It's official: I have smart kids!

In my usually-nightly call with my kids, the first thing out of my daughter's mouth -- she's six and in kindergarten -- was "I got straight S's on my report card!" In kindergarten, that's excellent. S equals "Satisfies", which means that Baylie Hannah is meeting all the requirements for her level. Her vocabulary amazes me. Everything that Hayden has done, she has done earlier and with more accuracy. Plus, she's cute as a button and doesn't like boys, so I'm set until she's atleast twelve. I love hearing what new things she learned each night that we talk -- "We learned our vowels today!" makes my heart glad. Not being there to see her face light up as she actually says it -- although I can see it through the phone -- sucks. Such is the life of a divorced father...*sigh*

Hayden got straight "A's" on his report card. This from the kid who never learns anything new at school. Fortunately and unfortunately, Hay is a lot like I was in grade school -- bored. He's reading at a 4th grade level in 2nd grade, he's thinking of grand engineering feats while his school chums are trying to piece together lego blocks. But, he'll find like I did in about 6th or 7th grade, all that boredom turns into actual learning and preparing for the future. Strangely, what I'm doing now for an occupation is what I was doing in 7th-9th grade -- programming. I'm guessing that he too will discover what it is that he wants to do right about the same time, so that he can gear his mind accordingly. He's my first-born, and I love him so much it hurts. My hope is that I can provide -- from distance -- the motivation he needs to keep his head on straight, be smart and apply all those brains to his education.

So...my kids are like me and I'm the proudest dad in the world as a result. I really need to work on figuring out how I can see them more often, so that I can be the "happiest" dad in the world too.