Are we raising a baby genius? Of course!

The smart kids are always the ones you have to worry about. There are years of causing trouble in grade school because of boredom, followed by thousands of lectures about why you are wrong and the child is right in those teenage years. Just like every other overbearing mother on God's green earth, I want what is best for my son, and I want him to succeed at everything he desires to do. And yes, I get a little jolt of pleasure at seeing my child succeed where others have failed. Now, I'm not saying that Cooper is a genius -- well, OK, I am saying he is a genius, but in my defense it is not just me! His grandparents and great-grandparents all think he is brilliant. His aunts and uncles also agree, as well as the ladies at our church and the nurses at the doctor's office, and sometimes even random strangers.

Last weekend at the park, we wowed some other mommies and their kids with our awesome animal skills. We ran around the playground being different animals and made a game of it. I would yell out an animal and Cooper would give me the animal's sound.

My 20-month-old, two 3-year-olds and a little girl who looked about 2 were all playing at the playground. The other kids saw our game and came over and asked to play, too. I agreed partly because I would never say no to a child wanting to play, and partly because I wanted to see where my little genius measured up compared to these older kids.

I started out easy with cat, dog, cow and sheep, just seeing what would happen. Cooper and the 3-year-olds had no problem. The little 2-year-old stumbled a bit but did OK. I then moved on to the more elusive non-barnyard animals: Lion, bear, snake, crocodile and elephant. I am happy to say my kid aced the test. The little 2-year-old didn't know any of the animals and the two 3-year-olds were spotty. One tried to argue with me that a snake didn't make any sound, until his mother told him to be nice or not to play.

After our game the other kids ran off and Cooper and I went to swing. The 2-year-old's mother came over and started pushing her daughter on the swing next to us. After a while in silence, she asked me how old Coop is. After I told her she looked a little shocked and then asked me if I was one of those weird homeschool parents. I laughed and told her no, that I believe in the socialization of public school and then proceeded to tell her that, no, my kid is just a genius.

I know I have bragging rights now because my 20-month-old can count to five consistently (and 10 by skipping seven) and we can have a complete conversation with him telling me about his day. I also know that I will be cursing the day I bragged about my genius someday when the principal has me on speed dial and Coop is only in second grade! I will enjoy my bragging rights now and hope that I have the common sense to give the principal his daddy's number when we start school.

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Kristen Pind, a native of small-town Gower, Mo., came to Southeast Missouri State University with big dreams of being the next Katie Couric or Diane Sawyer. She never thought that by age 25, she'd be married with a baby and living in Cape Girardeau. Keep up with Kristen's adventures as a first-time mom -- one who's still a girl trying to figure out how her own life fits together. Turns out, she's living a dream she never knew she had, and loving every minute of it. Kristen invites moms of all types to find her "Baby Steps" page on Facebook.