Calliope, 14 month old wunderkind, has taken her already well established precocious climbing skills to the extreme this month when she discovered that she could relocate step stools for better access to things she would like to explore. Pair that with her love of light switches…Her new favorite pastime is to wait until I am sitting on the toilet, and then climb up and flick the light on and off to her hearts' content. Oh, and did I mention she can open doors?
Using the restroom has become a strobe experience.
Really, though, she is the most thoughtful, compassionate little kid…she goes out of her way to help wherever she can…she spreads jam on bread to make sandwiches, she puts things away, she DEMANDS to share whatever treat she has…she gives great loving nudges (and says "nuuuuuudge!") as she loves. She just exudes love. She LOVES!!! and it is wonderful.
Hazel, 3 year old wunderkind, has already begun writing. She will still ask for spelling help, but if you tell her which letter comes next, she can write it down, legibly. It is incredible. And WOW if she doesn't have some serious musical chops-the kid can sing exactly on pitch and belt with the best of 'em. (Seriously. We took them to see Frozen and bought the soundtrack the next day. It has been on repeat for the past couple weeks and she attacks Let It Go right along with Idina.) Sharp as a tack this kid, she doesn't miss much and makes fabulous deductions. She has recently begun asking about slavery and jumps into discussion about why people do things-bad things, good things- the heart in this kid is epic, and her brain matches.
Cadence, 6 year old wunderkind, has burned through about 10 boxcar children books, a bunch of play scripts, at least two other independent chapter books and I don't know how many American Girl books in the last two and a half weeks. She ads and subtracts two and three digit numbers, and then asks for harder problems. She can do basic multiplication and division, and even wandered into algebraic territory when she realized that it was possible to have negative numbers. She can reason out problems and deduct things like it's just second nature, and LISTENS so well. She genuinely tries everything we put to her, and flourishes with it. And she does everything with enthusiasm! Her energy and willingness is unbelievable. She has quickly established herself as a serious student both in our homeschool adventures and in her jiujitsu classes…and oh yeah, she lost her first tooth yesterday! But she already had her gown up tooth there so it wasn't a big deal. Silly and exciting, but whatevs. and she doesn't even have it - she figures she must have swallowed the baby tooth, - but it doesn't seem to bother her much…oh well, she says, the tooth fairy will just have to wait for the next one. She is an amazingly considerate big sister and helper, and stuns me in her capacity and life every day!!
And James, while maybe not a wunderkind anymore, is pretty amazing, too. He is working his dream job, handling mom's estate, being an awesome dad that the kids totally adore and learn so much from, and instead of being weighed down by all the responsibility is inspired by it. He has kept up with his cycling even though we moved and he no longer has to-now we are close enough that he can ride his bike all the way to work if he so chooses - and he and his coworkers have started doing exercises together during the day to keep themselves accountable and healthy. And there is talk of taking up the game Go during lunch breaks…he has been learning about and acting on things he has wanted to do for himself - from hobbies to lifestyle choices to medical stuff- and it is wonderful to see him flourishing.
They inspire me so much, every day, in so many ways. I love them all so much.
