Alexander continues to be quite the world explorer. He enjoys going to new places with his mom and dad (like in this shot at "Hurricane Ridge" on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State), totally digs his outings at the zoo and the aquarium and the park, and continues to enjoy trains and planes and dinosaurs.

What with Halloween and various museum exhibits and various illustrations in dinosaur books, he has shown interest in skeletons and bones which we are encouraging. As he plays with "Bonz" -- a kind of erector set with plastic bones instead of beams and girders -- he's showing an aptitude for mechanical motion, as well.

Alex has an understanding of numbers. He can count up through ten (although six sometimes is missing from the line-up), he can display the correct number of fingers when he counts one through five, and he has even drawn the numbers six and seven on more than one occasion. He is happy to tell you that he turned "three" (and he knows that means "three years", even though he may not be so clear on what a year is, and he seems to forget that this event happened a while ago) and that his baby brother is "six" (and now often remembers to say "six months", although whether he understands the concept of month is also open for debate). He knows that six is more than three but that he is older than his brother. And he has recently decided that his mom is "seven".

His speech gets more interesting every day. He's experimenting with modifiers ("quite" is very popular right now, as in "That's quite silly!") and he loves to explain things to anyone who will listen.

Alex began attending pre-school this year, and we had our first parent-teacher conference just this past week. The teacher commented that he is very calm "for a first child"; that he is good about getting his things out and putting them away and he shows a longer attention span than is typical for three-year-olds. The teacher also noted that he seems to be very good with puzzles, and he shows more interest in letters than many three-year-olds.

These are good things for us to know, since we can hardly be objective when it comes to comparing Alex to others at his age group. He *is* learning his letters of the alphabet, but it's good to know that he's doing well with them to the point of being noticed by his teacher. As for puzzles (jigsaw and other physical puzzles) -- he has surprised both Paulette and me with how well he does with them.

Of course, skeptic that I am, I also realize that the teacher is going to highlight what he is doing well and not what he may be lagging at. I wouldn't expect to hear, "Your son is a bit of a dullard when it comes to numbers," or, "Alex says some pretty crazy shit. What language do you speak at home?"

When the teacher asked us if we had any goals for Alex in school, I mentioned "Just that he be able to read War & Peace all the way through by the end of the year." I swear, for maybe a half a moment, I was taken at my word.

"Really?"

I wanted to respond, "No, not really. The first chapter would suffice." But I was afraid that I'd be marked down as one of those overly aggressive parents who expect too much of their children. The teacher *was* taking notes, as we talked, and didn't seem to be sure that I was joking.

Do they have a way of linking your child's permanent record with that of your own? [shudder]

Story idea: Homeland Security gets its hands on everybody's "permanent records" from school. Hilarity ensues when they detain the protagonist at the airport upon learning that the protagonist once got into trouble for "accidentally" starting a small fire in Shop class in high school....