Well, that settles it, then. Ghosts I can believe in, but talking animals? Poppycock.

Imaginary friends (no, not you)
 

I never had one, nor did the missus. But our oldest, at 2, would talk to Jo-gi for hours. i'm not sure if i live in a part of the country where a Jo-gi might have lived........Oldest is now a soccer referee*.

* this is a Politics board reference.

Maternity Clothes
 

Jesus wept.

[Note: I will not make a habit of posting here. I assure all of you]

Imaginary friends (no, not you)
 

The Wonk Princess had a number of imaginary friends when she was younger. There were Ronald and Mercy Mercy Me, both ducks who visited her on rainy days. There was a cat named Glagla, who often incited her into mischief. In addition, on occasion, our dog Max taught her inappropriate vocabulary words.

The Wonk Monster did not have any imaginary friends. His imagination and creativity are about equal to his older sister, though. I don't attribute the difference to anything more than kids are individuals. Unfortunately, it seems to be a trait they lose as they get older.

Maternity Clothes
 

Your time shall come.

Father Of Mine
 

Please. Dad just pretends he doesn't know any of us. But Mom says that I look just like him, and he always sends me a birthday card with a five dollar bill.

Have you told the little grinch about your imaginary friends?

Imaginary friends (no, not you)
 

My friends' daughter had TWO imaginary friends (for the life of me I can't remember their names -- oh wait, one was "Ginger" and I believe the other one was "Mary" -- rather random I suppose...)

Anyway, Ginger was her "bad" friend -- the one who spilled the milk, who made messes in the kitchen, etc.

Mary was the "good" friend who helped Alison (friends' daughter's name) and was generally just a swell pal. Alison had these friends from about age 3.5 to age 5 (more or less). She's 7 now, and I haven't heard about Ginger or Mary in a long time.

NannyGate
 

Don't know if this situation's already been resolved or not, but fwiw, I think you should give her fair warning as another poster suggested, i.e., get more interactive or you're gone in two weeks. It gives her an opportunity to get motivated, solves your notice problem, and gives you time to interview other nannies just in case. I wouldn't worry about her working during that time since Nanny loves VietBaby. Reliability and trust are not the issue, she's just not an outgoing and creative caregiver.

Hope you find (or already found) a good solution.

Ally

Imaginary friends (no, not you)
 

My early-to-mid-teen has an imaginary friend, apparently.

When ALL of the food in the house gets snuck into his bedroom right before bedtime, and when all of my good shirts (that now fit him) end up in his closet, and when the good, no-kids stereo is magically set on his station, and when little bro's underwear is hanging from the top of the chimney, and HE DIDN'T DO ANY OF THAT, and when girls he SWEARS he doesn't know call here all evening long, well, all I can figure is, he's got an imaginary friend.

A real hell-raising imaginary friend, too. I pity his parents.

nice trick
 

L'il Ty, who is three, got The_Lorax for Xmas, and we have read it most days since then. We got it for him because he liked The_Grinch so much. The last few days, he shows off by reciting the first page -- At the far end of town, where the Grickle Grass grows, etc.

So yesterday, he recites the whole thing. I'm not going to tell you that he did it perfectly, but Oh. My. God. I can't believe he can do this. Is this normal?

nice trick
 

When I was in school I took child psych for four weeks. The only thing I remember from it is that an astonishing number of preliterate kids have photographic memories. I don't remember the exact figures, but maybe one in twenty or so. From an evolutionary standpoint, this makes sense --- such people would have been extremely useful and powerful in pre-literacy days, and we shouldn't be astonished that every town had a person who could recite "The Odyssey" from memory after hearing it a few times. Now, we find this stunning, but back then it was just something that some people could do.

However, the skill impedes reading development, because you need to "clear" each letter or word from your memory as you comprehend it, or the pictures all start to overlap. Very few people retain photographic memory skill after learning to read; those who do call it more of a curse than a blessing, because a true photographic memory means you're not able to let bad memories go or fade, ever, as most of us do.

Try showing lil' Ty pictures, then take each one away and ask questions about what he saw. It helps if you lay the photos flat on the table; many kids with this ability say that they can "see" the picture on the table even though you removed it, and they have to mentally "splash" or "shatter" the picture on the floor by "pushing" it over the table edge.

ETA: Apparently, calling it "photographic memory" is discouraged. The preferred term is "eidetic imagery." A college paper on eidetic imagery, which reports the incidence between 2% and 15% of elementary age children.

nice trick
 

Interesting, but also remember that part of Seuss' charm is the cadence, the rhyme, etc., which would aid in retention. (Gatti Jr. does this with pieces of "Oh, the Places You'll Go.") So, what Ty's describing might be the result of eidetic imagery, but it might also be aural.

Regardless, it's sometimes startling to experience your kid doing that.

nice trick
 

The memorization is quite common, but I don't think the length of the book is.

You are now about to face a very tough decision: do you focus on developing these natural talents, and help your child along with their oral skills (a lot of poetry, a lot of "told" rather than "read" stories) or do you try to force reading, probably breaking down some of these skills in the process? I think Atticus is right that when it comes to actually reading you'll see some of these skills broken down by that process - but the question is, when do you start pushing reading.

There is a hot debate about whether letting kids fully develop oral skills before forcing them to read will ultimately benefit their ability to think and to comprehend what they read. My experience says its a good thing, and really celebrating this stage in their lives before moving on both will be a pleasure and will pay off.

nice trick
 

And also remember, the Seuss partisans are the currently out-of-favor "whole language" school.

nice trick
 

If eidetic imagery is limited to pictures, I guess that would require lil' Ty to be able to read already. Duh. Maybe there's a different phenomenon for "fabulous aural memory" and I missed that class cuz I dropped child psych.

nice trick
 

Ah. From the name and your example, I thought you were discussing the processing of visual input only. You mean I'm actually supposed to read the linked articles you post?

nice trick
 

The "duh" was directed at me. The linked article did limit eidetic imagery to, um, images. Who woulda thunk?

Which means that whatever Ty's kid is doing isn't eidetic imagery.

nice trick
 

My kids each had their own book with which they did this, at about that age.

Like me, you have brilliant kids. Savor the moment. Soon, they will be filling their pockets with peanut butter, for "later", and this will all be a fond memory.

nice trick
 

FWIW, most scholars think that (i) the Odessey was very likely originally composed, and isn't a "transcript" of an actual oral epic, as it is usually understood to be in undergraduate lit classes, or even if it was based on one or more oral versions of the story that were floating around, someone went through on writing it down and thoroughly rewrote and edited it, and (ii) generally epics, poems and stories in oral traditions were probably never recited the same way twice, though they are all rife with mimetic tricks to remind the tellers what came next.

This is largely based on observations of both pre- and post- literate cultures that have surviving oral literary traditions, but also has significant support in the actual transcribed oral texts we have, where the mirroring or doubling of events and characters indicate that people were changing things all the time and others were trying to make sense of having heard differing versions, all without too much success.

Certainly "memory" was understood pre-enlightenment (at earliest) rather differently than it is today, and the same value wasn't placed on getting things exactly right. In fact, memory was usually thought to have a creative, generative aspect to it, and rote memorization had little value because it did not generate new ideas. I'm not sure that it is so much a matter of "reading/writing degrades innate memorization abilities, so widespread literacy has decreased our great feats of memory" as "the ancients weren't literate so they developed quite sophisticated formal methods of encouraging memory which we don't bother with any more (ever tried building a memory palace? It's a fucking chore), and had rather different ideas about what was meant by "memorized" and/or "the same."

edited to add: sorry to bring my pedantry to yet another board, but, hey, atticus mentions these subjects and I just can't resist!

He's already interested in reading, and spots words like "the" and "of" and points them out.

Reading too much about this stuff goes against my whole theory of parenting, which is not to get very involved in what the experts say or what the benchmarks are, and to try to give him lots of challenges and positive reinforcement.

nice trick
 

I've never heard of those figures before, but that is interesting. As you describe it, I had "eidetic imagery" while I was in grade school. It helped me on tests, because I would study and then be able to recall a picture of the page in my mind. However, that skill seems to have long faded, without me really noticing -- until I now merely have a good memory for detail (but a bad memory for names).

S_A_M

P.S. No imaginary friends, but my sister did while she was in the low to mid single digits -- "Sheekelshosh" and "Frilly Franzy" -- I was nver interested enough to determine species or gender.

Oh The Irony!!
 

ROTFLMAO. As I pondered on a Friday last week how magnaminous I should be in warnings, notice and severence, Nanny was squirreling away her belongings so when she left that night, I wouldn't notice them gone. Yep. Didn't show for work Monday and same for the rest of the week. That's when I noticed the macrame basket and moisturizer gone. She called Thursday to say, "Maybe you should get someone new" (Um...you THINK so?)

Water under the bridge; no hard feelings. She didn't like being a Nanny and maybe she was simply too chicken to give advance notice. (Though maybe she was looking to get canned and collect unemployment). Some notice would have been nice as it was a difficult week ("Mom? Help!") but I'm $500 richer and have a new person that started today.

(Actually, I had her start yesterday and I went to see Cold Mountain - my first movie in over 1 1/2 years!).

VietMom (matinees; what a decedent luxury!!; thank you Dr. MLK)

http://pbskids.org/boohbah/noflash/patterns/humbah.gifhttp://pbskids.org/boohbah/noflash/patterns/zumbah.gif http://pbskids.org/boohbah/noflash/p.../zzzingbah.gif http://pbskids.org/boohbah/noflash/patterns/jumbah.gif http://pbskids.org/boohbah/noflash/patterns/jingbah.gif

Oh The Irony!!
 

I don't know if they have them in your town, but the Angelika theaters here have a day dedicated to moms with infants. They turn the lights to not quite dark, the sound isn't as high, and they have changing tables ready. Since the expectation is that you're there with a bunch of other parents, no one really complains when a baby gets fussy. I don't think that the Angelika is only theater chain doing something like this, but you might want to look around.

Oh The Irony!!
 

Wrong end of the country for some people here, but there's a theater in Oakland (maybe the Grand?) that does this.

Oh The Irony!!
 

Well, there's one in the DC area too. Bethesda maybe.

This is how Magnus started out, early in his third year. We would let him read all the words he knew (a, and, the, so); sometimes we would pause at the end of a page and let him fill in the word. He read traffic signs (slow, bump, stop, speed 25, etc.). By 2 and 3/4, last May/June, he was honest-to-goodness reading. At his third birthday party, he read his birthday cards (including the hand-printed parts) to the assembled guests. Now he reads almost as well as my first-grade nephew.

So I guess what I'm saying is, no, it's not unheard of, and no, memorizing whole books won't keep him from reading, and probably very very soon.

Have fun!! We're certainly enjoying it.

tm

Oh The Irony!!
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by viet_mom
ROTFLMAO. As I pondered on a Friday last week how magnaminous I should be in warnings, notice and severence, Nanny was squirreling away her belongings so when she left that night, I wouldn't notice them gone. Yep. Didn't show for work Monday and same for the rest of the week. That's when I noticed the macrame basket and moisturizer gone. She called Thursday to say, "Maybe you should get someone new" (Um...you THINK so?)

Water under the bridge; no hard feelings. She didn't like being a Nanny and maybe she was simply too chicken to give advance notice. (Though maybe she was looking to get canned and collect unemployment). Some notice would have been nice as it was a difficult week ("Mom? Help!") but I'm $500 richer and have a new person that started today.


Then again, I could be WRONG. ha ha Well, I'm sorry you had a difficult week, but glad that you've got someone new. I hope the new nanny works out better. After all, you've got to get VietBabe reading by the age of 3 at the latest, or at least reciting Dr. Seuss poems by heart. ;)

Ally

Bad Dad, Part II
 

OK, everyone gave me some positive reinforcement when I prevented my little greed seed from embarking on an underaged modeling career. But now comes the hard part, and I'm not looking for post-decision reassurance but for input in the actual decision.

A family friend is a director, and at various times (he only sees them every couple of years) has joked with the Greed Seed about being extras in his films. Eldest Greed Seed has always harbored an interest, and we've always told her she couldn't push him about it but if he ever gave a specific offer we'd consider it and think it could be fun.

Here's the problem. He's told us (not yet her) that he does have a specific offer in mind, and it's not an extra. He's thinking of her for a major part in an upcoming film. She would be the younger version of the principal character, and there would be entire scenes built around her character. We don't yet know about filming, and she'd need to do a screen test and get vetted by studio-folk, and it's all still wishy washy, but we need to get back to him as to whether or not we and she would have an interest.

She is a great little actress, ten years old, and it is something she loves. While this may be a premature time for her to enter this world, it also may be the best opportunity she'll ever get. So what would you guys do if it was your daughter?

If you think she's mature enough to handle the possibility that she might not get picked for the part, I say do it (with caution). At 10, she's not old enough to make this decision by herself, but she's also not too young to have a say in it. You're also not being a "Stage Dad" putting her where she doesn't want to be or planning out her career for your own glory, so I think you can avoid the train wrecks that come from that parental dynamic.

It's the parents who put their kids on stage at ages 6 and under that scare me. How can anyone truly say that their kid "loves" it at that age?

Good point. She got rejected for a part in a local production she wanted really badly (and rejected in a fairly nasty way ... but if I go on there we'll be here for a while listening to my rant), and had a tough few hours but was then fine. I need to discuss that one with my spouse.

Am thinking of flying somewhere with the smaller Ty, who is three. Is there a way to avoid paying full fare/mileage redemption for him, short of putting him in my carry-on bag?

you once could drag them on for free, if willing to have in your lap. then you hope for an empty seal next to you. better to spend the bucks for the seat though, if thats an option, since the more room the better for kid control/time passing.

I pursued this possibility extensively a few years back, and could find no way. Used to be, they could sit on your lap, but the new regs require single-occupancy. I think you're stuck.

the seal for entertainment, I presume? Even better, a full seal, with a balancing ball.

He specified an empty seal -- maybe the seal is intended to eat the kid, like Jonah and the whale?

You didn't capatilize first letter in your first sentence. Timmy moment.

His name here is L'il Ty, not Timmy, but we can call him that if you like. And thanks for the suggestion, but he's not sitting on my lap for a x-country flight. It would be hard for both of us to see the DVD player.

Haven't airlines essentially eliminated children's and seniors' fares?

Bilmore, have you looked into the latter?

Reduced Fares
 

If they are under 24 months, you can carry them on your lap for free or (at least on American Airlines), you can get a half-fare seat for the kid -- but s/he must be under 24 months. As recently as a year ago, you could get reduced fares for kids between 2-11, but no longer (again, I'm only talking about American Airlines), which begs the question, why do they ask if there are children between the ages of 2-11 travelling, as they're payin' the same price anyway.

But I digress...