Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion The ultimate brag thread

Is this the place to post a funny story? I squished a spider with a shoe in the hallway. Ds (almost 3) asked if I squished a butterfly. I told him it was a big ugly spider. He grins and says, "you didn't sing to it? (doing the hands) The itsy bitsy little spider went up the water spout."

We were watching an old episode of Universe which talked about the creation of craters from the impact of meteorites on the moon. In one of them, there was clearly a hill at the centre of the impact crater which seemed odd to me. When I said that out loud, DS explained, "Newton's Third Law, you know. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." I'm not sure if that's correct, but it made a lot of intuitive sense to me.

Two little brags = one good brag?

Yesterday, dd (4 yo yesterday!) called me "shareful." So, it's not exactly a word, but it was cool that she had figured out suffixes, and it's cool that she thinks of mommy that way.

Clay,
That's very cute.

Clay, I love it.

Yesterday I took the baby and my five-year-old son to the pool. It was our first trip this year. Last year my son was too afraid to even float without an assistive device. This year he started out afraid and it was getting worse, with him folding up and spluttering, until I looked him in the eye and told him that he could swim if he stayed calm, since everyone could, but that otherwise he might wind up an adult who couldn't swim and was afraid of the water.

After that he was able to float. He then traveled around the whole pool holding on to the edge (it has a deep end that he was previously afraid to go into). After that he took a small, unstable paddle board and decided to paddle on his own for the first time ever, going the entire short way across the pool, and even went the length of the pool to the far deep end a few times, the last time with me out of the water. He was completely calm the whole time (I was much more afraid). He also held his breath for quite some time underwater.

He's usually very careful to the point of absurdity, and he was pretty careful in the pool too, just calm and free of fear for the first time. I was happy that he was able to simply think past his fear.

http://www.smugmug.com/IMG4515/939344039_bPhdT-XL.jpg
http://www.smugmug.com/IMG4499/939343418_6CPWZ-XL.jpg
http://www.smugmug.com/IMG4506/939047162_oXJ6y-XL.jpg

lucounu -

Beautiful story and beautiful pictures.

Thanks so much for sharing.

Your son's new attitude is especially poignant for me as I have recently seen my ds6 overcome some insecurities with learning to swim.

Calmness and confidence in the water are HUGE !

Congrats to you both!

- EW

Thank you, and congrats to you too! It was a great day. I was like a fish when I was very young, and I've been feeling bad the last couple of years that I didn't take him swimming enough early on to head off the fear. But as long as it's sorted in the end, I'm happy.

DD2 has been obsessed with letters and their sounds lately, her favorites are S, O and E. She has been asking what sounds they make and how to write them, etc. and repeating them constantly. Yesterday when we were running errands, every time we went past a sign (every 2 seconds) she yelled out which letters she saw and their sounds. She even added D,N and M to her letters of choice!

I'm not sure if this belongs on the brag thread, but your Mr. W reminds me so much of DS13.

In 6th grade, the first month after his gradeskip and school change, a teacher said: 'How would you like a detention?'
Apparently DS calmly pulled out his planner, and said:
'What day would be good for you?'

When the teacher told us this story, he said that he was so flustered that he changed the subject and didn't pursue the detention.

We explained that DS wasn't great with decoding sarcasm, and that it's really really important that the teacher follow through on any threats consistiently. But the end of the year that teacher was DS's biggest fan, but it was rough going. Midyear the teacher said: 'I don't dislike your son as much as I used to.'

DS13 was in tears, sobbing, at age 6 because he wanted to give up his Nintendo Gameboy because we used it to disipline him, and he felt that it was unbearable to be treated this way, and yet he couldn't bring himself to give up the Gameboy. Until this minute I thought that was quite impressive.

My only advice is to praise, praise,praise, in detail and with great enthusiasm, any small hints of obedience or flexibility Mr. W shows. You may also try letting him overhear you discussing his wonderful obedience and flexibility with your wife or family members whenever he gives you the opening. I don't know if this would work, but I figure its worth a try.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

Little man, 22 months, put together a 30 piece train puzzle by himself today. Studied the pieces one by one, no mistakes. His sister and I have put it together for him a few times but he never took much interest in it before. When he was done he pointed at it, grunted, and then did his warped version of Riverdance.