Brownen Goes to Eleven

Bronwen likes to count. She likes to count toys, books, peas on her plate. She likes to count while I drive her to and from school. And she likes to count while cuddling on the couch. She can count to 11. But she does have a little problem when it comes to counting. She gets stuck in a loop and doesn’t know how to stop.

Listening to a little kid count is positively charming. Probably because it is amazing that kids learn numbers so early, but also because, for a kid, counting is a deliberate and enthusiastic event. When Bronwen counts she sounds out each number, her tone rising as the number increases. “Won-na! Two-a! Tha-reeee! Fo-wer! Fi-va! etc” Lots of kids make it to “Ten-a!” and stop there. Bronwen goes to eleven.

“Ten-a! Eleven! Eight-a! Nine! Ten-a! Eleven! Eight-a! Nine! Ten-a!....” She gets stuck in a loop (8, 9, 10, 11) and just keeps going.

Dan and I first discovered “Bronwen’s loop” this past weekend. Piper and Bronwen were playing hide and seek upstairs. Piper, as usual, was bossing her little sister around, making her count, while she hid. 1, 2, 3…11, 8, 9, 10, 11, 8, 9… It went on for awhile, her voice rising until finally she stopped the loop at a random “Nine-a!” It was hilarious.

Dan thinks that she says “eleven” and thinks “seven” which is why she keeps going back to eight. That makes sense to me. Nonetheless, I have been encouraging her to count to twelve to see if it will break the cycle. I will let you know what happens.