Maya’s latest “thing” is correcting herself. Now, before you think I’m putting my own Type-A anxiety issues onto my two-year-old, rest-assured I’m not 🙂 If anything, I’ve tried to be as easygoing as possible when it comes to her growth and development.

I’m far from perfect (and “easygoing” and “Melissa” never belong in the same sentence) but I really have surprised myself as a mom, a welcome change. Ultimately, I think she is just your typical first-born, eager to please and do things “right.” Plus, her daddy is an engineer who pays meticulous attention to detail, so she has that working against her in her favor ;).

It started a couple weeks ago. She was playing with her Memory cards that have Minnie and Daisy on them. She’s known her colors for a long time now and doesn’t usually confuse them … in fact, she’s quite vocal about which color shoes/dress/tights/bow/cardigan she will/will not wear.

So, like I’ve done a thousand times, I asked her what color bow Minnie was wearing. Matter-of-factly, she said, “Purple.”

It was pink. Still, I didn’t say anything.

But within a second of the words coming out of her mouth, she said, “NO! This bow PINK.” Followed by a big grin.

That was the first time I noticed it. Since then, she’s been doing it a lot. The strange part is, it’s stuff she knows really well that she’s correcting herself on: colors, foods, letters, shapes, numbers, friends’ names, where my parents/siblings live, her age.

“How old are you, Maya?” I asked the other night at dinner. (Dinner-time is basically Quiz-Time these days ;))

“Maya one.” Pause. No reaction from us. “No, TWO.” Another huge grin.

Then last night before bed, we were playing with her butterfly set (chunky pieces — heads, wings, and bodies) that she loves (and I love, because it teaches body parts, shapes and colors). I asked her what shape was on the body. Again, she knows her shapes really well — square, circle, triangle, heart, star.

But she called a triangle a circle and then corrected herself …  before correctly identifying the star and heart. Of course, a huge grin followed.

Kids make mistakes … OF COURSE they do. And maybe that’s what she’s doing lately; maybe she’s genuinely confused sometimes because her little brain is processing so much. I just am not sure if that’s the case here because these are all things she knows really well (and has for a long time), and it’s almost like she enjoys catching and correcting herself, if that makes sense?! Almost like it’s an intentional game? Who knows … we definitely know she is a queen negotiator, begging us for “two more minutes” of play each night. 😉 Maybe she’s a game-player, too?!

It was just mind-blowing to me how her little brain is working. And maybe she’s just making mistakes and that’s all there is to it. Either way, this is a very cute stage.

How about you? Did your/does your toddler correct him/herself? Do you think it’s on purpose or just a normal learning pattern? Would love any parents and teachers to weigh in here!