Chess

Ryan got a no-stress-learn-to-play chess game for his birthday.  We've been playing multiple times every day since we returned from our roadtrip last week.  It doesn't come as much of a surprise to me that Ryan is really, really good at it.  But so is Abby!  At two years old, she can set up the board correctly.  And she can name all the pieces too.  Or at least I thought she could.  She named the rook, bishop, king, queen, and then cow.  Well there went that thought.  But then I realized that when she said cow she was holding the knight.  Which is a horse.  And while she can set up a chess board, Abby still doesn't correctly differentiate cows and horses.  So in Abby-world, she did correctly identify the knight  :) 

While we [myself against Ryan, with Abby "helping" me] were playing earlier tonight, Ryan captured one of my knights.  Without missing a beat, Abby looked at me and said "you're okay. you have another one."  So cute!!  And so smart too.  She knew without having to look and think about it, that there are two knights and that I still had my other knight out on the board, I was impressed.

We all know Ryan is super smart.  And Abby is a free spirit.  But I'm realizing more and more, that I need to be careful about the so-called boxes that we put them in.  I have a feeling Abby is going to be just as brilliant as her brother.  She may not be as "intellectual" or as detailed-oriented, but it's definitely there.