Proud

The daycare teacher told my wife today that Troy has an enormous knowledge of animals. There's not a single one that is in their books that he doesn't know. He even knows complex ones like a "walrus." I guess she was expecting him to confuse it with a seal, but I've been teaching him to recognize them by their teeth. I hate to tell her that he actually knows the difference between a regular seal and an elephant seal. And if she thinks a walrus is complex, well, he can identify and say "caterpillar" too. As well as "dragonfly," "crocodile," and "wildebeest," which to me are more complex words than "walrus." And on top of that, he knows some animals in Greek and English, like "duck," "wolf," "turtle," "chicken," "goose," "turkey," "elephant," "dolphin," "penguin," and "snake." Helona (turtle) and papaki (duckling) are actually his two favorite Greek words.

From animals, the conversation naturally led into Troy's vocabulary in general. Apparently, it's quite extensive in comparison to the other children. I have to say that when I heard this, I was beaming with pride. Troy is a sponge, and I'm a willing faucet...spewing my watery words at him as fast as he can suck them up. I don't shy away from big words or words in other languages. If he's struggling, then I'll slow down and repeat it until he can say it too. It's awesome to hear that it's paying off, and that other people are noticing how quickly he's developing. I just love my little man.