Too Cool For Us

I have always had the feeling that Nathaniel is just too cool to be in our family.  The rest of us have geeky/quirky tendencies which are either endearing or slightly off-putting.  Nathaniel, however, is always funny and always ready with a comeback or witty observation.  He is more self-confident at age six than I have ever been in my entire life.

Cracks are beginning to form in this veneer of cool, though.  The Smith is starting to shine through.  Nathaniel has lately been speaking in numbers.  He looks at a word, reads it and immediately tells me how many letters are in the word.  And then tells me how many letters are in other words.  

Lately, he's been begging to play on the computer before afternoon kindergarten.  Being the big, mean Mom that I am, I make him play educational games online.  Each day he picks a different math game that honestly, I couldn't have done easily in second grade and he as a kindergartener totally aces it.

The best was the other day in the car.  We were driving along and had made three left turns.  Nathaniel piped up from the backseat, "We better not make another left turn or we'll be back where we started.  Because four turns in the same direction make a square."

I realize that this is not earth shattering 'Oh, my kid is sooo brilliant' stuff, but the fact that he's found his niche to let out his inner Smith is very exciting for me and makes me say, "AHA!!  You are one of us!"