Aliyah & the Presidents

Remember this girl? The light of the Carden household? She has been one busy gal, learning new things and getting into more and more mischief every day. There's no doubt that she's my child since I'm pretty sure I was exactly like her when I was her age in terms of curiosity.

Even though she keeps us on our toes, this kid seems to thrive when challenged with something educational. Or so we think. Right now she's mastered counting from 1-10 and we're working on 11-15. She can say her ABC's and is able to recognize almost every letter, and often points them out when we're out shopping or driving in the car. She has her Dad's uncanny ability to listen to a song a few times and be able to sing it back to you. Though, since she doesn't actually know what she's saying she doesn't always get the words right (but the melody is spot on.) Have you heard of the song, "Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping, Brother John? Brother John?" Aliyah's version goes something like this: "Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Bobby Jones? Bobby Jones?" I think this is one of the cutest things she says. 

Anyway, awhile ago, I stopped by Target's dollar section and spotted these presidential flashcards. Since they were only a dollar I thought Aliyah might have a fun time looking at them, but if she didn't, well they were only a dollar, right?

Turns out Aliyah loves any kind of flashcards, so she was all about these. We bring them out every so often, and inevitably loose a few each time we bring them out. I show her these cards and say each name of the President. Then I give her the flashcard and ask her to repeat what I said, while she looks it over. Most of the names are too complex for her to enunciate well, but she tries and it's fun to see what she says. 

I've managed to learn a few things too. For example, President Taft was the heaviest president we've had, but lost a great amount of weight after his term in office was over. And James Garfield campaigned in both English and Spanish.

She's no where near recognizing any of them but she loves to study their faces. For a little while, a whole routine went with this activity, which included me saying the president, her taking a look at it, and then running to Daddy to give to him. Random, I know. 

Lately her routine has omitted giving them to Daddy and instead included sticking them under her legs. I guess she likes to keep a little bit of U.S. history for later. 

Maybe I need to ask her some facts about Reagan next?