I'm back from a trip to Huntspatch for Emily's twelfth birthday. It was one of the best times I've ever had with her. One of the things I noticed is just how much more agile her creativity is.

Emily innovated her tactics in Hive and won despite my best efforts. Her use of the spider to isolate and pin my pieces was particularly novel. In Super Paper Mario she came up with a technique for flipping enemies into a new 2d orientation that I'd never thought of.

We each brought a camera to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. After looking over the pictures we took hers are so much better. She found much more interesting angles. She compensated better for the difficult lighting situations. Mine have a much more documentary and static feel.

I think some of it comes from the holistic school program she's been in, and the virtue of being young. Next year she starts at a Catholic school and I fear this may spark a decline since they have a different mission that is limited by what the Catholic Church allows. However, I sometimes wonder if the limits Emily has (financial resources, tools) actually stimulate the creativity.

I might do better with more limits.

Emily turned ten this year. One thing that brings a smile to my face is how she will still name off her favorite dinosaurs and sort them by the type of food they eat. This morning at work it dawned on me that she's probably going to stop that some day.

That made me sad.

A girl came bouncing out of her house with a cigarette in her hand as Emily and I walked by yesterday. Emily quietly informed me that "I think people who smoke have bad instincts." She tried wrapping her brain around why anyone would do something that would eventually kill them. I tried reminding her that it's not that simple for smokers and that we all do things that aren't good for us. She settled on being happy that nobody in her family smokes. I was happy with that too.

Later she surprised me by telling me she sometimes wonders if she's supposed to be a boy. When I asked her why she thought that she said "I like cool things. I like violence." I was surprised by the violence remark. She clarified it by reiterating her abhorrence for violence in real life but her enjoyment of fantasy violence in books, movies, or TV. I reminded her that not all girls are the same and she shouldn't feel like she's less of a girl because she doesn't like the same things as one or two that she knows.