We bought the BBC Life series for our budding biologist. It is AMAZING in HD, coolest thing I have ever seen. She watched the first disc this morning with her atlas on her lap and was constantly pressing pause so she could look up where each animal was from. She asked so many questions, I have no idea how she heard anything that Richard Attenborough was saying.

"How do those birds run on water? Did Jesus teach them?"

"Can I have a venus fly-trap... it would get rid of the houseflies!"

And my favourite "Oh gross... WHAT is that lizard doing to that other lizard????"

I'm going to have to rewatch it tonight after she has gone to bed so I can hear everything I missed.

We've not gone HD yet, but yes, all the David (it's David who is the naturalist broadcaster btw - Richard Attenborough is his brother the actor) Attenborough programmes are fantastic, aren't they? Good thing is there are a lot of them... I think the original Life On Earth may still be the best for overall interest, but the photography only gets better as the years go by. I bought a boxed set for my own birthday, and it was promptly hijacked by DS-then-4, who insisted on me making a list of all the animals mentioned in the first episode. Lots of fun, lots of learning :-)

Oh my gosh....wow! My 21 month old barely talks. I would fall over if he came out with something like that! Unless knowing all of the Thomas trains is a talent, his is still hiding.

I watched the preview for that and thought, "WOW!" Definitely will be getting that one, too. And you're right, it is David Attenborough. I couldn't bear to listen to Oprah on Discovery's version!

Not a super interesting brag here, but I won't be sharing it elsewhere outside the house. DD13 had decent ACT scores, meeting CTY eligibility for both math & humanities. Her scores were below DYS level, just barely in one area, but higher than I expected given NO prep and her impression of the test. (So little prep that *I* had to read the test info to her the night before to make sure she knew how many sections & questions & the rules.)

I'm proud of her for deciding she would try it and for going through with it and doing the test. I'm glad it turned out well too.

I agree this is really something to be proud of. It amazes me how these kids take a extra test outside of school to challenge themselves.

And good job to you as a parent. Somehow you gave her what she needed to do this.

Kathleen'smum -- don't worry, my DYS was barely talking at 21 months, either!

We had a horrible year at school with a teacher who completely did not get my son and really managed to destroy his self-image. Recently we went to a bbq and ran into an art instructor he had two years ago at an arts/science summer camp. She immediately asked me if my son was with me and went on to tell me what a neat amazing kid he is and how she loved the way his mind works. She even starting telling another person nearby about him. My son went right over and they exclaimed over each other and reminisced about how much fun they had that year.

Ahhhhhhhhh both DS and I needed that. :-)

Last week DS 4 noticed an article in the paper titled 'Invisible man wins Democratic nomination for Senate' which was about the Alvin Greene controversy. The invisible man bit piqued his interest and lots of questions about democracy followed as well as a lot of invisible man questions:-) Today he was drawing at the table on old newspapers and he noticed the same article. He called for dad, reminded him of the article and proceeded to read it aloud in full. The only word he struggled with was incumbent. He's been pretty reluctant to read out loud up until now so this is a super achievement. I never thought I'd be sitting here in Australia discussing US electoral shenanigans with my 4 year old!

Not really a brag, but fun to share:

Last night, Chico (just 5, and in the grip of a long-term obsession with space) fell out of bed; I ran upstairs to pick him up and soothe him and pop him back under the covers. Poor little lad, still half-asleep, whimpering a bit with his bumped head, whispered in my ear, "oh mummy, I love you even more than ASTRONOMY--big love, big, big love."

That has just made me happy all morning!

peace
minnie