The Boy is Brilliant

Upon entering the house from the brilliantly sunny outdoors, George exclaims on the dimness of the living room. I explain this is because it is so bright outside; our eyes are used to the sunshine, and so the inside seems very dark. In fact it’s not, and in a minute or two our eyes will get used to the light in the house, and we’ll be able to see just fine.

“Just like the swimming pool,” he observes.
I’m not quite sure what he means, though I know he swims at a local indoor pool each week. “Is it dark at the pool?” I’ve missed the direction of his thought, which becomes apparent when he clarifies.
“No, cold.”

Do you catch what’s just been expressed? Read it over again, remembering this lad is only three, and be thoroughly impressed. I certainly was!

George is making a parallel comparison: Just as the livingroom seems dim until your eyes adjust, so the pool seems cold until your body adjusts. This is very sophisticated thinking for a three year old. As if that weren’t enough, there’s more! He is taking two quite discrete physical experiences and is distilling an abstract concept from them. Abstract thinking in a three year old. Amazing. An abstract concept which he can then apply to either of those, or perhaps to still another experience at some other time.

Wow. I have a toddler genius on my hands! Way to go, George!

Half-Day

I took a half-day off this morning to see my lawyer. “Officially” it was a doctor visit, not so that I can take it as a sick day, because I am allowed a certain number of discretionary days per year, but simply for my own right to privacy. A small child support matter, dealt with effectively by my wondrously kind and supportive lawyer. She has yet to charge me for a consultation; when I offered to pay her today, she waved the notion aside, saying it’s a pleasure to deal with someone so nice, and reasonable. She’s very kind: she knows my income! I understand through a friend of mine, whose father is a judge, that she’s a killer lawyer in court, if I ever need that. Fervently hoping I never do, but nice to know just the same!

The consultation took half an hour. I had three hours to kill, so I walked home instead of taking the bus, a lovely 45 minute meander along the canal. The trees are fully green, the tulips are resplendent everywhere, and the sky was a perfect, uninterrupted blue from horizon to horizon. Amazing!

The tots will be arriving shortly, and I am refreshed and eager to see them. Solitude and nature: so restorative!