Brain Power -- and the lack thereof...

The other day the kids and I were driving home after I picked them up from school. Some guy driving in front of me decided quite abruptly that he needed to turn left, so he slammed on his brakes causing me to do the same. It completely startled the kids.

My daughter pipes up from the back seat -- "Whoa Mom! That was crazy! And why didn't the airbag deploy??"

Deploy??? When did my six-year old learn the word "deploy"??? It didn't even sound normal coming out of her mouth.

When I questioned her on where she learned the word -- it should have been no surprise it came from a cartoon. There is a short on the Monsters, Inc. DVD that is called "Mike's New Car". It's quite funny and we've watched it numerous times. They say something about the airbag deploying and apparently, she retained that little tidbit of information.

Little things like this always remind me how much information our kids brains are soaking in all the time. My oldest son in particular seems to have bionic ears and can hear things we are SURE he can't possibly hear -- but somehow, he does and he remembers everything.

I'm almost envious of the kids. My brain, feels like it has gone to mush some days. My memory for certain things is good, but I have become horrible with names and I also don't retain a lot of details from books and movies. Things I know I learned in school escape me quite often too, like certain things about history and geography -- those types of things. It can be frustrating, but I suppose it's my own fault.

I am also COMPLETELY convinced that with each child you give birth to, you deliver part of your brain cells as well. Every time I've added a child to the household, my brain seems to have become foggier and foggier. (And certainly it can't have anything to do with me getting older, right????)

While we're on the subject of smarts...I just have to share the exciting news from our household this week. My 4th grader was invited to join the TAG program at school (which stands for "talented and gifted").

We are SO proud of him!!! This is a child who when he started pre-school had some issues with focusing, fine motor skills and a few other things. They suggested he had attention deficit and his pre-school teacher encouraged me to hold him back and told me he would always struggle if I didn't. It was a very hard decision for me, but I ended up deciding to send him on to kindergarten.

At the time, I wasn't 100% sure I did the right thing and he did end up having some struggles in kindergarten. It was probably when he was about six weeks into 1st grade that it all seemed to click and he was right where he needed to be academically. From that point on he has really excelled. He has worked so hard and I am really so proud of him. I hope you don't mind me sharing my excitement!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday! Enjoy the weekend!