This morning we were at a playground that has a giant abacus. After Isaac pushed the beads around for a while, he stood back and watched a three-year-old boy play with it. The boy's mother slowly counted from one to ten as he methodically pushed each bead from one side of the abacus to the other. I noticed that a tiny voice accompanied her each time she said two, and I assumed her son was counting along. The third time it happened, however, I realized it was Isaac.
I turned him to face me so I could see his lips moving, and I said, "One..." He said, "Two." For an amazed moment I thought he knew how to count, and I tried to figure out where he could have learned it. Then the mists cleared, and I realized he must have simply memorized the word sequence -- two always follows one, just like the donkey always says hee-haw. It can't mean anything to him -- but then a lot of language is abstract, like the magic of the word please.
Craig said later that counting is memorization of a sequence of words, and I guess he has a point.
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P.S.
In the park I thought Isaac was also saying three, but I wasn't able to verify it. Until I can duplicate the results, we won't make any claims.
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