A Fun Combination

Kaylee is not happy at me for publishing her Sunday doodlings unfinished, but I needed something as a focal point for my writings. I think it is done enough for y'all to get it.

Anyway,

This truly happened at our house a few days ago -- but Jillian didn't really have roller blades, it was only a chair that laid a miniscule scratch. Kaylee used artistic lisence to make it more clear. I don't know how Dallin thinks up the funny things he says. Between our crazy family life, Dallin's astute assesments of it, and Kaylee's artistic rendering of his comments we could make a really funny comic strip.

Today Dallin came home from church and shared his thoughts as he sat in his Sunday School class.

"...So today we looked up this scripture in Isaiah and the teacher commented that he had a hard time understanding Isaiah's writings. Then Hugo* (who is very outspoken and has Aspberger's and says reallly off-the-wall things sometimes) piped up and said, "I understand him!" So I thought, "Well, maybe Isaiah had Aspbergers!"

*name changed

Are you laughing? If not maybe I should explain why I thought it was so funny. I think I should be an honorary member of the Aspberger's club. One day in sacrament this kid's Dad was speaking and mentioned that he too had Aspbergers. In the course of his talk, he said something that I thought was hilarious, but no one else in the congregation laughed. That was not the first time I have felt like I was a bit off from the mainstream of humor perception. I looked up the symptoms of Aspbergers, and although I don't fit all the descriptions, I can definatly relate to some of them. Having an odd sense of what is humorous is one of the symptoms. So now maybe telling this whole story is displaying some of those eccentricities. Hee hee.

Subconscious Knowledge

A few days ago I was helping Dallin put sheets on his bed. I got a set out of the closet. "Not those!" he complained when he saw them. "What's wrong with these sheets?" I asked. "They smell like static electricity." he replied. I was about to tell him not to be ridiculous, but then suddenly I had this flash of subconscious memory, and I knew exactly what he was talking about. Does anyone else know the smell of static electricity? Kaylee thinks we are nuts. Dallin and I need some support on this.

"Jock Walk" mystery solved by Kaylee

Background info: Kaylee is very observant. She will notice a pattern in the way the birds move as they peck seeds off the back porch, or the way the cat's whiskers tilt when he has a certain attitude. She notices lines and shadows and other things that I just glaze over. I guess it is the artist in her.

The story: This year Kaylee has a weights class for PE. Surprisingly, she likes it. I don't know what the work-out plan is, but Kaylee has ended up doing 3 days in a row of leg work. She says they also have no time to stretch afterward. Then she sits at a desk for the next hour. This combination has made her legs really, really sore in the last few days. She walks around the house saying, "Ow!" with every step, and tries to cajole her siblings into bringing her the things she needs so she doesn't have to get up. I enjoy seeing her suffer. It reminds me of the good times I had while working out and being continually sore when we lived in Alaska.

Today she had an epiphany and came happily limping over to tell me about it. "Now I know why all those athletic kids walk so funny!" She declared. I had no idea what she was talking about. She began describing a peculiar gait pattern that she had noticed in all the football players. As she talked, I burrowed deep into my memory (like 25 years ago) and realized, that yes, subconsciously I had noticed that the athletic kids that I knew did walk like that. What a weird feeling, to recall images from that long ago, and realize I had perceived something without ever consciously acknowldging it. Anyway, I'm digressing. Back to Kaylee: She explained that she noticed that she had been walking wierd today and just now made a connection. "I'm walking this way because it doesn't hurt, but it makes me look like a sports dude. The "jock walk" must be because they are in pain -- not because they are trying to look cool. Wow."

So, next time you see a sports kid walking with that funny style -- I'm sure you'll recognize it if you think about it for a minute -- just know that the poor kid is probably in pain...

The things kids have to go through...

Shortly before Christmas, Matt and Dallin went home teaching to a famiy in the ward and during the visit, the kids in the family told Matt and Dallin about the time their mom hid their Christmas stockings. When they got up before dawn, all they found were some 500 piece puzzles and a note that said there was a clue on the back of each puzzle to tell the child where his stocking was hidden. This trick bought the parents several more hours of sleep while the furious children worked on their puzzles. Our children were enchanted with the idea and asked if we would do that for them. It was too late for me to go buy puzzles, but Matt and I did devise a difficult treasure hunt. Matt hid the stockings under the bed, so there would be no way the kids could just go hunting and find them w/o working through the clues. In order to get under the bed, the mattress has to be lifted up. This activity did not buy us more sleeping time, as I was too interested in seeing how they solved the clues. It was fun to see them enjoying the game. I hope they thought it was worth it, because we actually lost an additional hour of sleep as we stayed up late setting everything up.

Matt's favorite Christmas Present so far is the new Axis and Allies game. Here is what he wrote in a note to his brother who gave it to him:

About noon on Christmas day, we began. Dallin, Jillian, and Madeline wanted to play. Madeline lost interest during the set-up phase, so Dallin agreed to be the U.K. and Russia. Jillian was the U.S. and she lost interest before her first turn (as the U.S. goes last). Dallin stuck it out all the way and actually enjoyed it. We finished by 10:00 pm with my Axis powers dominating.

Now he is looking for another opportunity to play. Would anyone like to come over for an all night game, or an all day Saturday adventure?! I'll supply the food!