Right Brain/Left Brain

Language is said to be a left brain function, along with logic, reasoning, math and critical thinking. On the other hand, emotions, color, images, music and creativity are all right brain functions. When I think of my daughter's strengths, I've noticed that the two of them seem to be dominated by different hemispheres.

By 3 years old, both Lauren and Brooklyn were on the low end of the bell curve and had issues with speech and language. Since that time, Lauren has come far and Brooklyn is still making progress. Lauren is now on the high of the bell curve. Brooke has not yet been retested, since she's been in a speech program this past year, but I can tell that she still needs assistance.

As a very young toddler, I can recall Lauren having some interesting abilities. She would line up her little toy animals and place them standing side by side, according to size. I found some happy face stickers on the wall that she had placed. When she first put them on the wall, she grouped them loosely. Then she arranged them in a linear fashion. After lining them up, she actually adjusted each of the stickers so that the faces were all level. I remember her stacking nested cups really well at a young age. We were actually encouraged to have her screened for autism because of her unusual ability. She did not have autism, but she did have some cool skills.

A few days ago, I watched, entranced, as Brooklyn sat playing the piano and singing. Her words and tune were both made up. I could barely pick out any words, but she was singing to her heart's content. She loves singing and she does so often. She loves drawing, coloring and painting. I am sometimes amazed by her creativity and her artistic nature.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn woke up in the middle of the night and told me she needed to go potty. I asked her if she had wet her pants. She said, "no, Lauren did." I checked Lauren and she was dry. I checked Brooke and she was wet. I asked Brooke about that and said, "did you wet your pants?" She replied, "no, Lauren did it."

I guess at 4 years old, there is no such thing as the obvious. Brooke blames Lauren for plenty of naughty things that she does too. I really hope this is not an enduring trait of hers.