Ruby has a placemat with a world map on it, and after every meal is over, she pushes aside her dishes and says, “let’s talk about countries!” As a map lover, I can’t resist this entreaty. She started by pointing at the very largest countries and asking me what they were called. Soon she was also interested in medium-sized countries as well, and I realized she now knows a LOT of countries’ names, so I made a list.

When I point at the following countries, she can name them (these are the ones she knows best):  Russia, Madagascar, Australia, Mongolia, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Greenland, Canada, United States, Antarctica, China, Mexico, Bolivia, France, Norway, Papua New Guinea.

When I ask her to point to these countries, she can (these are the ones she’s learned more recently): India, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Finland.

That makes 21 countries! There are other countries she’s just now learning where she knows the name but can’t reliably find them on the map (England, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore).

I swear I’m not pushing this on her; she’s as naturally interested in maps as I am.  And I’ll add that she can identify most of these countries on other maps that have different colors. I’m amazed. Is this normal?