My daughter, 7, tested into independent science this semester and gets to choose a long term project. She consulted with the teacher last week and decided she wants to compare the calls of Eastern Bluebirds with a certain kind of blackbird (I can't remember the name). Unfortunately, there is no information about blackbirds in her school library, and oh, by the way, she doesn't mean crows or ravens or red-winged blackbirds. And, no. She will not switch the project to a bird that is readily studied and for which we can find info.

This year for Halloween, she's going to be a crow. Not a raven or blackbird. And she's busy designing a beak that is an accurate shape.

Her recent bird fascination is all the more weird to me because wolves are her passion and she is constantly doing research on wolves!

syoblrig (sorry, birds are one of my DD's special interests)--no bird guides in the library?

I can point you in the direction of some kid-friendly bird stuff if this turns out to be a long-term thing...Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a great website.

I second the recommendation of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. My DD spent a lot of happy hours there when she was 4-8yo.


Today, in discussing some quip that my DD14's faculty mentor had made while teasing her and another member of the research group, (something about shutting up and drinking the koolaid, in relation to an IRB document or something) DD remarked..

Sometimes Dr. {Mentor} reminds me a lot of you. I just can't decide if I should find that comforting-- or terrifying.



{snickers}

That's definitely adorable!

This really tickled me! I love the little foodies here!

Aquinas - the amusing thing is that rosemary is high in salicylate and she's thus never eaten it in her life! She's rarely even seen it used (we only use it when making lamb for adult guests).

Anecdote of the morning.... Eldest DD comes to visit me before I get up, coughing all the way, first words: "I can't get above an A in a C major scale!" She's trying to explain to me how sick she is and why she shouldn't go to school.

My dd is not only a gifted child but a HUGE Star Wars fan. She is wanting to go as a Jedi for Halloween (break out the sewing machine). Anyway I have been searching for stuff for her costume and found some boots that I think will work. I showed them to her and she was VERY excited. It dawned on me my preteen daughter was not excited because the boots were cute or something girly like that but that they look so much like JEDI boots. She says she will probably wear them to school without the costume too because they are cool.

Does she have the "Darth Vader and Son" and "Darth Vader's Little Princess" books? DD7 is obsessed with them at the moment. They are pretty simple reading, but the humor is awesome -- each page is like a Far Side cartoon, practically.

What's funny is that she's never even seen Star Wars -- she only picked up on it from Angry Birds! But I'll be surprised, given the current obsession, if she doesn't end up wanting a Jedi costume or something Star Wars for Halloween.

Speaking to preschool teacher for DS3...

Teacher: he loves to pretend to read to the other kids.
Me: He does read fluently.
Teacher: It's almost like he can! Any book we pull up, he remembers the story -- word for word!
Me: He actually can read.
Teacher, laughing: He sure makes it look that way, doesn't he!

Lol. There are none so blind as those who will not see... Next time you see that they've put up a new adult-directed notice, lift him up and let him read that. Not that I've btdt or anything :-)