She's a genius!

Our youngest, daughter, Nappy, is one smart cookie. In addition to balancing her time amongst all her siblings and friends, she always has time for her pretend sister, Monica. Today, she told us about her new "pretend sister", Soydid.

I, of course, immediately asked her if Soydid ever told love stories. "Soydid Love Stories"?

Nappy didn't find that any more funny than you did.

But, her newest skill is spelling! After just only two years of speaking English, this kid is actually spelling words! It started with her constantly asking us how to you spell things.

"How do you spell Christmas?"

"How do you spell car?"

"How do you spell nose?"

"How do you spell cow?"

And, on and on it would go, until one of us would start feeling like we were in a solo spelling bee contest, and then refuse to spell any more.

Well, today, as I laid on couch, sick with a monstrous cold, a little voice scooted up to my ear and said, " How do you spell dog?"

"Oh.... I'm too tired to spell," I responded. "You'll just have to figure it out yourself."

"Okay..." she paused. "Dog. duhduhduhduhduh...D! Dog. duh--aw--aw--O! guhguhguhguh...G! Dog. D-O-G!"

"What?" I sat up, a little amazed, "You just did it!"

"Give me another!"

"Okay, spell 'cat'."

And, then she proceeded to spell cat, hat, cap, cup, rat, tub, and paper, among many other words.

We are shocked. However, we really shouldn't be. We were told that kids with arthrogryposis were usually gifted intellectually.

At my parents house, the kids enjoyed playing "The Same Game" on their Tivo. We were shocked when Nappy not only cleared the board, but also kept reading the score:

"Look! I got 450!"

"Look! Now it's 510!"

Okay, no one has EVER taught this kid how to read numbers past 10!

So, now, Nappy, or Dr. Egbert as she currently referring to herself, is amazing us not just with her physical challenges, but also with her incredible brain.


YOU GO GIRL!