He read his first words to me when he was 12 months old.  Up until that point I just went on faith that he was learning to read. Besides that we had a whole lot of fun playing the reading game.  When he was around 20 months old he was asking me a question.  He said, "Mommy, where's my **** ball?"  

I couldn't make out the word that came before ball.  It sounded to me like he said, "Mommy, where is my white ball?"

I had him repeat it many times and he kept shaking his head to let me know that I hadn't understood him.  It was frustrating for both us.  I wanted to know what he was saying and he was communicating yet could not be understood.  I realized 10 minutes later that I was the fool who could not understand.  Here I had taught him to read and he knew exactly what he wanted.  I finally realized that he was asking me, "Mommy, where is my Voit ball?"

He was asking me for his white ball that had the word Voit on it.  Duh!  How could I not understand that?  Well to my justification, I had never heard him call it that before.  However, since he knew how to read he knew what to ask for.  And that he did.  I guess I am the one who is slow, not him.

Watch out what you teach your kids, they may end up smarter than you!