Supersmart

In preparation for the move, I had C2 tested for giftedness.

I honestly had no hunch how smart he was until this September, when he suddenly had a switch go on. He started reading voraciously (like me). He started doing hideous math problems for fun (like C1).

Unlike C1, it wasn't obvious right away that he was gifted. C1 was freakish in her ability to conquer skills that most three-year-olds don't have. For example, do any of you know a three-year-old who will sit for hours and do 40-piece puzzles, one after another? Yeah, that's how I worked from home sometimes: I'd edit book anthologies while she was surrounded by puzzles. Three hours, minimum, of quiet.

Not normal.

C2 was very normal. Hyper, active, boy normal.

Then the switch went on.

Don't get me wrong, he's still boy normal. But he's also incredibly good at making disparate connections (something I do, as well). He will just pop out of nowhere with this philosophical stuff, something C1 never did.

So we had him tested for giftedness this weekend. Now I'm wishing I'd done it sooner. They fit him into the class right away. Even though it will only be a few months, he's completely psyched. He's been beaming ever since he found out he got in. He smiled when I dropped him off. He smiled all day, according to C1, who also attends the gifted pull-out program.

"This is the best day ever!" he announced when I picked him up to take him to aftercare.

I honestly have NO idea what we are going to do with him after we move. I suspect a very long conversation with the guidance counselor is in order first thing this summer. The gifted programs in Texas work differently than here, and as best I can tell, he has a long shot of getting in, despite IQ and test results. He needs a challenge, but he also needs to hang with other boys his age, socially.

Parenting is not easy. Honestly, I wish I had a guidebook for this stuff.

And I'm looking at C3 and wondering what freakish skill set she's hiding from me right now.