My Math-Brained Girl

Many of you probably know that Robert & I are both math people. In college, I got my bachelor's degree in Math, and Robert got his in secondary education - math. So we're very numbers oriented people. So it's not surprising that Rachel and Katelyn would be pretty good in math. The other day, Rachel was asking Katelyn some easy addition problems, such as "What's 2+2, or what's 5+5?" Then Rachel asked Katelyn "What's 5+8?" I leaned over to Rachel and asked her if she knew the answer. She whispered in my ear "It's 13." I knew she could figure it out using her hands to count on, but I was surprised that she was able to give me that answer so quickly. I asked her how she knew that. She then launched into her explanation of "I know that 8 is really 5 + 3, and I know that 5+5 is 10, so 5+8 is really 5+5+3 which is 10+3 which is 13!" It obviously took her more time to explain it to me than for her to actually figure it out, but I thought it was neat how her math mind was at work!! Looks like she takes after her parents in the math area!!!