Friday, April 13, 2012

Goobisms

(For those new readers I've picked up, hi. I use this blog as a kind of journal, so there's ONE PLACE I know I can always find information. Today you're stuck with my kid.)

This is the Goob's current state:
Jeep tee shirt, purple tie-dyed skirt, and the cat. There you have it.

Lately she's having what I call a "brain spurt". Like a growth spurt, but it's cognitive stuff that she's making huge growth in. Her reading is just AMAZING. She's doing sight reading, the important, useful stuff. She'll see signs go past as we're driving, read them, and start telling me how we need to stop for whatever reason. She sees shows she likes go past on the digital TV guide and yell for me to stop, go back, and turn one on. She's officially beyond the sound-it-out phase, at least for common words. This pleases me immensely, because I think reading is THE skill you need for education. Everything else comes from it. (This was brought home to me when I went back to school at age 35 and was surrounded by kids; some had VERY shaky reading skills and it hampered them at every turn.)

I babble.

Anyway.

Along with the reading is other communication. She's been drawing signs.

This was outside her room, to keep me from looking in:

And this was drawn to warn people the kitchen floor was wet:
I especially like, on the left, she's put a little sign-in-a-sign, that looks like the ones put out in public buildings to warn of water. The action of the stick figure is worthy of XKCD, too. Love it.

The other day, we were watching Top Gear. (Top Gear UK, thank you, no American prissiness needed.) If y'all are curious about what I watch when knitting lately? Top Gear. During one show, one of the hosts gets an automatic weapon and fires enough bullets that he knocks down a tree. The Goober makes an "I am impressed" noise and told me "He's a gun lumberjack!"

There's also been epic yard work across the street. Retaining walls built, poured cement steps jackhammered out, all sorts of craziness. The Goob has watched it all with her nose pressed to the window. When they ripped out the shrubs in the front yard, put them in a dump truck, and drove them off, the Goob started calling them "plant burglars".

Sekhmet, too, is watching the action across the street.
And also the finches in that shrub poking up behind the curtain, to the right.

Now if you'll excuse me, my OT guy has decided spinning and knitting are exercise, and as such must be done every day. I have to do at least fifteen minutes of each.

For the first time, OT seems kind of cool.

9 comments:

Jen Anderson said...

Holy cow, the Goob looks like a person! My how she's grown.

Dylan said...

ah brain spurts. They always catch me by surprise! I can always catch the growth spurts but its only after a couple of restless nights and then the demonstration of new skills that I can pick it!

roxie said...

OMG she's all legs! And brains.

Teri S. said...

I follow you on Twitter and am impressed (and amused) by the Goob's "intellectual development". She's a very cool kid.

And knitting and spinning as exercise? I'm on it!

Galad said...

Way to go Goob! Brain spurts are a great thing.

Donna Lee said...

I was thinking what Roxie said. She's all legs! Kids' brains are so fascinating. They pick up new stuff and then apply it in the most interesting ways. I think you are in deep trouble here. She's going to give you and the Husbeast (and neither of you are slouches) a run for your money.

ellen in indy said...

how nice when an o.t. understands what's important!

my first words to mine when i went to her for osteoarthritis problems were:

"i'll do anything you tell me to do except stop knitting."

so she had me bring in some knitting and concluded that it wasn't the source of my problems.

(and i gotta remember "brain spurts" for the next time grandgirl has one.!)

Anonymous said...

LEGS!! She has grown a lot.

Miche said...

I love brain spurts. It's like someone comes along one night while they're asleep and switches a whole bunch of circuits on, and when they wake up in the morning it's like having a whole new kid.

Great fun.