Amal twirled in the sunshine, her dark blonde curls bouncing with joy.

With wide brown eyes, she spotted a red ladybug with black spots: one, two, three!

She was two and a half, not quite school age, but her mind buzzed like a busy bee for learning.

Her fingers traced letters in the dirt: A... M... A... L, her name, like a whispered secret.

‘Amal,’ Mama called, ‘let’s play the counting game with your blocks!’ Amal's face lit up, as bright as the sun.

Five red blocks. She added two blue ones. How many in total? Amal counted, ‘One, two, three, four, five... seven!’

‘Now, if you give me two blocks, how many will you have?’ Mama asked. Amal pinched her chin, thinking hard.

‘Five!’ she exclaimed. Mama smiled, ‘That’s right!’ Amal's heart swelled with pride.

In the park, Amal found shapes hiding: a rectangle slide, a circle swing, a triangle roof on the playhouse.

She saw three ducks by the pond: two white, one yellow. ‘How many ducks if one more comes?’ Mama quizzed.

'Four!' Amal shouted, just as a new duck waddled up. Four indeed.

At day’s end, cuddled with Mama, Amal dreamed of school days to come, numbers and letters dancing in her head.