TV is educational.

I was walking home with the kids a couple nights ago and I asked them "How are we going to get up the driveway? It is covered with a thick sheet of ice."
Vanessa quickly responds: "Woddow"
Me:"What?"
Vanessa: more clearly "Waddle like a penguin."
So that is what we did. I thought that was so funny. I know that she learned it from an episode of Dora. But how smart to apply it to this situation. Have I mentioned lately how fluent she is. I know that all parents think their kids are geniuses. Other adults who talk to her will tell me how well she speaks. I am around other kids her age and kids older so I know she does things different. She is very smart. Many of the other kids her age use one word to get what they want like "juice." She will say "I need water, I am sooooooo thirsty" She speaks clearly and in thought out sentences. I asked her if she wanted to take a bath. Her response "Actually, I watch cartoons." When walking down the hall to her Sunday class she looks at me knowing where we are headed and said "Mommy, I will cry" I felt bad but she went right in and asked me "You come back later?" When I ask her if she is done doing something like coloring she will answer "I almost done" then she will finish up and put them away.
She loves reading books and can name all the animals in the Martin/Carle books. You know the books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? She can tell you the animal that will be on the next page before she sees the pics. Animals like spider monkey, water buffalo, peacock, walrus. leopard. Her favorite is the Hippopotamus. She got a blue stuffed hippo from Kimber that she now carries all the time and won't let anyone else touch. When we get to the page in the book that has a picture of a blue hippo we have to say "Vanessa's Hippopotamus, Vanessa's Hippopotamus, what do you hear?" It's cute.