Always One Step Ahead

It's that very special time of the year -- that time of the year when the preparations for Alexis' birthday party are in full swing. The invitations are printed and stuffed into envelopes. Most of them are even addressed. But, there's a problem -- not every parent opted to be included in the school list that includes addresses and such.

Four kids. That's all we need. We need the addresses for four kids. Alexis can't just take the invitations to school because that is SO not allowed, so we need the addresses.

Once I realized it really was a short list that we couldn't figure out, Alexis gave me the full names of the kids. I decided I would check online to see if I could find addresses. I pulled up the White Pages and asked for the first of the last names.

Smith.

Welp. That one wasn't going to work.

We moved on to the next name. It was a mostly uncommon name so I typed it in and threw in the name of our town. Like most of Greater Pittsburgh, our address is technically a town name that isn't Pittsburgh, and it's mostly a joke. Township lines and city borders and all of that jazz ... if you've lived anywhere else, you know how insane it all is.

Strike one.

I tried another neighboring township. DING! A match!

Just for kicks, I tried a third neighboring township. No go! That means I must have found the right address! Hooray!

Alexis and I moved on to the third name on her list. It was another mostly uncommon name, so I repeated the process. Only, this time there was a problem. There were two matches. They weren't in the same township, but they were both equally likely to be correct.

I turned to Alexis and told her that we couldn't be sure which one was right. She thought for a moment, then said, "Yes, we can!"

She ran across the room to get the list of everyone from school, scanned it for a name, and then declared, "She rides the same bus as this boy, so they must live in the same town."

I just stared at her. SHE IS SEVEN (for another week, anyway). How in the world does she possess that level of problem solving skills? She does that sort of thing all of the time. It's so consistent that we can't do that thing people do with kids where they say "No" and then provide a lie of a reason why that thing can't be done.

We can't lie. She sees through it or figures out a resolution that gets around our imaginary problem.

We are SO very screwed. Which, that's exactly why I need to start Alexis on solving the real problem -- how can we possibly stay ahead of her when she's already outsmarting us?

Comments

[KyFireWife]

It's awesome that she's such a great problem solver! It seems like so many people lack the skills to think for themselves & figure things out. But not Alexis! Good for her.