map-drawing toddler

speaking of charting/containment-type personalities, here's a 2.5 year old who draws maps.

Sitting on the floor of a home in western Lawrence, the 2 1/2-year-old pointed out all the countries on a map of Asia he was drawing by hand with a crayon.

"We did Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan," he said in a sing-song toddler voice, tapping each country as he listed them. He drew a shape under Afghanistan and marked it with a "P" for Pakistan, then asked his mother to help him color the continent.

"Tavi can do the 'Stans, and mommy can do the bigger ones," he said.

Tavi is still in diapers and hasn't yet started preschool, but he can identify all the countries in the world - with the exception of maybe a Pacific island or two - and can draw many of them by hand. He's known all the planets since he was 20 months old and can tell you during what time period Antarctica formed.

I don't know whether to be exhilarated or frightened.