Future spelling bee champ?

If you don't like hearing proud mamas brag about their brilliant kids, watch out!

Last week sometime, S and R were coloring and Riley showed me a piece of paper on which he'd neatly written "i-L-E-Y." I was excited, but I just helped him write his "R" and then forgot about it. Until Friday.

We were outside coloring with chalk and he excitedly showed me the "R" he had drawn all by himself. Then he wrote the rest of his name. Every letter got a little bigger than the last, but other than that they were beautifully formed--as nice as Sammy's letters, and he's been working on them for a year and a half! And mind you, he was writing with chalk on concrete; not the easiest thing. Even I'm a little messy in that medium.

So here comes the impressive part. He and I were sitting down and I was showing him a few tricks to make it easier to write some letters. Then he turns and writes, "Y-E-L-I-R." He didn't say, "There's my name backwards!" Just, "There's my name." Now, he didn't write it backwards, starting with the "R." He wrote it left to right starting with the "Y," without thinking about it, like spelling a word backwards is no harder than spelling it the regular way. He wrote his name and Tyler's name a few times more, once backwards.

The kid is a genius, I tell you! I have been thinking lately that it's time to start teaching him to trace letters and figure out what sounds they make. Too late for that! Not only can he write, he's got this logical little brain that lets him spell and write backward and forward interchangably.

I adore babies and toddlers and I miss that part of childhood when it's gone. So it's a fabulous thing that we get the excitement of learning and growing up all over again with these little kids. Baby Riley is gone, but now I get to see his unique personality and gifts and talents develop in amazing ways. On to the next discovery!