Background music: "Benjamin Franklin flying his kite
Was searching for...Electricity, Electricity."

"Benjamin Franklin is on the 100 dollar bill." Sophia exclaims.

"Yes. He is. That's exactly right," I say. Internally, I think,"Go school!"

"I learned that from Encyclopedia Brown," Sophia says.

I laugh. Encyclopedia Brown, you go, buddy!

I'm not sure if this is a St. Louis thing or not, but it was difficult to find a piano instructor for Sophia. Sophia showed an interest in taking piano lessons and yet every instructor we talked to said that they don't take any kids younger than 8 years old.

Fortunately we found someone who was highly recommended and was willing to start teaching her. Sophia is enthusiastic about getting lessons and has been taking lessons for about a month. As a former piano student myself, I was very curious what methods are used in teaching young kids. Her music book is interesting and I think it's a better technique than the one I grew up with which I can only describe as "traditional". In hers, it works by numbering the fingers, 2 is the index finger, 3 is the middle finger, 5 is the pinky etc.. Then the music is done by showing the hand positions on the piano and then there are numbers (of the corresponding fingers) next to notes. There is no visible music staff, but there is an implied one as each note position on the page is correctly proportioned above or below the preceding note.

In an effort to keep the enthusiasm high (and encourage practice time), I've offered to record her works so that she can share them with friends and family. The prospect of this appealed to her immensely. So I offer you 4 works played by Sophia and recorded by me.

The first one here is the first one we recorded and I think that the click count-in intimidated her a bit. All the songs are less than 30 seconds long.

Wind In The Trees 440k

Once she got the hang of recording, she quickly recorded these next 3 songs.

The I Like Song 440k
The Doorbell 580k
In The Jungle 256k

Sophia just called me the meanest person in the world. Not for the first time. Because I wouldn't give her candy. That's me, non-candy-giving meanie.

Moments later she said she was going upstairs to read, and I suggested that she go ahead and brush her teeth and get in bed, to save herself the work later. She apparently thought this was a command from high, because she stood in front of me with her hands on her hips and declared,"I'm going upstairs. And I'm going to read. And I'm not going to brush my teeth first."

"Ok," I said, shrugging.

She smiled,"Thanks, mom! Thanks for not making me have to brush my teeth!"

"Oh wait. Does this mean I lose my title of meanest person in the world?"

"Moooooooooom."

"I'm serious. Can I keep my title?"

"No."

"Oh darn!"

"Don't worry mom, I'm sure you'll get it again on another day."

Yes. Without a doubt I will once again earn the title of meanest person in the world. I may soften from time to time, but that mean title belongs to ME!

I asked Sophia today if she wanted to go with me to vote. She said,"Are we going to go vote for Barack Obama?"

I told her that it was local elections, not presidential. On our way into the polling place a woman said she was one of the candidates and would appreciate our vote.

"Are we voting for her?" Sophia whispered.

"Yes, I believe we are," I whispered back.

She's been with me to the polling booth often, but this is the first time I recollect her being quite as tuned in to what's going on. It's delightful. She's for Hillary, of course, because Hillary is a girl.

Just last night Sophia and I went to the airport to pick up a friend who was flying in from the U.K.. After we collected his suitcase and got him in the car, he handed a 50p coin to Sophia and was explaining that they used different money there.

Sophia: So they use different money?
Him: yeah.
Me: Just like when we went to Argentina and we used different money.
Sophia: So what language do they speak in the U.K.
Him: The original English.
Sophia: The what?
Him: The original English.
Sophia: So over there they'd say "Mad Skills" instead of "Mad Skizllz?"

Well, Christmas has come and gone. We all had a great time and are enjoying the time off from school and work.

Before school officially let out for Sophia, her school held a Winter Concert. Here's a clip from the event:

Cribbed from (or inspired by) Naomi Kritzer's post on her daughter Molly.

Things Sophia can do:

• Spell the words beautiful, night and orange


• Read well above grade level


• Make up lyrics to existing tunes that match the rhyme and meter of the song (she also makes up songs with her own tunes, but I find that less impressive than working with the constraints of an existing tune)

Things Sophia either can't or won't do:

• Ride a bicycle


• Take a shower


• Delete things off of the DVR after she's watched them

Also, for the first year ever, she chose things for her own Amazon wishlist. She wants My Little Ponies. Lots of them. She has 23 My Little Ponies currently. We inventoried them a few weeks ago. Soon we will be discarding toys to make way for the new ones that are sure to arrive at Christmas.

This morning on the drive to school I feel disheveled. At a stoplight, I sit up and look at myself in the rearview mirror.

"What are you doing?" Sophia asks from the backseat.

"I'm looking in the mirror."

There are blemishes, and my skin doesn't look too great. I run my hand along my cheek.

"Why?"

"I'm checking out my face...what shape it's in."

"Your face is oval. It's always oval."

I grin.

"So you don't think my face changes shape when I'm not looking at it?"

She laughs. I don't think she's figured out how much joy she gives me.

I knew it wouldn't take long, but I was still somewhat surprised that it's this soon.

The other day I was sending an email out and Sophia was reading over my shoulder. "There is only 1 'm' in tomorrow, Dad." And I had to hit spell-check, but she was of course right. Then today I was making some coffee for a meeting and I had to make a sign.

Me: I wonder if there is 1 'f' or 2 in coffee.
Sophia: 2.
Me: That was quick. How can you be so sure?
Sophia: Well, I imagine the sign for Starbucks Coffee in my head and that's how it's spelled.
I checked the spelling against the coffee can, and again, she was right.

It's official. In our house, I can only out-spell the dog and cats. And maybe Oz actually has the edge on me. I really need to work on this.

I don't get to put much in the "Milestones" category these days. The first word, the first step, the first this or that of the early years gives way pretty quickly to things much harder to mark. You find yourself saying, "How long has she been using the word 'decline'?" and "Oh hey, she no longer writes Krut for Kurt." but you don't get the abrupt milestones, the turning points, the way you do when the kid is younger.

But yesterday we hit one. I've been giving Sophia an irregular allowance since she turned five. I've been paying her according to her interest in receiving it, so many weeks would pass without monetary exchange. At any rate, I obligated her to put some money aside for savings, and to keep some for spending. Yesterday we went down to our local credit union with what she had in the bucket I told her to put 'savings' into and opened a kids savings account.

She got a gumball at the credit union's free gumball machine as we left.

I told her that getting her own savings account was a big deal.

"That's strange," she said.

"What is?"

"Usually you say that things aren't a big deal."

"Ahhh. That's true. But this is a big deal.

So now my child has her very own savings account, with $86.09 in it. They gave her a piggy bank and everything. She was really excited and intrigued by the transaction register (in case anyone doubted that she was my child, there are my genes: she's fascinated by the transaction register). Today she asked me if we needed to write the date and how much money she had on the register, and I clarified that you only wrote on it when you made a deposit, and the amount of money you had in the bank changed. Then she wanted her allowance, then she wanted to put more than I normally force her to (a dollar, out of five) into the piggy bank for savings (she put in $1.50), then she asked for a transaction register for her piggy bank. I told her she could count that money any time she wanted to, which was not so easily accomplished with the money at the bank, and that's why we keep a tally of what we have deposited over there.

Next week she starts elementary school. She had been visiting the elementary classroom back in the spring semester. As we were walking down the street this week in U. City, she said to me,"When I visited the elementary I felt grown up. That made me happy."

In preparation for school the elementary kids make "Banners of Intention" detailing the things they have learned and the things they want to learn in the upcoming year. We worked on Sophia's for two days. Sophia decorated hers with a sun, a drawing of a horse, a drawing of a dinosaur, a drawing of herself cooking, a musical staff with the first few notes of "Mary had a little lamb" and some flowers. "The flowers can represent nature," she told me,"I want to learn more about nature."

How long has she been using the word "represent"? I wondered.

She is ready (and eager!) to go back to school. She feels happy. She correctly uses the word "represent". She has her own savings account. Really, what more could a parent want?