My son has been on school holiday for a month now and is keeping himself busy with numbers. It’s his latest thing and we’re running with it. He whispers sums in my ear, separates everything he owns into sets of 4s and 5s, and asks mathematical riddles of everyone he meets.
It’s compelling to watch his brain work, to see his intuitive sense of numbers at play. Stranger, though, are the gaps. Though he can add random numbers at will, and double any number up to 50, he remains stumped by ‘7 + 9’, which he’s convinced is 15. Luckily, such missteps are easily corrected and, best of all, he receives every clarification with delight, even euphoria.
