Castle! Castle!

Isn't it curious how children relate to traveling around town? in the development of the ability to have a mental map of their surroundings?

One thing the children relate to are local landmarks, and the general proximity of certain landmarks to certain other landmarks. Many of the landmarks they have are very close to home--we pass those most frequently. Also, there are landmarks near frequent destinations. At an intersection on the route to their preschool, two buildings with crenellations (one with a crenellated turret) are situated opposite each other. Genevieve associated this feature with castles at age three, and Reesa still cries out "Castle! Castle!" whenever we pass the intersection.

As for going around our local area, our children currently think that any local landmark is readily available on any car trip. Over the holidays, there is a light display in the shape of a horse, and they frequently ask to drive past it even if we are on the other side of town going in an opposite direction. When you're not driving and never have driven a car and are very young, I suppose that stuff outside the window is sort of like a television with a DVD player--just ask to plug in a local landmark to watch go by.