My Daughter Is A Genius

I began this day by coming to realize something that I will share with you.  It is in no way meant to be taken as boastful, for I am simply stating what I have finally come to know as fact.  So... here goes:

My Daughter is a Genius!!!!

For anyone who knows me, you may be thinking "the old broad has finally lost it" or maybe a little more nicely "how can a soon-to-be two-year-old be a genius, you fool?"  But I will have you know that I surely have not lost it, and it is very much the truth.   No, I have not had her tested.  No, she has not written any sonnets or made hugely impressive scientific discoveries, but I still hold fast to my claim of her genius.  

I watched her this morning as she brought a penny to me while I was drying my hair.  She didn't eat the penny she found, she didn't stick it in the electric sockets nor did she give it to her baby sister who would have been all too happy to have a breakfast of copper with Abraham Lincoln.  No, she picked it up, brought it to me and said "no money in the mouth, Mami."  What a genius!!!!  Yes, I realize that is a basic skill that you could train most monkeys to do (in sign language of course as they cannot vocalize like we do), but to me it was brilliance at its best.

I put it to you that this 23-month-old wonder holds more intelligence than most adults I have come across in my (yeah, I'm not going there with a real #) years on this planet.  I contend that all parents out there of these amazing little creatures we call "toddlers" should just give up and realize that their children, too, are comprised of pure genius. They are wonderful and absolutely amazing little knowledge leeches that I find myself in complete awe of numerous times throughout my day.

She knows, 8, now 9, now 10, now 15 different colors. She is adding to her vocabulary at a rate any grown linguistic major would be jealous of.  As an adult, I have had a practice of  always thanking God for something I have learned throughout the day. Each night I sit, often TRYING very diligently to think of something new that I have added to my knowledge base.  She is adding items so rapidly that the pictures of her brain's synapses look like the sky on the 4th of July. She is putting together multiple complex ideas that are new to her and then applying them in unison successfully throughout her day.  Not to mention doing all of this while also dealing with the fact that she has absolutely no say whatsoever in what goes on EVER in her life (with the rare exception of the few times that I might actually give in to one of her demands that she "Watch Bear Potty right NOOOOOOWWWWWW!")

Imagine with me, for a moment, that you were sitting at your desk, working on a very important project that is due in just a few moments and you still have several tasks to do to complete it (this is what my genius is doing when she is stacking her blocks one on top of the other ever so gently as she utilizes her newly learned dexterity and digit control).   Now imagine your boss comes up and scoots your chair out from under you, flings you under his/her arm leaving behind your project, your briefcase and every chance you have of finishing your project.  Your boss, tosses you in to the car, buckles you and then informs you that you are going to be riding along while he/she goes grocery shopping, drops a letter off at the post office and then eats at a restaurant that has absolutely nothing you particularly care for at it.  OH.... and your boss wants you to ride along and be a part of all of this without complaint.  Yeah.... I don't think so.  But my little genius, for the most part, is happy to comply with things such as this as I tear her work apart to clean up and head out for my day of errands. She has coping skills beyond that of anything I can imagine (because if my boss did that to me I am pretty sure I would end up behind bars before the day was over.)


It is good to take a moment and look at our kids and appreciate them for all they do and who they really are.  I appreciate that my little lady is going through changes and a rate more rapid than she will ever at any other time in her life.  I appreciate (and am quite frankly a little jealous) that she is learning something new every few seconds and that she is using that knowledge (for the most part) for good.  I love the fact that she is becoming a very capable young lady at the ripe old age of 23 months and I certainly adore the fact that she is, indeed, a genius!!!

Now if you will excuse me... I have to go rescue my genius who has her giant head stuck in the arm of her sweater :)