Kaley, in 1 million words or less (as assigned)

Kaley Michelle Wilcox,

Born 04-04-00 was welcomed into a loving family which included an older brother, two older sisters, and a grandma living in our home.  Our family is spread in ages as Emily is 30 and doing a master’s program at Seattle University, Andrew 25 a graduate of Millard West and MCC, lives nearby in Omaha, and then we skip to Gina who is only 18 months older.  Shannon arriving on Kaley's long coat tail is now 9.  

 Kaley showed a very early interest in music when she would hum Beethoven in perfect pitch.  I remember someone commenting in the grocery store, “Do you know your baby is humming Beethoven?”  Well, I did know being a classical music enthusiast, but I didn’t think it was extraordinary until a stranger pointed it out.  Fast forward and Kaley is studying piano with Galina Shatskya and is truly excelling in her gift.  Her perfect pitch still in force as she often yells, “That is a B flat” or whatever the note should be when Kaley’s 9 yr. old sister Shannon occasionally hits the wrong one.

Kaley’s facility for learning was not limited to her love of music.  She is a voracious reader as well.  At one point she was looking at books in the Rowher’s library when she was told that she was looking at books that were not appropriate for her age.  Her teacher actually took Kaley in to the principal’s office and she read to him.  He was sufficiently impressed with her reading comprehension and maturity that he told her teacher that “Kaley can read anything in the school library that interests her!”   Well, we can hardly keep up with Kaley’s reading checking out 25 books at a time or downloading them from Barnes and Nobel on to the Nook.  On our last trip to the library I asked the librarian for suggestions and Kaley had read every book that she suggested so she went in the back of the library and brought out a stack of new books that were not even on the shelves. She often rereads a book if it is one she likes and she can, pardon the pun; ‘literally’ knock down a 700 page Potter book in a single sitting so I wouldn’t ever let her tell you that she didn’t have time to read something….sorry Kaley!

Kaley has quite a sense of humor too.  Recently she said to me, “The sky is the limit – tell that to an astronaut”.  She has quite a memory too so if she hears something funny she is apt to repeat it later which makes her a lot of fun to be around with all her quips and puns.  

Besides piano, Kaley has a great singing voice, is into dancing, taekwondo, skiing and of course social networking to name a few.  A formidable foe at ‘Words with Friends,’ or any game for that matter, Kaley is usually upbeat but she can be a bit temperamental. Keeping things fair is a challenge as sometime the big picture gets lost in the individual skirmishes.  I often find myself allied with Kaley especially if she is the victim of some injustice.  Kaley really needs her sleep and it is easy to tell when she hasn’t gotten it usually from a late night between the pages of a book.  Her mother did a brilliant job though when she was young teaching Kaley how to recognize how wonderful sleep is and as result she would often put herself to sleep in unusual places.  Hopefully this won’t happen at school but unless things are kept fun, interesting, and fast paced I’ll make no guarantee.