We have a picture-book version of "Jabberwocky," which we've read often enough that sozlet's mostly memorized it. (Though she also reads along -- she's done that scary transition, and is reading like crazy now. She's burned through the reading groups at school and is now a "group" of one, doing advanced reading). After we recited the final (also first) stanza together last night, sozlet exclaimed, "the guy who wrote that is a genius!!."
... and she's right of course. This young critic sure knows a genius when she sees one.
My father some years ago had an operation on his brain to relieve some form of pressure caused by a bacteria. basically it formed a puss filled sack inside his skull that pressed on his brain.
Anyhow one of the after affects is intolerance of noise at certain levels and pitches/tones.
Is Sozlet reading the rest of the "Alice" novels too, or just the highlights like Jabberwocky? I think I remember you saying that Alice was a big hit with you when you were about her age. It would surprise me if she disagreed.
squinney wrote:flushd wrote:Sozlette is cool. Can I borrow her for a while?
Sorry. I get first dibs.
Get thee behind me, wimmings!
Perhaps Sozobe can send Sozlet around the world in a package instead of the hamster.
I suspect the postage would be a tad higher.
:-)
When sozlet was about four months old, I wrote:
Quote:She rolls tummy-to-back, too, which she had found much less interesting and so didn't really do, until she figured out that rolling is a great way to cover ground!! I sometimes leave her on blankets on the floor of her room for a bit while I do other things, and had my first "WHERE'S THE BABY!???" moment recently. I came back into her room after a couple of minutes, looked at the blanket where I had left her, and she wasn't there!! Momentary panic, then saw her about 3 feet away, grinning up at me delightedly. Best I could tell, she rolled over completely (back to tummy to back) at least once. This has happened a few other times since. Always feels like the chair or TV mysteriously repositioning itself - I'm so used to her staying put!
I remembered that when trying to figure out how to describe her surreal reading jump. She's reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" now. She's reading EVERYTHING. It's insane, I'm really not used to it yet. She's reading over my shoulder when I compose emails and correcting me. I'm having to be really careful with A2K (which is annoying, actually). She does this with almost every developmental milestone -- threatens to do something incredibly early, then lays back for a while, and then WHOOMP, she's suddenly a pro. It's so disorienting.
Very cool though, to be sure. I'm not complaining.
I remember that with my older son, J. He didn't talk until he was 18 months old, but his first words were a full sentence. I'll never forget his first words. He walked over to the refrigerator, pilled on the door and said, "I'm humgry. I want something to eat." You could have knocked me over with a feather. From then on he talked, not like a baby but like an adult.
Aww. Is that the one who's a scientist?
E.G. and I were discussing breastfeeding yesterday (a friend of ours is evidently sheepish about continuing to breastfeed past her baby's first birthday), and it led to him making a comment about "except for that guy in the restaurant in Seattle." Sozlet was like, "eh?," and so I told her the story about how we went out for lunch when she was very little (6 months old I think), and she got hungry. I got things ready, and put the lightweight pareo I used for privacy over her. Problem was, she HATED it in there. She wanted to be able to see what was going on. So she kept executing this maneuver where she'd fling herself backward, dislodging the pareo, and look around, upside-down, exposing my boob for the world to see. (Before I grabbed some cover.)
At the same restaurant was a guy with his 10-11 year old son. The son was interested, the guy was pissed off. We didn't stay long.
Anyway, after telling her the story, she said, "Ya know, ever since I was born, I just want to know about everything! I can't STAND mysteries."
We mused that she might be a scientist when she grows up, she heartily agreed.
He's a pharmacy tech. Not exactly a scientist. He was actually an English major. J was always very verbal and read at a very early age. Just picked it up by being read to, I think. I remember him reading the real (not the Disney) Winnie the Pooh on his own. If you recall, it's a devilishly funny book. He would lay on the floor reading and giggling for hours.
This just happened on another thread, about annoying things kids do:
sozobe wrote:<corner of table barely touches kid's knee>
OWW!!
OW OW OW OW!
MOM! Can't you see I HURT MYSELF?!
OW OW OW OW!!!
<mom kisses "owie">
Thanks.
<kid bustles off like nothing happened>
then
sozobe wrote:(Uh-oh. First time this has happened, knew it would. Sozlet read the above and is MAD at me. "That's NOT how it happened!!!") (And now she's reading THIS and giggling... time to go do something else I guess...)
So after that I got up and we were running around and wrestling and stuff and then she said "OK, now you have to stop
blabbing about me on A2K!!" I said, "Completely? I just can't talk about you?" She thought about it and she said, "I guess it's OK if you do, like, the longest fart ever story and stuff like that. But don't BLAB about stuff like you just did!"
I think I'll be writing here more when she's in bed...
Good lord, how old is she?
You have lots of passwords on the computer, right? (It's just a matter of time now...)
sozobe wrote:Anyway, after telling her the story, she said, "Ya know, ever since I was born, I just want to know about everything! I can't STAND mysteries."
We mused that she might be a scientist when she grows up, she heartily agreed.
Has she discovered detective mysteries yet? When I started reading, they were the first genre I got hooked on. Typically, some kind of (pg-rated) crime would happen; the detective (the same in every sequel of the mystery series) would interview the suspects; one suspect's testimony wouldn't check out. Your job as a reader was to figure out whodunnit. These puzzles mesmerized me. Sozlet seems to be a prime candidate for reading these stories, and she's entering the age for them just about now.
Sozobe wrote:She's reading over my shoulder when I compose emails and correcting me. I'm having to be really careful with A2K (which is annoying, actually).
I told you I'm looking forward to her upcoming thread, "Sozobe stories".
DrewDad had this idea, it's a good one. I'm going to ask sozlet these questions, too:
HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHOM TO MARRY?
Who's a really good friend.
WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
Hmm, about... 35. Or 30.
HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
Maybe if they're holding hands. Or if they're wearing a ring.
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
They're both very very smart.
WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
Dance.
WHAT WOUL D YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?
Hmm, this is a hard one. I guess I'd ask the DJ's to play some more romantic music. [I laughed] What, it'd probably help..!
WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
<giggle> I just don't know that one. A date.
IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
Married.
HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?
The human population would grow tinier and tinier and tinier.
When we were doing that, sozlet asked me to post this picture that she drew today, of the Very Hungry Caterpillar. (She knows that stuff that I post here ends up in the annual "Sozlet Stories" collections, and she really likes those collections.)
A couple of other recent drawings:
Portrait of E.G. (commentary by her teacher):
Koala:
Love the lipstick on the cheek!
I think it's just supposed to be a pink cheek... a bit low though.
