My Five Year Old is Becoming Smarter Than Me...

You've probably heard or even watched the show, "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" Well, this weekend Matt and I found out we are not even as smart as a Kindergartner!

Last night we were playing Last Word with my cousin Mike and his friend Fred who are here duck hunting. After the game, Fred was flipping over the letter cards and Mesa was giving him names of things that started with the letter. Some of Mesa's examples were: A; apple, E, elephant; M, munching. She was popping right a long and when she got to "O" she said, "obstinate." I looked at Matt and asked if he gave her that word and he said he hadn't. None of us could remember what it meant. So Mesa piped in, "You know it's kinda like bossy." My eyes grew even wider that she had a meaning for such a gargantuan word. When I told her she was pretty smart, she humbly said, "No--not me--my teacheris. She's the one who told me." HA! Luckily, Fred knew obstinate meant something similar to stubborn. While "bossy" might not be the best meaning of the word, it is fairly similar. I looked it up the word for myself and here it is:

OBSTINATE: Pronunciation [ob-stuh-nit]
–adjective
1. firmly or stubbornly adhering to one's purpose, opinion, etc.; not yielding to argument, persuasion, or entreaty.
2. characterized by inflexible persistence or an unyielding attitude; inflexibly persisted in or carried out
3. not easily controlled or overcome: the obstinate growth of weeds.
Synonyms: bullheaded, hardheaded, pertinacious, pigheaded, tenacious, will full

Our conversation while getting ready for church was about compound words. Mesa was explaining to me what compound words were and started naming as many as she knew--luckily I did know this one. :) (She's come home from school before telling me about antonyms and synonyms so compound words didn't surprise me too much.)

About a half hour later, she was daydreaming and then asked me what a calliope was. I told her that I had heard of it, but I didn't know what it was. She once again helped me out with the definition, "You know, Mom, like the piano things." I was floored. She was wanting to remember what one looked like. So we got on-line and Matt and I had a music lesson. Mesa was excited to hear the different songs produced by a calliope. I was "excited" to find out the meaning of a calliope. Here it is:

A calliope is a musical instrument that produces sound by sending steam through whistles, originally locomotive whistles. The calliope is also known as a "steam organ" or "steam piano". It was often played on riverboats and in circuses, where it was sometimes mounted on a carved, painted and gilded horse-drawn wagon in a circus parade.

And here is a link to hear some calliope music on the Mississippi Queen steamboat:
http://www.steamboats.org/whistle-calliope/calliope-mississippi-queen.html

Thank you Mesa for teaching me a couple of things this weekend and thanks to Mrs. Ellsworth for being an amazing teacher!