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Never Too Early to Start Learning

Baby Babble
NEVER TOO EARLY TO START LEARNING

By: Ashley Hoppe | September 2, 2022

My mom is an engineer by education. How do I know this? She states it multiple times a day, typically after my dad says something. I try to voice my support with this by adding, “Oh yeah, you go mom!” But I don’t really think she understands what I'm saying.

My mom is always interested in how things work, why something is the way it is and how she can learn. This is something I see particularly in projects around the house. On the other hand, my dad is a business owner and finance guru. He likes running the numbers, a term that I hear often, but not something I understand yet. I can only imagine he physically runs alongside life-size versions of my favorite numbers: one, two, three, four and five. If I had to choose right now, I think I would also become a business owner and a finance guru. I love counting. The number five gets me so excited; I try to express this to my parents by humming and shouting along when the number five is said as we count together.

I like to think about what I will do when I’m not a baby anymore. I’ve had many days and minutes of thinking about what I want to do and learn about in the world. I have counted to five many times with my dad, and I have watched the construction folks tear up and replace the street in front of my house with my mom. I’ve read many books about love, colors, shapes and animals with both of them. I know that when I’m not a baby I'll be able to walk all over the house like my parents and they will be able to understand what I'm saying. However, when I think about it, maybe they will be more careful with what they say around me once they know I can talk. Oh, the gossip I have heard from them! I know all of the family secrets. But I digress.

Some days I get to go to a music class and sing along to someone playing bongos. I don’t know if I have a good voice yet. I hum and hum, and I have heard someone say the phrase “carry a tune,” but I’ve never seen a tune so I am not sure if I would be able to carry it. I’m still pretty little and I don’t want to wait until I'm fully grown to start learning and working. We’ve been to the zoo and the aquarium before. I like animals, when I'm not afraid of them, but I don’t know what a zookeeper or wildlife specialist would do. I don’t think I will have anywhere to keep a zoo, because they are extremely large, and how would I even know how to keep a zoo? I don’t think I could work with wildlife; I am so small and those animals are massive.

I’ve also heard the phrase “find your passion and you will never work a day in your life,” and so I try to think about what my passions are. For sure, one is putting things in my mouth. Any toy, cloth or object. I want to explore everything I can reach, and my mouth is my laboratory. So, that is for sure one of my passions. Another passion is being pushed in my carriage to the park. Though, I don’t think adults go to the park enough. Every time I am there, I see many babies like myself, but the adults are not there, and they are certainly not playing on the structures. But this is still one of my passions and something I would want to do when I am bigger. A third passion I have is laying on my stomach and flapping my arms and legs. This is actually one of my greatest passions because it's so fun to do and makes me giggle. I do wonder if I can do any of these passions as work.

For now, I guess my parents are set on me learning a variety of things from books. This is fine because I love looking at the pictures and hearing their voices. When I think about it, one of my other passions is listening to my parents' voices. I wonder if I can do this as a job. If not, maybe I can somehow make one of my other passions into a job. But I have a few years before I have to make any decision on that.

Ashley Hoppe lives in Novato with her husband Brett and their son Jackson. You can find her hiking or trying a new coffee shop. She’d be delighted to hear from you at ashlauwain@gmail.com.