Showing off

Anyone who doesn't want to hear about how wonderful my daughter is, should leave now. Look I'll even give you a link to Google, so that you can leave quickly.
I warn you - show off mode is about to be turned on.....

Still here? Oh well, don't say you weren't warned!


LA is remarkable. I'm her Mum and obviously I'm going to think that. But she is...honest!
I remember when she was born, a friend of ours took one look at her and said "She's been here before this one". Obviously I thought she was bonkers and changed the subject, but over the last 3 1/2 years, those words have frequently revisited.

LA is remarkable. She knows things she shouldn't. She knows things we have never told her. She knows things and she knows she knows them.

She has always surprised us with her knowledge. She has been able to write the letters for several months. She is teaching herself to read. She knows her numbers up to 100 and beyond. She knows what ingredients you need to make a cake and biscuits. She knows different types of flowers and trees. She knows so so so much.

But this morning was amazing.
She was happily typing out my shopping list on the computer. I had just told her we needed milk, when the phone rang. When I returned - she had written "milk" and was waiting for the next item.
I looked for her older siblings (where were they? Hiding on the stairs?) who had obviously told her how to spell "Milk".
No, they were both at college.

She is a sponge, absorbing the word around her silently and without comment most of the time. She surprises me so much with her knowledge and confidence. I know that compared with reading and learning to write, managing to spell the word "Milk" without help isn't really remarkable - but the confidence she does it with is.

I don't believe that she "has been here before", it just doesn't fit in with my belief system. But I can see why people would believe that.

It makes me realise how right our decision to home educate her is. She doesn't need a teacher, she can manage without.
I don't remember seeing this innate desire to learn in my older children, but maybe, sadly, I just wasn't looking.