A mother in the eyes of her child.

There is something inherently welcome about the observations of a young child. They are always more direct, more honest and more true than those of an adult. The child has yet to learn discretion and censorship, and has not learnt the value of choosing words carefully, to create an effect. If the child says they see something, then that is what they see: their words are not made for the world, but are of the world.

A few days ago, Tiarnan, three, came into our room, as Syahidah had recently risen from bed. She was dressed in a new well-made cotton night dress.

Tiarnan paused on seeing her, surprise in his delighted eyes.

"You look very pretty!", he exclaimed, "Just like a Princess!"

Syahidah was touched, for she knew that if Tiarnan said that was what he saw, then that was what he saw. His words were not made of idle flattery...but were what he thought to be true.

Syahidah had never worn that style of night clothing before, so Tiarnan was rather surprised to see her in it. Yet, his feelings on the matter were deep ones. Each time he saw her wear that dress over the next couple of days, he would compliment her anew. So, not only did Tiarnan make Syahidah's day...he made most of her week, too.

Thank you, Tiarnan, for your kind words on your mummy...or is that Princess Syahidah?

(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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Fintan resident fashion expert.

Fintan is a sharp-eyed boy, as I have pointed out before. He is also concerned with all things visual - including fashion. The weekend was a case in point.

We found ourselves in a shoe shop, with all three kids in tow. Ainan needed new shoes and kids being kids, we couldn't buy a pair for him, without buying a pair for each of them, too. So, it duly turned into a mammoth shoe hunt with various trendy offerings being tried on.

What struck me, though, about our experience in the shoe shop was how Fintan understood the shoes in the shops. For him, each one was unique. It went like this: "Daddy, those shoes are the ones my friend in K2 wears...and those are the ones my friend in..." He duly pointed out to me the various people in his life that he had seen wearing the shoes of each particular design that caught his eye. It was quite a surprise for me - because I never notice what shoes people are wearing. Fintan, however, had catalogued, in his mind, the things his friends wore - and was able to recognize them, in the shop, as being of a particular person.

To me, this shows two characteristics: a good visual memory - and an attention to detail in his environment.

When I cross-reference this experience to the one of Fintan shouting: "I'm an artist!" while chasing his unwilling art subject brother around the house, I wonder, indeed, if Fintan is, in fact, an artist in the making, as he states, spontaneously. He certainly has the tendency to evaluate the world in a visual way, in great detail.

I have only ever met one other person who could recall what people wore in such detail, before. She was a profoundly gifted girl who ended up working as an art dealer. Thus, if not an artist, I think he will be someone who works around the visual arts. (Though being an artist is actually fairly likely, for him, given the summation of his expressed attitudes and attributes.)

We will just have to wait and see.

(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.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

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.