An appreciation of beauty.

There is a phrase that Ainan says a lot, particularly recently. Perhaps you might like to guess what it is? He uses this phrase to describe things in the world and he says it with a quiet reverence. I find its use most revealing of who Ainan actually is.

Please have a guess. It is the same phrase over and over again. He doesn't say it repeatedly, in a day, but I might hear it once or twice a week, when he encounters something that makes him react that way.

Have you made your guess? Well, the phrase is: "It's beautiful!". He says it with such quiet intensity, that I know, for sure, that he feels the beauty of what he is seeing. He says it spontaneously and not in response to a question.

I first noticed this, a few months ago, when he was reading about Circumzenithal Arcs and Circumhorizontal Arcs - which are both rainbow like atmospheric phenomena. He said: "It's beautiful!". I perked up at that, because it wasn't a scientific reaction to his reading, but an aesthetic one. Thereafter, of course, I started to pay more attention to whether or not he was responding aesthetically to things and I came to observe that such a response in him, was rather common. Ainan really appreciates beauty.

I find this interesting. It goes along well with the mathematicians and scientists of old, whom I have read referring to equations as "beautiful". They usually say this when something is clear, simple and effective. So perhaps they are actually responding to "elegance". Nevertheless, I find it tantalizing that Ainan should share an aesthetic appreciation of phenomena with these names (whose names elude me!) of old.

However, I should point out that Ainan's appreciation of beauty goes beyond that of the scientist's purview, into that of the artist. He notes as beautiful such things as the glint off a sword, in a picture, a building, or a car - and not just scientific phenomena. He is, therefore, responding to VISUAL beauty.

I wonder at this. Is there an artist in Ainan waiting to come out? Will he prove to be a more balanced type of creative individual - one both artist and scientist? This repeated phrase of his is a hint that he may very well become so - for he has a definite aesthetic response to the world and that, I propose, is one of the more powerful signs of a nascent artist: first comes the artistic appreciation of the world and then come the artistic creations. Without the appreciation of beauty, to begin with, there would be no drive to create artistically at all. There are other hints, too, in him...but I will leave those to other posts.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
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The best colour in the world.

Fintan has a favourite colour: you'll never guess which it is.

The day before yesterday, Fintan came to me holding a blue bicycle helmet in his hand. I had already examined it, with Tiarnan earlier and knew that it had a missing fastener. It needed replacing - either the fastener or the helmet.

"Daddy...", he began, his eyes searching mine, his tongue searching for the right words to approach the issue, delicately, "Can you buy me an orange helmet?"

"OK...we will do it this weekend."

Unusually, though gratified by that, he didn't seem content.

"Daddy...", he began again, measuring the size of my indulgence, inwardly, "Can you buy me a new bike?"

Now, a bicycle helmet, I could handle, but I wasn't prepared for a new bike: the old one still had the mandatory two wheels and that was good enough for me.

"Why?", I probed, realizing I couldn't see why he would need a NEW bike, when the old one was not broken down.

"Because it is not orange."

Ah. I see. I dwelt on his words for a moment or two, in silence.

"Can I have an orange helmet and an orange bike, Daddy?" He repeated, no longer prepared to wait for an answer.

"You can have an orange helmet. But not an orange bike - they are very expensive."

He was silent for only a moment.

Then he came back with a very reasonable tone: "Okaaay. I will have an orange helmet...but use the old bike."

I was warmed by the reasonableness of his reply. He understood and accepted the situation and my imposed limitation on his desires. He is good like that. Fintan is very accommodating. He never fails to understand the reality of a situation when it is presented to him. This makes it a whole lot easier communicating to my newly-minted five year old. (Newly minted because he has just turned five, a matter of days ago.)

This whole exchange is characteristic of Fintan. He has a particular aesthetic outlook, with a strong point of view on aesthetic matters - one which is very much his own, uninfluenced, it seems, by our own choices. He makes decisions based on aesthetic priorities over other considerations. It is interesting to watch a young child so certain of his views of what is beautiful, of what is acceptable, of what is desirable. He never fails to have an opinion on such matters. It seems that there is a nascent artist in him waiting to come out - for the first gift of an artist is a point of view: without that the art would have no personality or individuality. Fintan, at least, has an aesthetic point of view.

This is not our only brush with the colour orange recently. It looks like we will be living in an orange world for some time to come.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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The beauty of a car

Can a toddler see the beauty of a car? Is it something that communicates to the very young and unformed? It seems so.

Today, Tiarnan saw a red Ferrari in Orchard Road. It was parked off to the side near Borders. He was running at the time he spotted its sleek curves. He immediately halted and stared at it for a long moment. Then he did something both strange and sweet. He approached the car by the passenger side door, stretched out his arms and pressed his cheek against the car door.

He was giving the Ferrari a hug.

I rather wish I had had a camera: it would have made a good moment to capture.

He stood with his arms and face against the car door, communing with the beautiful machine. Once he had done so to his satisfaction, he parted and began to run again, his greeting fulfilled.

So, the beauty of supercars is apparent even to a toddler: the carefully crafted aerodynamic lines of a sports car are aesthetic even to a toddler's eyes. It was a special moment to see him respond so to such an adult thing, as a supercar.

Now, of course, I have to wait in dread for the moment he asks for a Ferrari, for himself.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind)

Fintan chooses his colours

Today Fintan, three, dressed as a Power Ranger to go shopping with us. It is a normal occurrence in life with Fintan, to be accompanied by some variety of Super Hero. He prefers the attire of such people to his everyday clothing and will change out of his school clothes in the afternoon, after school, and slip into one of his Alter Egos or true identities. We, of course, accept this without question.

Anyway, today he was a blue, yellow and white Power Ranger. That was not what I thought was unusual. What I did notice was two straws that he had selected, somewhat earlier. He had been given the choice of many colours - and what did he select?

He chose yellow and blue - in shades that perfectly matched his outfit. He then joined them end to end to make a kind of sword in blue and yellow, that co-ordinated perfectly with his Power Ranger costume.

It was a small touch - but one that captures Fintan's outlook very well. He is not only fashion conscious - but he carries his personal aesthetic over into everything he does. Even the choice of a straw is made against the backdrop of how it would look with what he was wearing at the time.

One day, his wife is going to be very happy to have a man who can advise her on what she is wearing!

I am becoming more and more convinced, as the months pass, that Fintan will be some kind of artist. He already is in his way of looking at things - and it peeps through in much of his behaviour. He makes choices and does things that could only arise from conscious aesthetic decision-making. They are choices that would only be made if his thinking were along aesthetic lines, following some internal sense of taste. It is very interesting to watch this growing in him.