Who Will Become a 'Super' Artist, The Psychologist

Reese's work was mentioned in an article entitled Who Will become a 'Super' Artist published in The Psychologist, a publication of The British Psychological Society. An interesting read for those with artistic children.

http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_home.cfm/volumeID_26-editionID_231-ArticleID_2348-getfile_getPDF/thepsychologist/1013drak.pdf

NASA Replied!

Few months back, my baby wrote to NASA asking for a piece of Hubble Space Telescope when it falls back to earth. They wrote back!! A few days ago we got a package from them. Reese was so happy and immediately snatched the letter addressed to him and read. It is really wonderful how such a big organisation  is willing to reach out to children all over the world in their quest to promote space exploration.

 Reese's letter to NASA and we posted it via registered mail

A special letter addressed to Reese

In the package was a book and two prints of Hubble space telescope and James Webb telescope

 Reading the book about Hubble 

Beijing and Shanghai 2013

Beijing

We went to Beijing and Shanghai for a week. Reese was the happiest because he got to see the historical and the modern architecture of these two cities. Our first stop was Beijing and we hired a local English speaking tour guide and driver to take us around. Prior to the trip, Reese did his own research about the two cities and as expected, he knew a lot of the historical facts and totally impressed the guides. :) Reese can very well be our tour guide for every time the guide told us something, Reese would have something extra to add to it. 

This trip is part of Reese's homeschooling. It is history, culture, science and architecture lessons for him.  Nothing better than hands on experience! 

The Great Wall of China

Cable car and toboggan ride up and down the Great Wall

The happy boy

The Great Wall of China is breathtaking. We love it and the best experience was taking the cable car ride up and toboggan down. It is a must try! We went to Mutianyu's section of the Great Wall.

Reese drew this after his second day in Beijing

Temple of Heaven

Oops...forgot the name! :)

Went to watch a nice Kung Fu performance

The Forbidden City

Family picture

Regular folks playing chess in one of the famous park

Summer Palace

 Peking duck and beef hotpot.... they were sooooo good!

Local home cooked meal at the Hutong

Tianamen Square

My very happy boy

Shanghai/Suzhou/Tong Li water village

The Shanghai skyline taken by Reese

 Reese on the high speed train to Shanghai (5+ hours) and Reese and daddy in front of The Oriental Pearl Tower

Shanghai at night

A walk into Shanghai's past... The museum in Oriental Pearl Tower

Sticky sweet rice in Suzhou

Fruits everywhere

Our guide for Suzhou and Tong Li water villages

Seeing the real thing.... we only read about these fishing birds in the book The Story About Ping.

Street vendor

Our first try of stinky tofu

Local residence of Tong Li water village

One of the famous dumpling shop in Shanghai. We queued for more than 40 minutes

Worth the wait! It was that good!

Our lunch at Suzhou. 6 dishes for 2 adults and 1 child....crazy!

Suzhou's water village

Suzhou water village, very commercial

 Reese and his favourite buildings

Looking at Shanghai's skyline from the China World Financial Tower

At the highest observation deck in the world

Overall, we are satisfied with the trip. During our stay at these two cities, we felt very safe because every where you go including the subways, bags are scanned and sometimes police officers will conduct body scans! Traffic is horrendous. We got stuck in traffic from A to B literary a few times, Malaysian traffic jam is nothing... haha.... 

Dislike restaurants with no enforcement on smoking patrons. People are loud and the restaurants are smoky. Toilets are considerably clean and mostly have cubicles. I had encountered one toilet with no cubicles. Just 3 squat WC. I just couldn't do it. :) 

Beijing and Shanghai are so different. Shanghai is a more modern and civilised city as compared to Beijing. Moving around in these two cities for people who can't speak or read Chinese aren't that bad at all. English signboards are everywhere. Public transport is good too except for peak hours...the subway is crazy crowded. 

Vain Pot

Took Reese shopping and he chose his own clothes to buy. These days, when he sees a mirror anywhere and he will say this in a very cheeky way, "Who is that handsome boy in the mirror?"

Asynchronous Development and Overxicitabilities

I am always fascinated with my boy's mind. It is very complex and advance and yet..... there are some parts that demonstrate a big contrast. Go figure!

Reese made some interesting words on the game board. Can you spot a word that is totally out of place?

Children like Reese who are exceptionally or profoundly gifted usually face uneven development known as asynchronous development coupled with various intensities. Overexcitabilities(OE) are inborn intensities indicating a heightened ability to respond to stimuli. They are expressed in increased sensitivity, awareness and intensity. There are five areas of overexcitabilities namely psychomotor,  emotional, intellectual, imaginational and sensual as identified by Kazimierz Dabrowski (1902-1980).

Here is what asynchronicity looks like in our home. Reese is chronologically 7 but has the intellectual age of 13-14. His social emotional maturity varies and probably a little behind. His gross/fine motor skills is on par. This boy is many ages at once. This can make certain situation very difficult. 

What can I do to help? Sometimes I feel helpless. I can only stand aside and watch. I have to keep reminding myself to accept my boy the way he is. He can be so annoying/irritating sometimes. :) Reese has four overexcitabilities and is very high in Psychomotor, Intellectual and Imaginational OE in particular.

Psychomotor

Children with a dominant psychomotor OE are energetic and active. The surplus of energy is demonstrated through rapid speech, zealous enthusiasm, intense physical activity and a need for action. They derive great joy from their boundless physical and verbal enthusiasm and activity but others may find them over-whelming. 

**This is sooooo Reese. He cannot be still and talks constantly. Even I find it irritating sometimes! :)

Intellectual

This is demonstrated by a marked need to seek understanding and truth, to gain knowledge and to analyse and synthesise. Children with a dominant Intellectual OE have very active minds. They are intensely curious, avid readers and very keen observers. They have incredibly detailed visual recall and often independent thinkers! When something interest them, they are able to have prolong engagement with the subject with great concentration. 

**Reese loves non-fiction. He will devour whatever comes his way! His general knowledge is incredible and a very keen observer. When he is into something he likes, it is hard to tear him away from it! His drawings are incredibly detailed and he can spend a long time doing it.

Imaginational

The main sign of this intensity is the free play of the imagination. Their vivid imaginations can cause them to visualise the worst possibility in any situation. They also have a good sense of humour.

**Reese is highly creative in his imagination and always the clown in the family. His drawings are incredible and full of imagination and stories.

Sensual

The main sign of this intensity is a heightened awareness of all five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing. They have an increased and early appreciation of aesthetic pleasures such as music, language and art and derive endless delight from taste, smells, textures, sounds and sights. With increased sensitivity, they may also feel over-stimulated or uncomfortable with sensory input.

**Reese has an issue with loud sounds (better now), loves soft and silky texture, loves the taste of food and sometimes he is sensitive to light. 

With a child like mine, a regular school will not be a good fit for him. I bet he will be branded as a naughty, lazy boy by teachers because I know he will not take instructions well, cannot sit still and definitely will not do and write pages of worksheets! He will argue with his teachers too..... :) There... the life of Reese! Really not easy to raise this boy of mine.