My oldest is graduating college this year. She’s doing her student teaching at a local middle school. Today she was offered a long-term sub position after graduation, the stepping stone to a full time gig.
Middle school science teacher. (yeah, she cray 
)
My youngest is at university in London. She loves it there. Studying art and design. Mom bias aside, she is quite talented and may well be able to make a living doing what she loves.
You’d have thought the universe would have given me one math kid out of my two. But no.
IIRC, your kid in london is doing a cool program.
Both my kids are science nerds. My eldest is a genetic counsellor. My youngest is working their way through to get their PhD in microbiology in order to become a prof.
Also my eldest (and now I) went to university of waterloo. My youngest went to the ‘rival’ school of Laurier, to no end of ribbing. i.e.
What’s the difference between a large pizza and a degree from Laurier University? You can feed a family with a large pizza.
My daughter (first and only child atm) is starting to speak the occasional full sentence (20 months). I don’t know that the 20 months is necessarily impressive, but just the idea that I created a thing that can now speak is awing to me.
Take pics. That is absolutely the best age for baby pics. They’re still babies, but old enough to not look like pudding.
My favorite is when they are that small and can understand simple instructions. My youngest is just under 2 and I love it when I can tell him to go put his blanket on his bed or something and he actually does it! I don’t know why, I just always think that’s adorable.
:iatp: Trust me (as father of so many, since so many women trusted me) 20-24 months is a great age for pics. Unfortunately for them, very few of mine inherited my great eyes.
No doubt. Everything is a teachable moment, and she’s eager to learn. Taking advantage while she’s still listening to anything dad has to say. 
FYI, things change, but the fun and discovery never ends with kids. And eventually they grow up and become friends.
Tonight while working on kindergarten “math” with my son I was trying to keep him engaged by pretending I didn’t know the answers so he would explain them to me. He eventually told me, “mom, you’re smart, I know you will get it eventually!” And then patted my face and gave me a kiss.
Don’t really care if he winds up terrible at math, as long as he doesn’t lose his compassionate spirit.
So much this.
My youngest really took the “Being Mortal” book to heart, and is planning to become a geriatrician, rather than the psychiatrist she had originally set her sights on.
Her compassionate spirit is one of the things I am most proud of.
I think my favorite is watching them learn to write, and try to spell words as they sound to them.
Each Easter, when the kids were younger, I’d do a treasure hunt type thing (instead of scattering eggs everywhere and forget some). So the older would read and the two would work to figure it out. Usually had to go to 4 different locations to finally find the “treasure” . . . and I would have about 7 or 8 notes scattered around (so it was more than just “ohh! I see one!!”).
Then my son–age 7 or 8 at this point–decided to do something similar for me for my birthday present. Now, my FIL “nickname” as grandpa is Baba, and he has sleep apnea, so has one of those respirators that cover your face. Put my son in mind of a “Darth Vader” mask. So one of his clues (to get to the next stage for another clue) was “Wee-ooo wee-ooo Baba Vader”. My wife and I just rofl once this was figured out.
She’s not cray at all! Middle school is the least stressful level to teach, IMO, and you get some really sweet kids in middle school. A few jerks of course but they’re more pliable in middle school.
My stepkids are smart. And cute.
I think they get it from me.
I don’t know if this really belongs in the “brag” thread but my youngest was told she might be placed on the No FLy List because she is changing her major to Chemical Engineering with a minor in Explosives.
This is probably the last year I’ll let our youngest believe in Santa. Big brother has known the truth for a year and a half and is so excited to move the elf on the shelf for the younger this year. Seeing my kids be loving brothers is one of the best things.
+1. This was/is the most special thing to me. It’s sort of the transition from being a cool high maintenance pet to a… magic talking pet!
Our kid is now learning to read and write and do numbers and such, and it’s frankly not nearly exciting as watching her pick up another word or phrase or idea or crack her first joke. She is still picking up new words, phrases, concepts, voices, characters, tropes, etc. and you can see it all happening in real time if you just watch closely enough.
I wonder if my sense of amazement is partly influenced by knowledge of technology. It’s a lot harder to teach a robot how to talk than how to spell. Otoh, it’s also hard to teach a robot how to walk, and I’m still like “oh boy you can stand on one foot now I’m so excited for you” (not).
