Interesting cognitive thing

Two interesting things of a cognitive nature that I noticed tonight, while reading bedtime stories to The Girl (3 years, one month).

One is that before I started reading the book A Sunday with Grandpa, I pointed to the various people on the cover and asked “Is this the grandpa?” She was able to tell that it wasn’t the girl, or the boy, but was the grey-haired fellow. We'd read the book several times before -- but nowhere in the book does it expressly point out ''This guy is the grandpa.'' So, either she worked it out from the context within the story, or she symbolically understands that the taller, grey-haired person is more likely to be the grandpa, compared to the shorter folks with colored hair.

Second, she independently pointed to the soccer ball and said “Ball.” Even though it’s more symbolically drawn than realistically: it’s a white, round-ish blob with some black splotches (if you click on the picture to enlarge, you'll see this better).

To me, this is some interesting cognitive stuff: understanding these symbols and meanings.

She's definitely smarter than a monkey, now!.


--GG