Left brain, right brain...we got 'em all

Isaac has always been into books. Lately he also likes counting. He can quite easily count to three, or count items in groups of threes, and, when prompted heavily, can even count to five. But his most recent passion is coloring. Every day we have coloring time, which consists of him sitting at the kitchen table in his booster seat surrounded by the washable chunky crayons I bought him long ago and the many skinny crayons we have acquired from restaurant visits. I use clear packing tape to tape down at least one piece of printer paper so he can mark on it as violently as he likes. Usually these sessions start by him picking up a crayon and going wild, but after a few minutes I start making requests. "Can you draw me the moon? An airplane? A kitty?"

Tonight, to try to calm him down, we colored for a half-hour before bedtime. I suggested he draw an octopus. After five minutes, here is what he decided was the end product:


You may be impressed enough that my 19-month-old can draw in near circles, but that isn't even the most genius part about it. Look a little closer with me now, into how the drawing began. Here, highlighted is the first thing he drew on the page, upon my requesting an octopus:

It's a head, with a mouth and eyes. He drew it, stopped, pointed with his crayon, and said "Octo" (Isaac for 'octopus'). Underneath, buried in the copious swoops, are some jaggedy lines for tentacles. Immediately after he finished his octopus, he made his first of many big, repetitive swoops, highlighted here:

After a few of these, he stopped, pointed with his crayon, and said, "Skur-kle" (Isaac for 'circle').

Maybe it's late and I'm a little loopy myself...but is he a genius-monkey or what?