I read a post on The Educated Liberal in reference to his daughter, Sophia. I have to admit that I have wanted to write about Emilee for some time now, but his post really prompted me to finally do so.
What can I say about my daughter? It’s so hard to incorporate the feelings she stirs in me into words. The word ‘unique’ truly describes her to a T.
Now, I want to clarify that I do not have a favorite child. I love all of my children with everything I have and if you are a parent, then you know that you cannot love one more than another. However, they are all different so you like/dislike different things about them all.
Emilee is 7, her birthday was last month. She has always been advanced in her ability to learn. She was so quiet the first few years, not speaking until she was two. At that time, I thought it was because she may be slow or have a learning issue (or just be hard of hearing which is so often the case in children who speak late). However, upon watching her grow in the coming years, I was proven so incredibly wrong. She excelled at everything she did and still does.
In Texas, we have a pre-kindergarten grade. Aptly named Pre-K. Children who are four go to Pre-K the year before Kindergarten. In some towns this is a half-day grade, but where we live, it is a full day. It isn’t a mandatory year of school, rather optional. Emilee and Amanda started school the same year, Emilee in Pre-K and Amanda in Kindergarten. Emilee always did very well. She loves to learn and she learns quickly. I remember the exact day that I realized she was exceptionally bright. It was the day she came home with flashcards. She had been the winner at lunch for her grade to get a little prize that they were handing out. The prize was a set of addition and subtraction flash cards. She brought them home and asked me what they were. I explained it to her and she was enthralled. She loved those cards. She played with them for hours. I was stunned to say the least and immediately went out and bought her some math books, which she also loved.
A few months later, after mastering addition and subtraction, she wanted to learn to read. Now, she was stubborn, she had to learn. I could see Amanda kind of eyeing her warily as reading was really the only thing she had left that Emilee couldn’t do. Less than a month later, Emilee was reading. In fact, she was helping Amanda with all facets of her homework from then on. When Emilee entered Kindergarten the following year, she was already doing multiplication. I wanted to bump her up a grade so badly. I hate that her mind is a sponge and in the grade she is in, she isn’t getting anything to absorb. Sadly, though, she is in the right grade for her maturity level and our school system is so small that they don’t really have programs for her. Instead, I tried to get her involved in other things. Sports. She did soccer and basketball and now gymnastics. You see, my darling daughter is prone to getting herself into trouble if she is bored. We also do French at home and I have computer games starting from grade one through four. She plays all of them.
