OK, a little history here....I have 2 children, a boy and a girl. My son (oldest) was labeled early on as having ADHD and anxiety disorder, not to mention sensory integration dysfunction....lovely way to go through life, huh?? My youngest was diagnosed last year with ADD combined type, but so far, it's not really getting in the way of her schooling. Back to my son....he has ALWAYS been a deconstruction expert and LOVES science, so it just seems natural that he would try different experiments, right??
In kindergarten, he wanted to do something for the science fair, and that project came about after hearing him whine one too many times, "WHY do I have to brush my teeth????!!!???" Yep, that was his project/experiement. I did a similar project - in 5TH GRADE!!!! SO he came up with different things to soak teeth in, a wonderful oral surgeon in Harrisonburg had teeth we could use (gross), and off he went.....right to first place for his grade (go figure).
In first grade, he decided he didn't want to do a project, and second grade was already filled with enough stress (long and completely separate story), so by the time he finally chose a topic, it was too late to get started. Ok....this year, as SOON as we got notification of the Science Fair, I made he make the decision about entering. He opted to do an experiment, and I told him he had until the end of the week to come up with what he wanted to test/prove.
Ok, so he wanted to do "something" with bacteria, and "something" with cleaners, so those ideas got combined into "What cleaner kills the most common household bacteria?" Off I went to order petri dishes and agar so that we had testing supplies....first round literally got eaten by the dog because we hadn't put them in a place that was safe from his over-active nose and stomach....second order placed and shipped immediately...started all over again. He wanted to test places that the most people touch...the door knob, tv remotes, telephone,toilet in the main bathroom, and then he decided to test his hands as well. The picture in this post is the bacteria that grew from the swabs of his hands....pretty gross, huh??
Well, flash forward to yesterday: EVERYONE is home because they are all feeling sick...lovely. My son's teacher called me last night when she got home to let me know that there was a PTA meeting and they would be announcing the Science Fair winners at the meeting. SHe also said that if my son didn't at least place, there was something wrong with the judges because his project was outstanding!! Talk about making me feel like a proud mom...lol.
So, I go to the meeting, which is really a presentation from the Cougar Chorus (school chorus, cougars being the mascot for the school), and the first thing they do is announce the Science Fair winners. I jokingly told a friend that I needed to sit up front because I knew my son was going to win...JOKINGLY.....well, joke was on me because they announced that he was the first place winner for the entire 3rd grade!!! Whoa!!! Really, I thought his experiment was cool, but there were others there that were good as well. Since he was home sick, I asked if I could get his medal for him...the entire audience "awwwwed" when I told them he was home sick. We had to bring the experiments home last night, and parents were coming up to me telling me how impressed they were with his project and asking how he came up with it.
Everyone thought it was funny that the only place we came up with to store is was my workroom, so I had to work in the stink for several weeks....yeah, real funny...NOT!!
So...he's entered twice and he's won twice....last night he said he wanted to keep entering every year until he had a whole wall of medals from science fairs....gotta love that attitude!!
So, there's my brag on my boy. My daughter, well, she's still sick, but she just blew me away as well - she was reading "The Gingerbread Man" to herself in a different room....she's 5...only 5...still in preschool....and she's also doing addition already!! I think I'm in for a LOT of trouble when they are older...if they are this smart now, .....oy!!
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