Time to brag

I debated putting this on the blog b/c I didn't want to sound like I was bragging but then I read my friend Tracy's blog and she said she needed to brag about her kids. Since I enjoyed reading how well her kids were doing, I figured other people wouldn't mind reading about how well Georgia is doing. I already mentioned that she's saying new words all the time, counting to 3 now (and then making up words for 4 and 5), "reads" constantly and knows her animals and animal sounds. The 'Parents as Teachers' lady was at our house this week and I told her all the words that Georgia knows and all the things that she's doing. The lady gave Georgia an empty milk carton and some wooden clothes pins and showed her how to drop them in the hole of the milk carton. Georgia immediately took to it. It was a little hard at first getting her hand turned to the right angle to get the clothespins in but she never gave up and played with the toy for probably a 1/2 hour. The PAT lady said that she isn't certified to determine this but her gut feeling is that Georgia is gifted. Based on what she's observed over the past several months, she said that Georgia has been consistently performing at several months ahead of her age. She said that her attention span with the clothespin game is a sign of higher learning and that most kids her age would have given up more quickly. Even though this lady isn't certified to call Georgia gifted, she has a daughter who went through the gifted program, went to college early and graduated with 3 degrees in 4 years. She's aware of the signs of giftedness and this mom (I) think that's good enough for now. Ben and I have always thought Georgia was smart but it sure is rewarding to hear an educator say it.

Here she is counting. She just started saying "one" the other night. In this video she doesn't quite say "three" but some days she says it better. "Four" and "five" however sound more six and seven so we still have to work on that.

What's new this week: She can correctly identify the pig, zebra, donkey, cat, pigeon and goose in her books in addition already knowing the dog, duck, cow, penguin, goat, horse, lion and elephant. Tonight Ben taught her the sound of a pigeon and she's really pretty good at it. She knows what "hot" is and when Ben drinks coffee she says hot.

Every day she says a new word, not always using it on her own but sometimes repeating after us. I'm trying to remember what all she has said in the past week so that I can document her development. The PAT lady said it's important to document all of this for when she gets older and goes through screenings. So here's what she has said this week: Cheese, Matt (Ben's brother is in town and we got her to say his name), Kitchen (we tell the dog "kitchen" b/c that's where he's supposed to stay and now Georgia has picked up on that), Hot, hand, up, eye and mouth.

And since I'm bragging, what I'm most proud of is Georgia's loving personality. She doesn't know a stranger and she's not shy about going over to someone she's just met, handing them a book and turning around to sit on their lap. She gives out kisses, AND eskimo kisses, to anyone who asks for one. She walks up to new people and puts her arms up for them to pick her up and then she starts questioning them "wats-zat?" She is such a sweetheart and we are so lucky to get to enjoy her every day. There's no better reward than those first few seconds when I pick her up from daycare and she smiles so big, runs over to me and gives me a big hug. It's unconditional love and I know that no matter what happens from 8-5, I can always count on that smile and hug at the end of my day.