Who is the Smartest Child in the World?

Someone named William James Sidis, according to Google. Enrolled in university at the age of 11. IQ of 250-300. Probably really fun at parties.

I went to the ceremony for awards for last year at Eve's school this morning. Eve wasn't feeling well but she dragged herself out early because the band plays before each grade's awards.

I always have trouble taking a decent picture at these things. I have no good excuse, except that she's like the third student and by the time she's up I haven't really seen many other people do their thing yet. The principal even told everybody to take their time because they've earned it, and they didn't need to rush across the stage or rush the picture-taking. I still only got two shots where she was still fixing her hair and trying to position the paper correctly. I was also trying not to block the student photographer who was taking everyone's picture - this was new this year, and maybe they got a better shot than I did, although no one's figured out how we're going to access those photographs yet.

After that it's just a long wait while a few hundred more students go across the stage. A few cute/funny moments - one kid, wearing a suit jacket, took the principal's instructions to heart and strolled across the stage like he had all the time in the world. There were two twin boys who both got honour roll, and one went across and off and then when the other was on the stage, the principal gestured for his brother to come back so the mom could take a picture of both of them. The brother hesitated and it was mayhem for a moment, and then everyone applauded until the first one came back. One girl scowled across the stage and then sneered at her poor mother who was trying to take her picture and it was hugely uncomfortable. Most kids were dressed pretty casually - one girl was wearing a short one-shouldered white knit dress and I felt uncomfortable for her but felt kind of disappointed in myself for feeling that way. One Asian girl was dressed like an animé character in a tiny yellow plaid skirt, yellow crop top and huge platform boots and I envied her confidence.

A girl named Rosie came up. She was in Eve's class many many years ago in elementary school - grade one or two - and it made me remember one day close to the beginning of school when I had picked up Eve and we ran into a group of girls and got all tangled up and I grabbed Eve's hand and circled her around Rosie and said "ring around the Rosie" and felt terribly clever, except it wasn't Rosie so then it was really embarrassing. This made me realize how strangely long I hold onto embarrassing memories, even when the embarrassment is slight and no one else would have remembered it five minutes later.

Eve wanted to come home with me because she was feeling miserable but she had her play audition scheduled for lunch which was a few minutes after her grade's awards, so I came home with the friend who drove me, walked Lucy quickly and went back to get Eve.

Eve says she doesn't really care about the crappy stage picture because she didn't even know the woman handing out the medals and certificates. We took a better photo when we got home. She's wearing ripped black jeans because she needed black bottoms for band and she didn't want to wear her skirt because she was auditioning for a male character (whoo-hoo, backwards Shakespearianism) and she only has black pants with rips in them.


She earned a ninety average last year while playing basketball and having a medium part in the school musical, which meant she was rehearsing five days a week for a good portion of her second semester, which was the more difficult one. I'm not going to say there weren't tears, but she got the job done. 
She's not the smartest kid in the world. But she'll do. 



Comments

Ernie said…
I hate the awards thing at our kids' junior high. They honor kids and then re-honor them at 8th grad graduation if they are an 8th grader. Overkill. Congrats to your daughter. Our high school just had their musical last weekend. It is always staggering how well done it is. I cannot for the life of me figure out how these kids get school work done AND do the play. My kids usually do a sport each season and it is a lot to juggle with classwork. I also find that when they don't have a busy schedule they piss away their time and forget how to manage it properly.
Congratulations to your daughter. I hope the audition went well!
Nicole said…
That’s really a great accomplishment! Fantastic job Eve!!

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