For about one minute earlier this evening, I thought my little Sophie was a genius.

Chloe and I had started playing a game of Rummikub and were in the process of selecting and organizing our tiles. Sophie partook in the fun by choosing tiles of her own.

As we were getting ready to make our first moves, Sophie pointed to one of Chloe’s tiles and exclaimed, “10!” She did that a few times before I realized what was happening, and when I looked at tile she was eyeing, it was indeed a 10.

I was amazed. My husband, who was watching this scene unfold, just snickered (that’s because he’s French). When he suggested that we ask Sophie to identify the numbers on other tiles, I readily complied.

And faster than a snap of the fingers, my dream (ok, that’s not really my dream) of her being the youngest member of Mensa was quickly deflated. For Sophie, all of the other tiles were 2s or 3s, regardless of the actual number displayed.

And then I remembered. This is a toddler whose aptitude for counting by numbers goes something like this: “oneee, twooooo, threeeee, nineeeee, tennnn” (I’ll have to add audio to provide readers the full effect). Admittedly, not a bad start for a two-year old. But I won’t be sending in her application for MIT anytime soon.