Stories like this always blow me away! Hanni, just turned 4, knows words like "diurnal" and "instability" and "cephalopod," but she can barely put two puzzle pieces together. Brains really are different!

This one takes some time to properly set up, so feel free to skip to the last paragraph if you like:

DD7 has been taking guitar lessons for about 7-8 months now. DW and I were inspired by that to learn ourselves, so I bought us our own instrument, but DW hasn't touched it since the first day I brought it home, because arthritis in her hands has prevented her from forming proper chords. I suggested she try the keyboard instead, but the idea hadn't really caught fire with her.

I've already had significant exposure to music (choral), so I've moved ahead pretty quickly with the guitar, and I'm always helping DD practice, showing her some things she hadn't seen in class yet, etc. Meanwhile, DW has sat on the sidelines, watching us both progress, and I guess this slowly fanned that ember within her. This month she determined she was going to learn keyboard, and picked up a beginner's book. After maybe a week she gave up in frustration, and decided she just didn't have an ability to learn it. But I had looked at her book the day she brought it home, and I already knew the problem... she was basically expected to be fluent in reading music on day one. It bears mentioning here that DW had zero exposure to music, except as a listener, and a little bit of church singing. I told her she needed to use our guitar books, because they break down the staff into smaller, more digestible chunks. There are three notes on the first string you learn, with some exercises to practice, then three on the next, two on the third, and so on. They take a similar approach with rhythms, different keys, chords, etc.

So, Sunday morning, I grabbed a guitar book and the keyboard, and brought them to DW. I gave DW a quick description of time signature, a measure, and how many counts are a whole, half, and quarter note. Then I flipped the book open to the first exercise, with three notes. DD7 came to see what we were up to, and she hunted down a Sharpie to write the note names on the keys (they'd been written before, but DD and her friends played it so often they'd been rubbed off, and DD didn't need them anymore anyway). I left to buy donuts.

When I got back from the donut shop, DD7 was observing as DW played "Ode to Joy," which is a more advanced exercise from the second lesson, involving six notes, which DW was reading for herself. DD's magnetic board was lying on the bed, full of things she had drawn out to help explain various points. DW was really excited that she was playing actual music, and she was gushing with admiration, not only for how well DD demonstrated her own deep knowledge of the concepts, but also for DD's demeanor and ability as a teacher.

Hi, I am new here and I posted a new topic earlier about trying to find out if my 2 yr 8 mo is gifted. Anyway, I thought I would share this. We were at a grocery store when a woman's cart accidentally hit me. My daughter immly hugged me and said," mom, come here to me. Friends cannot attack family. I am your family. I will protect you." I am so proud of my little girl. I know she had been trying to figure out for herself the whole concept of family and all others, ie friends.

I know you all will appreciate this brag, it's not really something a lot of people consider brag worthy for a five year old.

Bear has finally started brushing his own teeth, spitting and rinsing! He hasn't gotten it down yet, but he's actually showing initiative!!! It gives me hope for the potty.

He has also finally moved away from a bottle by his bed at night to a sippy with water!

A bit more common brag, Wolf(7) can now do an almost perfect cartwheel and a free standing head stand!

Wyldkat, I love the brags on Bear (and of course Wolf)!

DS8, doing an ALEKS topic on equations involving logarithms, gets a "Your answer is incorrect", which it is, because his calculation has given him a spurious solution (one that would have made the original equation involve the logarithm of a negative number), and he has entered it without noticing.

Me, perhaps slightly patronisingly: Remember, you can't take the logarithm of a negative number.

DS8, more patronisingly: Well, you can in fact, it's just that the answer is complex.

He has met Euler's identity, but we're confident that nobody, and no book, has ever talked to him about anything closer to this statement than that.

How's that for a wibble-brag?!

As usual, not quite sure if this is a brag, but I know you folks will "get" it.

Wolf just asked to borrow the second World History textbook, the State History textbook and the US History textbook to read over the summer...

That reminds me of my DS, although he has more of a scientific bent: Darwin, George Mendel, genetic engineering...

DD3's reading stamina and endurance are continuing to improve week by week. She read 40 pages of an early chapter book to me yesterday (half of a book leveled 2.6.) All by herself. Only taking small breaks between each chapter. And, tonight she read me 40 pages of another book (about half of a book leveled 3.0) straight through. 40 pages seems to be the magic number here right now. It is kind of crazy. She seems to be just memorizing every single word she comes across and reading almost strictly by sight now.

DD7.5mo said her first word about a week ago.

I thought she said Mama, and I was having a proud mommy moment until I realized she was saying “milk.”

Now she says milk when she wants to be fed.