Actually, it is just about that bad! I saw the original post but didn't have time to reply then & forgot about it. My background is engineering, not math, and I'm fairly sure that the mathematical background would have been covered in an early grad level course on complex variables and analysis (whatever the exact name might have been, the course was required of all engineering grad students). I don't *think* that it came up formally before then, but I wasn't exactly the best student. Though, it's funny because I think the concept was used earlier, with natural logs anyway.

So, yeah, that's worth wibbling over!

Tonight my daughter (about 32 months old now) was scribbling on a notepad. I was prepping some dinner for the kids nearby. Conversation ensued something like this:

"Mommy, don't break my papers. Be careful with them."
"Ok, I will be careful, but I don't think they will break, since they are papers."
..works a few minutes more..
"These are my notes!"
"What are your notes for?"
with much gusto "My presentation!"
Laughing, I said, "Your presentation? What is your presentation on?"
She did not have an immediate answer but we decided it would be on how to be a good big sister.

I'm in grad school and recently had to put together a project and presentation. I never discussed it with her that I recall, though I may have told her not to touch the printed stack of articles I had or something similar. ?

LOL. It reminds me of the phase my DD (4 at the time) had where she kept presenting DW and I with scribbled sheets of paper and declaring, "This is a contract. You HAVE to sign this contract!" We never did sign, because we suspected it was unreadable on purpose, and there was always a lot of white space for things to be added later.

mountainmom2011's post reminded me of this one time when my 2yr5mo daughter and I were at the Library info desk and I was asking the librarian to look up a book on her computer which she said she could not find. My daughter interrupted and said," If you cannot find it, let us go look for it." LOL.
Another funny event I was reminded of after reading Dude's post was when I was getting ready to go overnight for a conference and my daughter pleaded with me not to leave her and go. I said," But I am presenting". She said," Mom, I will give you presents." I said," But I am going to be on TV." She said," Oh, come on, mom! Be on TV at home." LOL. She was 2 yr 7 mo when this happened. She cracks me up for sure.

DS2.5 had his play tools out and was banging on some boards. I came to see what he was doing and he told me with a serious little face, "I'm working, Mama, I can't play with you. Go play by yourself."

I overheard a conversation my 5 year old son was having with another kid while waiting in line to get into preschool class. They were arguing about how many seconds it would take to do something (I forget what). The other kid says it will take 4 minutes. My son replies immediately, "No way, that would be 240 seconds!"

My brother who's a 6th grade math teacher came to visit this weekend and likes to quiz him. He asked him what -12 + 9 is and he answered correctly. I had no idea he even knew about negative numbers. He then went on to teach him exponents.

Your brother is amazing! Wolf was doing negative math on his own at 3 or 4. Amazing what they figure out isn't it?

My dd10 heard a song at a talent show that she liked on Friday called "The Show" by Lenka. She bought an iTunes card on Sunday, found wifi to download the song on her iPod and learned all the words. On Monday, after homework and school and ballet, she taught herself some of the piano. On Tuesday, she asked grandpa to come over after school, homework, ballet class, and a softball game to show her the piano parts she didn't get. She watched him figure out the song and on Wednesday she could play and song together with all the chord changes in perfect rhythm and time and she sounds great! She has never taken voice and only took piano for a year when she was six. But iT was mostly just reading music.
I am so proud of her skill, but mostly I am proud she has found something she could follow through on! Yay music! Funny. She was the one who asked to quit the piano lessons!

DS3 demanded to know why people can drown in water when it has oxygen in it. I explained lungs and gills a bit, but it was hairy, I don't really "get" this stuff yet chem still escapes me, generally. Fast forward to breakfast time. Long conversation about why you can't/shouldn't put out a gas stove fire with water, Canada's eternal flame comes into it, then that weird gas vent with the river on top. Finally, the child appears satisfied... Now immagine a breathless mama thankful for a break in the questions. Wait for it...

DS: "Mama, how do[es] water put out fire if it has oxygen in it?"

Mama: crash. and. burn.

I never even thought about that.

So, I guess I'm bragging that my three year old broke me before breakfast hit the table

That's hilarious, Michaela!

(So why can't you put out a gas fire with water?)