Counting

I never appreciated what it meant for a four/five year old to count as high as they could until my own kids were practicing on me. Tonight, John ran up to me (really, ran) and said "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE, 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 NIIIIIIIIIIIIINeteen......"all the way up to 112. Every nine was the same. He turn his head 45 degrees to the right and cocked his head up as if he were singing nine out the window to the fading sun. Then his head would drop back to a more neutral position and he continued on. I didn't get bored. I knew why he was counting. He showed me he knew it all by himself. And he was so proud. And so was I.