Awkward, Embarrassing, Funny, Surreal, Confusing. . . . whatever!

Our new normal does not feel remotely normal to any of us, but it's getting closer all the time. Here are some examples.

We did the state standardized testing for the grade we pulled our daughter out of so that she could have a concrete end-point and be able to tell people what grade she is in. Turns out, she scored 15 percentile (not percent) point below her IQ level on that exam, which made me really wonder what they're testing. The exam was developed by the same company and everything. She did just fine, but it doesn't make sense to me. I have no time to think about that, so moving on. She wanted to celebrate, so we did a small celebration with her grandparents, and had some new pictures taken, calling them her __ grade pictures. It was fun and gave her some of the same fun milestones she was feeling a little lost without.

Recently, my husband took her in to Sunday school, but not her normal class. They asked which table she should sit with, since multiple grades are in the same room. There was a long awkward pause, then he said, "I don't know. Just let her choose," and left . . . rather quickly, I imagine. He simply couldn't remember. Each decision requires not just knowing a number, but deciding whether to keep her with the group she has been with for the school year, or have her with her academic-level peers, etc. It's complicated. The next day, she asked me what she should say next time someone asked her because "Dad didn't know." Oh, that one will be fun at life events forever!! We all laughed and will all continue to, I hope.

Another mother recently told me how she was feeling the need to take a break from the giftedness groups because she was just tired of doing so much talking about it. While I understand the feeling, there is a steep learning curve, and I am not in a position where that is a good option, personally. Besides, last week, we went to cash checks made out to my daughter and it even came up there. Yup! She had two checks to cash. One was from mensa, which was completely unfamiliar to me until December of last year. The other was from a testing organization as compensation for her involvement in norming a new version of an IQ test. The friendly cashiers asked questions that led right into the topic. We are simply honest people, and even vague answers lead there so much more often than you'd think.

We were at a pet store asking questions, and the salesperson kindly offered us some handouts. Turns out, we didn't need one, since our daughter had read an encyclopedia on the topic before we agreed to look into it. I didn't think through the conversation until I got "the look" that salespeople give us. I translate it "where on earth do I go from here?" or "What kind of crazy parents are these people?" or "Are you mocking me?" I shrugged it off and changed the subject.

Add the fact that we homeschool and have a schoolage child out during school hours, and you get all sorts of uncomfortable questions and conersations. In fact, my daughter would prefer not to go to some stores with me during the weekday to avoid the questions, and I hear similar reactions from other parents in our homeschool small group.

A few months into homeschooling now, we are starting to reconnect with some precious people that we have been meglecting and missing. As the questions about what books are being read come up, and people ask what grade kids are in, there are awkward situations with the friends we knew before any of this was on our radar. Now, the kids that have always been the same year in school as our daughter . . . . aren't.

It will continue to be an ongoing adjustment. Every parent has awkward moments with their kids, regardless of their circumstances. I feel like we have a new onslaught of new topics to navigate. At least we're still laughing. Here's hoping it continues indefinitely :)

Good luck keeping up with that!

Today has been an interesting day. Our daughter walked into the kitchen a few minutes ago and said to us, "I learned some cool things about making babies."

Yikes! She is seven, in case I've never mentioned that before. Our eyes got wide at each other and then we looked down. "Really. What did you learn?" one of us asked, but I could not tell you which one of us. I'm still busy freaking out.

"I learned why you need a husband once you have a baby." Uh oh! "The husband has seeds in him that need to swim to the mom, and it has half the direction in it." OK, maybe this is salvageable. Maybe. Are we having the sex talk at age seven?

"Did you read this in your encyclopedia?" I asked. "Yes, and did you know that when the baby reaches four years, it tends to make a lump in the mom's tummy?"

"Four months, honey, but yes." ~me

"And then the mom can tend to feel the baby."

"Your mom felt you in her tummy." ~dad

"Isn't that cool?" Wide eyes accompany this response from her.

"Yeah. It's really cool and really scary at the same time." ~dad

The book in question is an Usborne Children's Encyclopedia that can be internet linked. We have not used the internet portion of it, at this point. I'm thinkin' I need to look at that part of the book to understand exactly how much she learned . . .

It's hard to keep up with a highly gifted kid and we hope to stay ahead of her on the important topics. Or, at least, we hoped to . . . we may have already missed that goal . . .

Remembering and Reflecting

As I sat waiting for my daughter to have her IQ assessment, which took a little over 2 hours with Dr. Deborah Ruf, I felt very insecure. I wondered why on earth I was there. I wondered if I was being ridiculous to even think of having her there, and if I was exposing her to the experience without potential gain. It was difficult to sit still.

5 Levels of Gifted, Dr Ruf's book, was there, so I started reading. As I read through the beginning, I was surprised how many things I could relate to. Most of the things I never realized weren't common. Many of them related to experiences from birth, and very early in the life of a child.

Our daughter was born late, and needed to be checked in the corner before I held her, just to be safe. She was screaming and overwhelmed, as all newborns are. I remember telling my husband to go talk to her. I think I shouted that, actually. He walked closer saying desperately that he didn't know what to say. She stopped crying, craned her neck and looked at him. That is the moment he became a Dad. Apparently, that isn't normal. Of course, children hear their parents' voices and recognize them. That part is normal. The degree of association, connection, eye contact, etc. is most common in highly gifted kids. Who knew? My mother says that my brother and I did the same thing; we had always related it to being born late.

Tonight, I was looking at pictures and ran across a very old one. I had some terrible tooth issues during my daughter's first year of life: failed crown, failed root canal, and oral surgical extraction. It was painful! I remember it being difficult because smiling hurt, and we have a sensitive child. Smiling was important to her. I started crinkling my nose, which hurt much less, and that became her smile for a while, as well. The 1 year photos have the "growly" smile, and I find it adorable. I digress.

A picture I stumbled upon this evening shows her communicating very early. There weren't words involved that I remember, but she told my mother that my mouth hurt. I remember us being surprised, but it took the picture to remind me. I wondered if we were reading into it, or if it was a side effect of pain medication at the time. I analyzed her expressions in other photos tonight, and I don't think so. She was telling my mother that my mouth hurt. Of course, I had to show my husband and remind him this evening. "We should have known then," is what I said. "Yeah," he said as he stared at it and the surrounding photos.

I have one child, so of course I believe that she is the most amazing child on the planet. That seems perfeclty obvious to me. However, I know that I am extremely biased. Could my attempts to be a humble parent have inhibited my ability to understand my daughter? Mother guilt comes so easily, and I'm not feeling terribly emotional about it at the moment, but I still wonder . . . This all happened before she was one year old. She already had a heart of gold, and she was already processing relatively complex thoughts and actually finding a way to communicate them . . . before she could stand on her own.

Can you imagine being born with one or more appendage that didn't function? Of course, you'd find a way to adapt. One of the most difficult fates, in my opinion, would be to have a body that didn't function and a mind that was sharp. Is that what it's like for highly gifted children before they physically and emotionally develope? Do they feel trapped by their inability to apply or communicate their amazing thoughts and ideas?

You may have noticed that I enjoy books. A boy told me today that he is reading the Inheritance Cycle. I was thrilled because it is definitely a way I can relate to him. Eragon is an amazingly complex character and I devoured those books. One character that makes me squirm is Elva, but she's not an antagonist. Eragon unintentionally put her in a difficult position. She was, in her own words, "a freak." She had an urge and ability to sense danger and an inescapable compulsion to help. This was given to her as an infant, and she grew quickly, but not in a natural way. One quote from her haunts me, "so I grew." She was referring to what she needed to do to accomodate her circumstances. In this case, growing unnaturally quickly, so she could talk early, etc.

I feel like this is getting darker than I'm comfortable with. I must need sleep. It is interesting to try and relate to people, though, and imagine their circumstances from that angle. There is a quote heading a gifted group's web site that says something to the effect that "it is difficult to have adult intelligence in a child's body with childlike emotions." When my daughter gets easily frustrated and angry, it makes sense to me. I must find a way to help her with an outlet and to have a healthy adaptation to our world. . . with God's grace, I might find it. I want her to have a childhood, and a happy one, rather than an unusual experience that causes her to say or think "so I grew."

Surprising Variety/Kids' comments

One of the wonderful thing about children is what they say. Gifted children are not excluded from this general rule.

I overheard a mother talking about her son and their experience when they first found out about the giftedness assessment. She had been in the car. Her son told her that he realized that "fire needs four things: oxygen, fuel, heat and time." He was five years old. After a breath, he added, "Scooby Doo and Shaggy are so funny. They just do such funny things" I decided it is a very relevant description of life with a gifted child.

We did some standardized testing for the state, as a part of our decision to homeschool. The results showed that her least advanced area was political science and environment. She is quite young, so that means things like knowing who invented the lightbulb and that paper is made from trees. My husband has a political science degree and is fascinated with maps and history. I really should do more about this topic, as it is definitely NOT my strength, although I do realize that paper comes from trees . . .

Stumbling across a used US History homeschool curriculum, I decided God was leading me . . . that, and I have no time to look around - it came from a someone in a group of people like us, so I jumped on it. We are reading a chapter and the questions aloud on our drive to her homeschool group meetings. This way, I learn along with her, as my mind has purged much of the information.

Today, she told me, "Scientists believe that when the voyagers walked in the strait, there wasn't water in it." This was out of the blue. "The Bering Strait?" I asked, remembering it as one of the vocab words from the last chapter almost a week ago. You'll have to find it on a map yourself, or my daughter can help you . . . I cannot. She confirmed and started telling me more about that. The curriculum is sitting on our coffee table, and apparently, she's been reading it on her own. I wonder if she'll start where we left off last time, or if I'll have to read on my own to keep up.

On the other hand, she tells us jokes like "What do you get when you cross a mouse riding in a car?" "A mousemobile!" Hysterical laughter from her. Amazing when you think of those two scenarios coming out the mouth of a single child. It is amusing and surprising on a regular basis.

Overemotional mother

I had a very emotional day yesterday. Yes, the heading refers to me :)

My daughter went to a museum for several hours with her father and grandfather, so I had some much-needed time on my own. I felt stir-crazy, but didn't know where I wanted to go. I had a strong urge to do something, but I wasn't sure what. I had plenty of ideas about what to do, but had a very hard time deciding upon one course of action. I had a strong urge to buy a bunch of sock yarn at JoAnn with coupons, which is an idea implanted in my brain by the same woman who suggested the 800 page knitting book. However, I have lots of supplies for unfinished projects, so getting something new to learn seemed . . . unnecessary.

In the end, I decided to do some sewing and listen to an audio book on my iPod. I chose the latest Cahills vs Vespers book (the follow-up series to the 39 Clues books). I had heard it already, but it sounded better than my other options and I wanted an escape from my roundabout thoughts, as they weren't getting me anywhere. At the beginning of the first chapter, I found myself bursting into sobs as Att, the 11-yr-old college freshman, is going over this thoughts while being held captive. It just hit me. I even had to take breaks from the sewing so that I didn't get my fingers in there while trying to aim through the tears.

Rationally, I know that it is unlikely that my daughter will be an 11-year-old college freshman. I also don't expect her to end up in a deadly race and clue hunt. These are books, and further, the parents passed it on to their kids, so I would know before my daughter would. However, the emotions of the kids captured my attention before my daughter was assessed, so before I knew that she was gifted, let alone highly gifted. . . The authors describe the kids' emotions in a way I find to be realistic and probable. They are lonely. They have a hard time relating to people their own age because their experiences and knowledge base is so different than other kids. Relating to adults, while intellectually similar in some cases, is also not a peer relationship. They are younger and have fewer experiences, less chronological and emotional maturity . . . all the things that come with age.

When my daughter is with me, which is almost all the time, I don't feel the freedom to mourn the loss of my hopes for her. In groups of parents with other gifted kids, I feel like my approach to it is different than most. While some are more excited as the IQ measurements go up, my heart sinks the farther it gets from average. I would love slightly above average for my daughter, honestly. I would prefer average to what she has, although many will not understand that. The truth of the matter is that I want my daughter to be happy and satisfied in her relationships. The more like the average person she is, the more opportunities she has to relate closely and deeply with people, in my opinion. I am still grieving the loss of that hope. What's more, I still believe that anyone who can read their mail and balance their checkbook (or however they manage their finances) is just fine. Beyond that, happiness is what counts.

My daughter is not what I thought would give her the best chance for happiness. However, I can still do my best to provide her best chance of happiness exactly where she's at. That is the best thing I can think of to actively support and love her, and exactly what I am trying to do. What's more, we will continue to enforce the idea that we are all equal in God's eyes and that her IQ score (which she doesn't know) makes her no better or worse than anyone else . . . in any category. She is different than the average, and having time with people like ourselves is good. It helps our self-esteem, our self-confidence, and more. For that reason, we have joined a special interest homeschool group. It meets once a week, and my daughter feels more at home there than other places. Just last week, one of the administrators found me and commented on what a confident girl I have. I almost cried (thus, the title of this post is still pertinent). She looked surprised at my expression, and I simply said, "You wouldn't have said that two months ago." She looked even more surprised at that and said, "I love stories like that. Tell me more."

While I'm certain I will continue to be an overemotional mother, I am doing my best to give my daughter emotional stability in her own life. It's so encouraging to have affirmation from others that it is going in the right direction. Still trying not to cry, I'll sign off for now . . .

Quirkiness

For any of you as interested in the 39 clues series, I offer this example. The 11-yr-old college freshman is short on friends and feels that he's wierd. His friend, Dan, says "You are wierd, dude. Embrace the wierdness. It's cool!" I think that concept applies to all people, gifted or not, young or old, etc.

We recently had some pictures taken and it hit me how much happier our girl looks. I know that she is happier, naturally, but it was striking in these photos. Our child is back. That might sound strange, especially since we are in new waters and trying to figure out where we are. The "new normal" is constantly shifting and full off "wierdness."

I've always felt a little OCD about getting things done. My degree is essentially fancy organizing. I'm just wierd that way, and that is how I've referred to it for as long as I can remember. Honestly, that seemed like a defect . . . seems like a defect sometimes. As I've been sitting in groups of parents of gifted children, I'm listening. I'm learning. I'm noticing patterns in the stories about the kids. I'm also noticing patterns with the parents.

Interestingly, these groups tend to have a higher percentage of dad involvement, as in hands-on during the day. I know my husband would love to have that, but right now it's just not going to happen. There are a lot more boys there than girls. I think I've talked about the theories behind that previously.

Recently, two girls who are VERY into notebooks, writing, and books, excitedly walked up to one of the homeschool coop administrators and talked about writing a newspaper or newsletter. While this is cool, I was uber-impressed with the gal. She was not only open to it, despite being crazy-busy, but highly encouraging. I could see her trying to match the girls excitement and ask content-rich questions. These people are not only interesting in kids, but they make the kids a priority. They are fascinated by their children. I get really excited about that. What kid isn't going to be happy in an environment that like?! I'm sure there are many environments like that, but this was an eye-opening, extreme example for me.

I'm learning to be this kind of mom. If you show me a science experiment, or toned-down colors, or reference books . . . well, I don't get worked up about them. However, our daughter will not go to bed without her encyclopedia. She has many series of books at different levels, but for the last week or so, she will search high and low for that encyclopedia (the Usborne internet-linked one for kids) and is reading it like a book with "chapters." The time she has "off" is filled with learning. She really is a sponge. The more we let her be a sponge and show interest and support for her quirky interests, the happier she gets. I heard one family say that their recent mantra was, "Quit doing math and go to bed!" I'll bet a lot of people are laughing about it. If you can relate, you have a gifted kid. It makes that family laugh, too.

The parents are never unproductive. Maybe it's because we are a homeschool group. My working definition of homeschooling is being a full-time teacher simultaneously with everything else. . . . its 24/7/365. That being said, my husband IS involved. Every night and every weekend and every day off. Our child never is NOT learning. That would not fit within fun for her.

There is an intensity about the kids and the parents. The parents all brought three times as much work to do as they could get done, even without any chatting. There is a ton of chatting, so very little gets accomplished beyond sharing ideas and support, which is more important. The parents, like their kids, cannot sit still. I am also guilty of this. I keep knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching, or something with me at all times. I don't like to have my hands still. Movies and audio books are my addiction, and I've found that books and needlework are common hobbies in the group. One mom is very interested in showing me an 800 page book on knitting . . . um . . . I think it's really cool that she likes it, and she is amazing with her ever-present knitting. Reading an 800 page book on knitting is not going to happen for me, however, and we got a good laugh out of the difference between us that way. I just figure that it's not warmer if it's fancier. I find yarn I like and make it stay together in a scarf. She is convinced that she will convert me. We'll see. . . My mother would love her for it, I'm sure.

When I think of my favorite people in the world, before or after we entered the "giftedness" phase, I think of things that make someone different. One woman I've only met twice, I always remember because of the way she looked at and experimented with a can cozy. I can't tell you why it was fascinating exactly, but I think of it often . . . years later, even. She is the sister of a woman I love dearly. I saw the same creative "what can I do with this?" kind of look on her face, I think. Her sister has come up with so many creative ways to reinvent . . . She lives a life many would call normal, but she is not normal to me. She is extraordinary!

While I still don't feel comfortable in this group of people, I'm getting there. I'm seeing the similarities and understanding my daugher's and my own quirks in a different way. It's fascinating and entertaining to see this group interacting.

In the movie Good Will Hunting, Robin Williams' character says he loves that his wife farts in her sleep; that knowing that about her is part of what makes her his wife. What are your quirks and why do you like them? What are the ones you love most about your spouse, children, etc? I constantly have to have my liquid soap dispensers full, even if the rest of the bathroom is a wreck. I like using different colors in my calendar and notes; nothing is color coded, but I like color, so I use different ones all the time - I switch about once a week. I'd love to hear yours!

Age Appropriateness

For you parents whose primary concern is choking hazards, enjoy the time when all you need to do is read the label to see what will be "appropriate" :) For those of you with multiple children, I'll pass along a story. We have friends with 4 children, rather close together. I received a funny e-mail years ago that talked about how the first child gets the pacifier boiled if it drops, the second gets a water rinse, and the third gets a pants wipe before putting it back in the child's mouth. My friend responded with her examples with the fourth child. Her final example is the one that really sticks with me. "It's not a choking hazard until it's stuck." I love that woman, and she is the one we always called when we wanted to know which one was the best urgent care - not because they are at all careless. With four children, things are multiplied.

When we had our daughter assessed for IQ, originally as part of an entrance process to an alternative school, we chose a woman who is extremely thorough, Dr Deborah Ruf. Part of her assessment includes personality assessments of the parents and child(ren), which helps because we can be directed to resources on how to best support one another. Part of her reports includes a breakdown of different areas and the intellectual age of the child. Ours had a 4 years range depending upon the area, and not one of them was her age . . . or a year older . . . you get the idea. However, her age affects many things.

Teenagers are most likely to hate you if you tell them that they will understand something differently or better when they are older. Perhaps it is because they have heard it so often by the time they are teenagers. Perhaps they feel thier intelligence is being questioned. Perhaps it is because they are intellectually adults in some areas/cases. However, experience matters. I experience things much differently now than I did 5 years ago, and I was well into my adult years at both of those ages. Our experiences change us. Sometimes they teach us new things, and sometimes they simply allow us to see things from an additional angle. Time is part of experience, so you can imagine that our daughter has had little experience due to her short years on this earth.

For many of the activities I have looked into recently, my daughter is at the top end of the age range. While her emotional maturity is not advanced, her intellectual maturity is advanced. Her stature is small, so that is another are where her age range might be appropriate for her. It greatly complicates planning and deciding! We have recently started homeschooling, and it's wonderful how flexibly people have been in these circles! Maybe many of them have similar situations or work with similar people, so they are more comfortable with the adaptations. I'm just thankful, whatever the reason.

When it comes to scientific information, I almost always sign her up for classes that are older. If it involves physical play, I stick with her own age range, and prefer her to be at the top of it. Books and toys were a problem for a while. Our daughter is a rule kid and if the age range on the box doesn't include her, she felt like she was breaking a law. Fortunately, she has gotten over that. We explained part of the results from her assessment to her, in order to "give her permission" from an authority figure - Dr Ruf - in order to get past her emotional reaction, which definitly falls within her actual age. There are almost no toys are books that include her age and are actually appropriate for where she's at. As a result, she was bored. Because she was bored, she felt like she was "wierd" and that there might be something wrong with her. Sad.

I must run, but wanted to share a bit of my recent thoughts. Do any of you have similar examples of age appropriateness, whether a funny saying or a deep experience or advice for us as we stumble forward? I'm particularly interested in how families choose literature for their children who read above age level. How do you decide what will be appropriate for your child and protect them without hindering them? Thank you for sharing your time with me - I'd love to hear your thoughts, as well!

Belonging

This week, we started meeting with a homeschool coop that is a group of gifted families. We chose it and like it because it's not elitist. Sure, there are elitist individuals there, as there are just about anywhere. However, the group doesn't require an IQ test score to join or any of the other "prove yourself" kinds of things that some groups request. We don't want our daughter to think she's better than anyone else and frankly, we don't want to be around the people who are convinced that they are better than others. Those people are irritating.

When our educational consultant first told us that we needed to get her into programming for highly gifted kids, I was insecure and wary. What I asked was, "Am I going to get along with these people?" She told me that they are just like the rest of us, trying to figure it all out. She also pointed out that giftedness is hereditary, so we are "these people." Oh yeah . . . Then again, maybe my inability to comprehend that proves that I'm not . . . moving on :)

Recently, I was concerned (without need, in the end) that our daughter might not take to some specific children she will be spending more time with, outside of educational circles. As I have put in other posts, my daughter likes different things than many kids her age, and that makes her somewhat disinterested in kids more often than you might expect. One of the signs of giftedness in young kids are those who prefer to interact with adults. One of the kids I was concerned about spent as much or more time interacting with me as the other children in the group, so I didn't need to be worried.

At the homeschool coop, my daughter initially was more interested in talking to the adults than the other children, which wasn't a surprise. It ended up being a group of mostly boys, which is also pretty common in gifted circles. Statistically, girls will "dumb down" to fit in, where boys tend to have behavioral problems as their reaction to the frustrations of giftedness, so more boys get pulled out of traditional school systems. At lunch , we were sitting with a couple of girls who are a couple of years older than my daughter. They were very open to talking with her, but she took a bit to warm up. We started talking about reading, which all of us are quite interested in. My daughter was asked what she likes to read, and she got a little squirmy. Slowly, she told the adult with us that it's kindof wierd, but she's reading at a grade level ahead of her grade, "Isn't that kindof wierd?" Bless this woman! She immediately said, "that's not wierd at all." The girls with us confirmed that. I told her that most of the people in that school group are that way. Her shoulders relaxed, she looked up, and my daughter started opening up.

I had to exert myself to not cry, honestly. I knew I wanted her to feel a sense of belonging. I always associated this with being "normal" in a way I just never quite felt, although I stayed at age-appropriate grade levels throughout my life. I was so relieved and pleased to see her feel that sense of belonging, even for a moment . . . That same day, the radio was on briefly and there was a talk about loneliness and its toll on our health. I don't think it was a coincidence.

Personally, I would rather have a few really good friends than a whole slew of kinda-sorta-friends. I'm not the type of person who needed to be popular or have a lot of people around to be happy. However, I believe it's extremely important to have a place, however small, where you feel like you fit. I love that we may have found a place like that for our daughter. I found some parents that I enjoy, as well. I hope you have a happy, meaningful weekend of relating. Then again, sometimes a silent solitary retreat sounds fabulous, as well ;)

Isn't it Cute?

This afternoon, our daughter was making lots of kissy noises and baby-talking to her new favorite things. I've seen kids do this with puppies, dolls, etc. While our daughter might do this with a dog or other cute animal, she would never do that with a doll. I never expected her to do this with a swampy-looking jar, either.

Today was very exciting because of a class for homeschoolers at a local museum. It was a three-hour biology class, which is not what I'd choose for pleasure, personally. To my girl, though, this is bliss. She came home with a plastic bottle that had been converted to a seed growing kit and microscope-of-sorts, telling me all about the worm she selected and worrying that it wasn't going under the dirt quick enough. "Maybe it's scared of me. You don't have anything to worry about with me." The last sentence was in baby talk. They also made aquariums with large canning jars, some sand, small stone gravel, a water plant, 3 small snails ("that I got to choose and put in there," like the worm) and "two baby shrimpies" that the teacher put in for her. Her favorite part? The shrimp. They were the recipients of many kisses through the jar, although they look like something that should be scrubbed out of the jar in my opinion.

We spent at least two hours listening to all that was covered in the class. What sticks out most a few hours later is the part about the yeast. To "wake them up" you get them "a little wet" and "then they start farting and pooping and it smells really bad". I had been picturing bread dough, and I'm sure they used dried yeast that is used in bread recipes. The image might help me avoid carbs for a while. We were also repeatedly assured that fish food was not needed in the aquarium because the got a few flakes to get them started. Apparently, once the food is eaten, the shrimp will start pooping, which will feed the plant. Then, everything will feed everything else in there. That's pretty much word-for-word folks.

Where will the two trophies will proudly be displayed and protected for the foreseeable future? The kitchen table. That will lead to interesting meal discussions as our centerpiece.

This is not abnormal kid behavior. It is her favorite kind of play and one of her greatest sources of excitement. She's not trying to be gross, but simply stating scientific facts in a very age-appropriate way. She wasn't half as excited to hear we are going to DisneyWorld. I think a staff member at her previous school was right when she told me I have a future scientist on my hands. I had a rule with my pre-med roommate that I will have to pass on to my daughter. No science experiments allowed in the fridge.