My daughter is a genius!

Last week I was in Toronto for that Interview I mentioned in a previous blog. The interview was on a Monday, and my sister was gracious enough to let me stay at her place as long as I needed to. So, I made plans for Tuesday and Tuesday morning left early to visit my daughter, a couple hours away. She lives with her mother and maternal grandparents in the countryside between Hamilton and St. Catharines.

I got there and rang the doorbell.
No Answer.

I had already made arrangements, so I knew someone was home. I rang the doorbell again.
No Answer. Ashley must be on the phone...as she usually is when I visit...

I banged on the door a bit to try get someone's attention and I heard some noises within. I heard the door unlatch and saw the slightly bedraggled face of my once-beloved wife, seemingly perturbed for interrupting her phone call. As I made my way in and down to the family room, she returned to her all-important phone call. Must be the boyfriend.

I had a gift for Kaitlain, but she seemed not to recognize me. Not as her father. Not as a friend. Not as anyone in particular.

This really hurts. My own daughter.... who showed more recognition in the first three months of her life when we lived together... can't even recognize me as someone she should know.

*sigh*

A few minutes later, as she always does, she warmed up to me, and became my friend.
She ran and fetched something from the corner, out of sight.

Oh, a book? For us to read?

She quickly pointed out a few objects in the book and ran back to put the book back, returning shortly with another book.

Oh, another book! What can you point out in this one? Oh! The Moon! That's right!

I took out the camera I had borrowed from my sister to take some pictures and fumbled around with it to figure out how to turn it on. Eventually, I figured it out and snapped a couple pictures. Ashley was nice enough to take some time out of her busy television-watching schedule to demand her passport and birth certificate. I replied that I didn't know where they were.

The nerve! She asked for the snowboard I gave her back, and I gave it to her. She asked for this and that back. And I've always brought them for her. Here I am, unemployed, waiting for my first disability cheque (going on over three months since I was approved and not a penny in sight), I ask for the ring back to help me survive, and she refuses to let me pawn it for survival money. And now makes more demands on me?

In my brief lapse of attention, Kaitlain had taken the camera from me and was turning it on and off! She had figured out in less time than it had taken me, how to turn on and off the camera! And from the few times I snapped her picture, she already knew how to jam it in my face, right way forward and up, and all!

I took it back and shoved it quickly without thought into its leather case. Without having to be shown, she took the camera, removed it from its case, and turned it on. No sooner had I realized this than it was shoved in my face again, ready to snap a closeup of my nose! And then she put it back in the case.

Now I don't know any standards for development at different ages, but I'm pretty sure she figured out the proper orientation and the fact that the camera fits into its leather case at all in record time.

My daughter is a genius.