If she has time to maneuver pantyhose over leggings without having them ride up, she has time to shave her legs or put on pants. I mean, that's a difficult task!

She didn't even have time for coffee

Many bad decisions have occurred for lack of caffiene.

I just don't see how you work out something as complicated as learning to walk or talk in your head rather than by trial and error.

My kids' Montessori school referred to this as "hiding a skill until it's perfect". They said my son had the most extreme case of it they'd ever seen -- he jumped, somewhat late for a Montessori kid, straight from sounding out syllables to reading books.

Some kids build all the skills invisibly, then present them as a package.

Some kids build all the skills invisibly, then present them as a package.

My mother said I never used a word unless I could say it properly. I don't think I waited to speak in sentences, but she claimed I never used any form of baby talk. Clear words from the get go.

My brothers (but this is brothers, you understand) always claimed my very first word was "shit" after hearing my dad say it. When he heard it, he thought it was one of the boys until they pointed to me.

When he heard it, he thought it was one of the boys until they pointed to me.

A likely story.

Don't know my first word, but I was always told my brother's first word was "sockee." Or was that "saki"?

If I'd waited until I could say things properly...

Well, I'd still be waiting. I have a hard time with certain letters blurring together when I speak, and the speech therapy wasn't much help. F often sounds like V when I say it, etc. Drives my mother batshit, it does. Which is fun now, but was frustrating when I was a kid.

My brother did the skill-hiding thing with reading.

I'm at work. I'm bored. I finished everything I was supposed to do while my boss was out. I tried to tell her I needed more, but she was certain that would keep me busy.

(((Anne and family)))

chocolate chip cookie dough pop-tarts:

Are these any good? I see them in the store, and ... they scare me.

If I'd waited until I could say things properly...

Well, I'd still be waiting.

Me too. My mom could understand me, but there were years of speech therapy involved in making it so anyone else could.

I still say "r" as "w" sometimes if I'm not careful, and I can't do the French/Spanish/Scottish rolling R at all.

Ple's speech is as distinctive as her thought patterns.

Emmett's first word was "juice" ("jooos"). He did the usual babbling then responding with Yes or No headshakes indicating he understood us, then animal noises and words etc. Very typical except he was a little bit early for boys (19 months).

Catching up a bit, Albert Ellis is in his 90's now but he remains feisty and opinionated. A couple of years ago at a psychology convention there was a "discussion" between Ellis and Aaron Beck, who is another pioneer of cognitive therapy who is now in his 80's. Beck was charming and accommodating. Ellis was blunt and wasted no words. From a description of their exchange: 'Beck reflected and then said, to Ellis: "Everybody believes they're right. Why should we believe *you*?" Not missing a beat, Ellis replied, "I believe the probability exists that I'm wrong and they're right... but it's only a very low degree of probability." '