we have a shop here called the pumpkin patch, dd wanted to wear a dress from there because well it was a pumpkin patch dress.

Our eldest wanted to be a disco ball one year.

Not quite three, DS vociferously declined be a scarecrow, but I did suggest he wear his red waterproof jumpsuit and yellow raincoat ("in case it rains"), his pull-on red puddle jumper boots ("in case it's muddy), and his firefighter helmet (because he liked it). At the doors, when people said "what have we here? Oh, a firefighter!" DS solemnly corrected them: "No, I'm NOT a firefighter, I'm DRESSED as a firefighter"

Fast forward 20 years, DS is a theater major. Not a method actor, apparently.

DS was a Mini Cooper this year, which luckily is the same thing he was last year. DH took a rubbermaid bin and cut a hole in it and then attached wheels from an old stroller and made a windshield out of an old trash can we had. It's adorable and pretty sturdy! A little heavy for a little 3 year old though. I'm hoping he'll be good with wearing it next year too.

NotherBen, my son is also a little thrown off by dress-up. I think he's a little worried that his disguise is too good? Or just wants to make sure everyone has their facts straight...

Readermom, like many gifted kids, DS is passionate about truth. I think that's why theater appeals to him, it's a way to reveal the truth!

aquinas, I have a story to share with you, now that your DS is going through a human anatomy phase.

DD fell on her knees one day at a park. It wasn't a bad fall but she seemed to be in pain so I made the mistake of telling her if the pain doesn't subside, we might have to take her to the doctor. For a few days, she kept on insisting that she couldn't walk and wanted to be carried around everywhere. I was skeptical since I caught her walking a few times when she thought I wasn't watching. Still, after 3 days of limping and hopping, I took her to her pediatrician's office and his partner was working that day. He was speechless about DD (3.5 back then) going on and on about how she felt radiating pain originating from a spot located beneath her left patella and that she suspected a possible fracture. He asked me if she was really 3 and I just nodded.

After seeing her limp around in her office almost in tears, he ordered a x-ray and we had to take her to a children's hospital that's out of the way because, well, they are more used to children.

As soon she was done, she started walking just fine and asked me with a huge grin, "When can I look at my x-rays?"

We pay 20% co-pay.

My DS10 is TV obsessed right now (animated Star Wars, Marvel etc.). They have a project in his class at school about Native Americans, and he was assigned Inuit (which I thought he would love) to do a report on. This morning he told me he thought Native Americans were boring (which I do not agree with at all, in fact I am so into this project I have to hold myself back from obsessively researching the Inuit myself.) So I asked him what he was interested in right now, fully expecting to hear about something Star Wars or Marvel related. Instead he said he wanted to learn more about genetics....

LAF - not to get serious in a quirks thread, but might he have the freedom to combine the two topics? There's lots of great possibilities, such as what we know about where humans originated from and migrated to, based on genetics of populations - where did the Inuit come from, how do we know they crossed the Bering Strait during an ice age, etc. Or unique health and disease patterns in the Inuit that relate to shared genetics? Or to get really serious, issues that genetically-isolated populations have with researchers loving to use them as guinea pigs for all sorts of genetic-tracing studies, and maybe how this kind of research can be done well to benefit the health and well-being of the studied population? I could go on - as you can see, I love genetics too!

MichelleC - fantastic idea!

When she applies the mathematical "rule of isolation" to the election turnout discussion. And then insists that you post it on this thread.