darn cool.