4yr old: Mummy when will I be as old as my big sister?
Me: In 8 years you will be as old as she is now
4 yr old (wailing): But I don't want to DIE!!!!

Also quite regularly:

4yr old: Mummy, when will I get to go on stage and hold the microphone?
Me: When you are in school you will get a turn too
4yr old: Mummy, why is everyone looking at me?!?!? Make them stop looking at me!!

If and when you discover a way to get them to stop, please let me know. I am reaching my personal limit.

MumOfThree, that reminds me of what DD said yesterday:

DD: So I have to be a teenager to learn to drive?
Me: Yes, I believe you have to be at least 16. Why? You want to learn to drive?
DD: Yeah, so when you die, I still can get around.

DS3 when he encounters a new word: "Unexpectedly, Daddy, I don't understand what you mean by ----. Can you please explain it to me?"

And

"Unfortunately, that word is not in my vocabulary, Daddy. What does it mean?"

Our piano tuner comes in (who sometimes attends our quirky church that seems to attract free thinkers, retired professors, teachers and doctors) sizes up our living room (piano, dulcimer, chess boards, art/ building projects, numerous books, field guides, binoculars, etc.) Tunes our piano, then sets down without any prompting at the table and teaches our daughter a lesson on chess strategy. Grabs his bag, coat and heads to his next appointment.

I do not miss the "Jackson Pollock" phase! What a mess.

The librarians commented once about dd, then 4, checking out 30,000 Years of Art from the library (we literally wore the spine out). "There's naked people in there."

I replied, "Yep and it's all I can do to keep clothes on her. She couldn't care less." They know her now and just roll with it.

At 9, she still loves and appreciates art. When she was 8, we took her to a "gallery town" and she was entranced, spending two days going through good quality galleries.

We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house this year. DD4 is mostly a vegetarian. We had carefully prepped DD about not saying anything about other people's dietary choices and we thought she understood but apparently, she didn't. Next year, we're having our Thanksgiving dinner at a vegan restaurant.

This was one that completely left me stunned. I thought my daughter was joking but she was not. I bought a different kind of Microwave popcorn this time, and it's the kind that you tear off the side and it makes a bowl instead of opening at the top. DD10 completely freaked out and couldn't figure out what she was supposed to do with it.

Me: "Just read the directions and pop it like normal then open it like it says."

DD10 went off and put it in the Microwave. The directions said to pop for 2 to 2 and a half minutes. She came back and complained that not all of it was popped.

Me: Did you read the directions?
DD10: yes
Me: how long did you pop it?
DD10: 1 and a half minutes
Me: So you read the directions you just didn't follow them?
DD10: This whole bag is confusing! Who opens the bag from the side? How am I supposed to trust the instructions if the bag opens the wrong way?

I love the side effects of the gifted. Yes she is adjusting slowly to the different popcorn. Wonder if I should switch back or if I should stick with it now that she's figuring it out.

Similar story: A few years ago, when they came out with new Oreo bags that open from a pull tab on the top (instead of at the end), the child who was working three years above grade level in math could not figure out how to open a bag of cookies.

I got my DH a card on the occasion of his oral qualifiers in grad school-- it was a Far Side card, with a young man pushing with all his might on a door.






The door was marked "Pull."



Right below the inscription on the window that prominently stated "Institute for the Mentally Gifted."

I usually think of that card on occasions like that. Luckily, everyone in our household has a pretty good sense of humor about it, but there really IS something to it when your over-powered brain just plain runs over some aspect of reality, which then grabs an axle and hangs on while you spin in place.

I was thinking about this earlier in the week as I read the thread re: telling time and getting in one's way with an assumption or belief that turns out to be completely incorrect. It can be SO hard to switch gears when it feels all wrong. LOL!