Tag Archives: smart

Tiny Geniuses in Nia’s Brain

20 Mar

Nia’s brain continues to amaze us. So much so that Andrew and I will often tell her she has a genius brain. I even told her once (after seeing her great work on math and comprehension tests) that it’s like she has a bunch of tiny geniuses who specialize in different subjects living in her head. I even thought about turning that idea into a children’s book: A little girl with all of these stereotypical character geniuses living in her skull. But then one day, one of them gets sick and can’t help deliver her the correct answer when the question is racing through her head. The others have to pick up the slack and adventure and education ensues.

We can almost see that process happening in her mind when we ask her a question. I have three examples of this that just happened this morning:

  • I asked Nia through a closed door if she had finished her Sunday School homework that was assigned last week. There was silence for a few seconds and then her little voice replied, “Yep. Remember? I did it right when I got home from Sunday School last week.”
  • I asked Nia what she had asked me earlier in the morning because I couldn’t hear her and couldn’t respond right away. She sat for a few seconds and then delivered, “I asked why you drank that.”
  • I said the phrase “pick and choose” to her and, after a second of thought, she inquired, “Doesn’t that mean the same thing?” I sat open-mouthed.

Andrew joked that you could almost hear the computer beeping in her brain as it pinged around for the memory/information and produced it for her. (He said, “Like Watson from Jeopardy.) I laughed and tried to join in with his cleverness, “Yeah! You can see her syntax firing!” He gave me a hesitant smile and sweetly corrected, “Synapse, sweetie. Um, you aren’t allowed to teach our kids biology or anatomy either now. Didn’t you have anatomy in high school?!”

Great. Add that to the list of science and geography as things I’m banned from teaching. I’m pretty sure Nia and her little geniuses will be teaching me anyway. I’m kind of counting on that.

(By the way, I had to google the word synapse to make sure I was spelling it correctly. I found this handy-dandy webpage called Neuroscience for Kids. Can’t say I understood it though.)

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Andrew’s So Proud

30 Aug

Nate to me while in line at the grocery store – “Look Momma Look!  Fish Boon!”

Me responding to Nate – “No honey, that’s a shark balloon.”

Cashier to me – “Uh, that’s a dolphin.”

Me, trying to spell a word while trying to tell a story at the same time – “W-h-i-t.”

Andrew’s response, filled with sarcasm – “W-h-i-t?”

Me, not getting the sarcasm – “Yeah.”

Andrew’s response minus the sarcasm and filled with concern – “W-H-I-T?”

Me, finally realizing my brain fart – “Oh!  You know I know how to spell white!”

Me, trying to teach Nia that she lives in the United States of America – “It’s like when you say the Pledge.  ‘I pledge allegiance to the United States of America.'”

Andrew, half smiling in mockery – “‘… to the flag.'”

Me – “Yeah, ‘I pledge allegiance to the United States of America.'”

Andrew, more emphatically – “… ‘TO THE FLAG.'”

Me, understanding my terrible teaching – “Oh!  Right!  ‘I pledge allegiance to the FLAG of the United States of America.'”

Meanwhile, Nia is looking at me like “Geez Mom!”

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Our Little Puzzler

14 Aug

He doesn't know his colors yet but he can tell you where Alabama (or as Andrew taught him, "Al-a-BAMA!") goes on the map.

Nate has been amazing us with his mad map puzzle skills.  He just loves to dump out all the pieces and then put them all back – over and over again.  I love it!  He already knows more than I do about geography!  (I'm lucky if I can name the seven continents.  There are seven of them right?)

Little Puzzler
Little Puzzler

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“How do you spell lotion?”

15 Aug

SpongeBob SquarePants?  Backyardigans?  Ariel?  Little Mermaid? I don’t know?

It doesn’t matter the word – sometimes it’s a bunch of words – Nia is now going through a phase where she wants to know how to spell EVERYTHING.  Part of me thinks it’s neat that she’s showing an interest in learning how to spell but the other part of me finds it a little bit silly at times. It’s not like she’s really paying attention to me as I grant her request – she usually just goes on to the next thing.

She has started picking up on certain words as I’m reading to her though.  The other night she kept interrupting me to point out every “at” or “to” on a page.  She would say, “Why is there an ‘at’ there?”  Don’t get me wrong, I’m really proud of her for being so smart, it’s just sometimes she goes overboard.  I’ve started to give her limits on how many words I’ll spell in a row.  I’ll say, “Ok – one more.”  She’ll say, “How do you spell one?”

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Memory Queen

23 Jul

Her stack is bigger than mine

 

We don’t even let her win!  I actually try really hard to get more “Memory” cards but she wins almost every time!  It’s pretty amazing watching her sweep the table – taking pair after pair.

She’s addicted to playing.  In the morning, “Wanna play “Membory”?  In the afternoon, “Wanna play “Membory”?  A few minutes after that, “Wanna play “Membory”?  Before dinner, “Wanna play “Membory”?  Recently, our good friends from home (West Virginia home) came to visit us and experienced the round-the-clock “Membory” marathon that I endure.  She had Julie playing any chance she could.  (Thanks Julie! You’re a real team player!)

So far, Nia’s a super good sport about losing too.  “That’s okay Momma.  Maybe you’ll just win next time.”

I doubt it.

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Too Young to Point and Click?

30 Jun

Computer Kid
Nia is really becoming a computer game junkie and I’m wondering if I should be worried.  She’s not playing shoot ’em up games or anything like that – it’s all educational stuff – but I still can’t help but think she’s a little too young to want to play on the computer every day.

The other part of me though thinks it’s good for her because she’s going to have to learn how to use one eventually so what’s the harm in starting at 4?  I’m actually impressed at how well she can work the mouse and use the keyboard to type her name.  She even knows how to fix her typing if she messes up. I sometimes catch myself staring at her in amazement as she drags and drops things on the screen by using the mouse.

It’s funny because I think about what I was doing at her age.  I didn’t even know what a computer was.  In fact, I really didn’t even touch a computer until my senior year in high school and then it was one of those huge beasts that didn’t even have a mouse.  Nia’s already smarter than me!  I wouldn’t want it any other way.  Now, if we can just teach her how to blog and pay the bills – well, maybe coloring pictures and learning how to spell are enough for now.

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