My little girl, only 5, announced to me today that she can count to 99. "Want to hear me do it?" Sure, said mommy (me) and she proceeded to count from 1 to 99, just about flawlessly, with a big lilt of the voice at each number ending in 9 (a la "fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-NNIIINNEE.........SIXTY!!", etc.) - you get the picture? Anyhow, she did great, and she was so proud of herself. She must have just figured it out on her own, and wanted to "try it out" on me today!

In this picture, she is learning to do simple addition facts, by footsteps! I have always tried to emphasize that she is good at math, so that she never develops a phobia of math by thinking she can't do it. Because...

....Yes, she can!