mathematical joy

It's fun to see the light come on.  On Monday afternoons I tutor a 4th grade boy in math and reading.  I tutored the same student last year and I remember that at the beginning of that year he couldn't multiply or divide and was very shaky on math procedures in general.  We worked quite a bit on math but I really credit his teachers, last year and this, for unlocking his math potential.  Today, when we sat down to work he started explaining to me how to calculate area and perimeter.  We worked on several problems and he noticed that the area number was always larger than the perimeter number.  He challenged me to find a rectangle with measurements that resulted in a perimiter number that was larger than the area.  We found one and he was very pleased.  Next week I'll show him an example where the two numbers are the same.  Obviously, I like number games but it's so exciting to see him really enjoying math.