Little Miss Smarty Pants

I've mentioned before on this blog that my oldest, Sonya, is pretty smart.  I mean I try not to brag about it too much on here or in person, because I don't want to be one of THOSE parents.  You know the kind who talks about how smart they're kid is, when really they are just average kids.  Let's be honest, that's what most kids are, average.  We would all like to think OUR precious darling is the smartest thing ever to walk the earth, but in reality, they are learning things at a normal pace.  Therefore, I was always hesitant to say too much about Sonya, although she was talking in complete sentences by 20 months and knew all of her numbers, letters, and colors by 18 months.  She knew most of that stuff before she even started walking. 

 I didn't realize how ahead of the curve she was, until I saw other kids her age.  They were lucky if they knew the difference between a letter and a color, and that was fine because that is where they were supposed to be.  Then when Lana started getting older I realized it even more.  Not that Lana is stupid, mind you, she's just on the more average intelligence track.  However, what Lana lacks in book smarts, she more than makes up for it in analytical thinking and "street" smarts.  She figured out to take the stool out of the bathroom to reach the candy on the kitchen counter, while Sonya would longing stare at it from the floor.  

Still, Sonya has already been reading for almost a year now and over the summer she started to get the hang of writing.  This is something that has floored both Andy and I, because although we may help her from time to time, neither of us drills this stuff into her head.  We never did.  We've always read to her or talked about colors, letters etc, but for the most part, she is a sponge and soaks everything in quickly.  I am always  amazed when she does something I haven't seen before and didn't realize she could do.  

On Friday afternoon she decided to color and draw some pictures.  Lately, when she draws she'll write words on her pictures.  Most of the time it's her name, "Mommy" or "Daddy".  If she ever wants to write a different word, she'll ask me how to spell it.  We usually go through the word together sound by sound, and she'll write each letter down as she figures out what it is.  This particular drawing session I was in my room changing the sheets on my bed, as Friday is change the sheets day in our house.  I walked out to the living room and Sonya said, 

"Mommy look!"  She picked up her piece of paper she had been drawing on and proudly held it up for me to see.   There on the paper were two words with drawings next to them, "CANDY CORN" and "PUMPKIN", spelled just like that, CORRECTLY.  

"Sonya," I said, "did you write those words by yourself?"

"Yeah," she said nonchalantly.

"You figured out how to spell them by yourself?" I asked in amazement.

"Yeah," she said like it was no big deal.  

"Wow, Sonya!  That's great!  Good job for spelling them right!" I enthusiastically told her.

"Moooommmmmyyyy," she said a bit exasperated, "it was easy! All I had to do was sound them out."

"Oh well, if that's all you had to do then, I guess it wasn't a big deal," I said.  Then I swear she rolled her eyes at me and went back to coloring.  

Sure there are a few kids in kindergarten who are spelling words, but I'm pretty sure most of those words are "cat" or "hat".  How many of them are spelling two syllable words, and spelling them correctly?  And what about "pumpkin"?  I don't think most kids know about that second "p" even in first of second grade. Hell, I'm not sure I knew it even in the 9th grade!  Then again I was always a poor speller.  However, the most important thing to remember here is not only the fact that she's just in kindergarten, but she's still ONLY FOUR!  So that's it, I decided I'm allowed.  My kid is damn smart!  Maybe not graduate from high school at age 12, genius smart, but certainly, AP High School English smart.  So, I'm bragging.  Even if only on here for a minute in this post.  I'll try no to be too obnoxious about it if I see you in person.  Although, my poor friend Julian (hey Jules!) got some of it last night when we went out to dinner.  She didn't mind though, because she's seen Sonya in action and knows I speak the truth, and I'm not just trying to be one of THOSE parents.  Even though, by default I guess I am anyway.  Oh well!  My daughter spelled PUMPKIN!