Oh how do we learn?

I am amazed by some of the things Sean knows how to do, and it seems he instinctively knows. I feel like I should be writing so many things down, but I am always doing something else. So here's a post all about Sean and the things he's doing right now. He will be 7 years old soon.

Friends gave us a zucchini from their garden, and Sean decided we should cut it into small pieces and fry it in a pan. I prepared the egg dip, and the cornmeal and parmesan cheese mixture. He cut the pieces, dipped, and put them in the pan.

I wonder what path he will decide to take when he makes the choice of a career. He's so analytical, and loves to learn how all machines work. But he also loves to cook, and use a camera.

Lately he has wanted to cook. I have always let him have as much freedom as possible while making sure he is safe. I don't want him to get hurt, yet I know there are times when getting a little cut on a finger, or touching a hot pan can teach us a lot about how to respect tools in the kitchen. Now that he is more coordinated, I let him work and I watch. And yes, he has had a cut on the finger, and a little burn from a hot pan.

A couple of days ago he heated a biscuit for himself and a friend. We don't have a microwave, so he had to use the oven. He wrapped the biscuits in foil, put them in the oven and asked my advice on how long to cook them. When the buzzer dinged, he got the pot holder and removed the biscuits. His friend loved it. Sean said, "So it sounds like you like my cooking?"

He made brownies last week, and followed the recipe, but put a little more water in the mix than what the recipe said. The brownies were delicious, but the consistency was like chocolate cake. When I pointed this out, he said, "That's because I put in more water."

He has always enjoyed using the computer. First he started by typing the letters to try to make words. He began doing this a couple of years ago. Now he has graduated to using search engines, and routinely wants to do some sort of research and ends up on Google to search for it. Today he decided to look for one of his friends online! He typed in the boy's name, but did it in a child's way of looking, "somwin namd" and then he typed the child's name. He spelled it the way it sounded and hit enter. It came up with no matches, and I said, "Oh, no matches for that name, I guess he's not on the Internet." I turned to do something in the kitchen, looked back over at the screen and he had a people search site pulled up with the name of the kid. There were men all over the country with that name. He clicked on one of the results and it sent him to a page where you pay a fee to get information about the person. He saw the cost and said, "What? $14.95?? That's ridiculous."