What's your child's gift?

Here is the picture I sent in to Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby contest, so you can give up, no more entries are being accepted since they saw him. sorry guys (I am kidding of course, well- sort of, they are still accepting entries but its just a formality at this point!) If he gets selected, ahemm excuse me, when he gets selected I expect everyone to vote for him the week of March 9th. I mean who wouldn't want to see this face on TV and Magazines??? This was his Nana's idea but I agree with her.

I sit here on a Friday afternoon exhausted and happy too. Although doodle will not quit going through pullups and the house smells as a result! Most of you know doodle is not my baby so changing her is no fun whatsoever. (I am not sure if that is supposed to be one big word or not?) Anyway, I am happy we get to get up and watch TV in the morning but we have baseball and softball evals so we can't slug around too late. Please pray for me as I will have three playing ball and a baby plus doodle to tote to the games. Still not sure how I am going to do this but I am determined to let them play a sport this spring. I loved Soccer last year, the three were on the same co-ed team and it worked nicely with baby in a carrier. But this year he is all over the place and so unsatisfied to be stuck in a stroller. He has the most stubborn attitude any baby has ever had, I promise!

I am happy also because my big boy received a permission slip to be tested for the gifted program!! I know this has nothing to do with me or else all my kids would have gotten one but it is nice to get a happy testing in addition to the, "we aren't sure what your daughters issues are" testing notices! I am not talking about doodle their. Poor baby D she doesn't get tested for anything unless you count repeated vision and hearing tests which she did fine on after the ear infections and such cleared up.

So I want to share with you that I feel like I am living in a little science experiment on Nature Vs Nurture. I have 4 subjects with nearly identical environments and variables, same mom and dad, house, age, food, temperature, opportunities and grandparents! So it has certainly shown me that nature has a lot to do with it since I feel like I have 4 very very different kids. I do think they are all bright in their own ways, really. They are all four excellent readers, I think I may have helped with that since I love to read and like reading to them. But other than that, they each have surprising things about them that are terrific. I am sure that all kids have something special about them but I wonder how many go unnoticed because they are not considered traditional gifts? Ever notice how some kids are very intuitive and empathetic? Even as kindergartners, or a fabulous sense of humor. Creativity, memory, and a caring personality are all special gifts as well. I hope everyone will look for the gifts their children have, even if they never get invited to join the gifted program. I hope I will remember that should my son not "pass" whatever tests they put in front of him. He is already gifted to me as are the other 4, baby J's just remains to be seen!