Map Maker

Benjamin's mind is amazing. We sat down to put a puzzle together today. It is a map of the United States with each state being it's own piece. The things he said while he worked just blew me away!

Grabbing the California piece and putting it right where it belonged, he said, "Here's California. That's where Uncle Rob and Aunt Traci live!"

"Virginia!" he cheered, picking it up. "That's where we live!"

"North Carolina is next to the ocean because it has a beach. That's where Grammy and Granddaddy's beach house is."

"What state is this?" he asked picking up North Dakota. I told him and he immediately grabbed South Dakota next and said, "This must be South Dakota then."

"I found Maine! That's where Uncle Will lives. I bet he eats good lobster. Yummy...lobster!"

"Here's where we used to live. Indiana! Indianapolis! That's the capital of Indiana!"

"What goes here?" he asked. I told him it was Arizona. He scanned the pieces and very quickly found it. He actually did this several times and I think he was looking at the starting letters. But even when there was more than one that started with that letter he didn't mess it up.

"New Mexico!" he said, "Where is regular Mexico?"

"Minnesota. It's really, really cold there in the winter!" he told me. "What's the capital of Minnesota?" I told him and he then stated, "I bet it is so cold in St. Paul!"

"Here's Tennessee where Fran lives." And he immediately put it in the right place.

It was wild watching him work. He found states by recognizing the letters in their names and he asked about the capitals. He knew exactly where to put each state either because he knew where it belonged or because he visualizes puzzles very well. Either way, I was impressed!