Tuesday, January 02, 2007

LIFE WITH THE LEROY

Life with Leroy is always interesting. One of the things I find so fascinating about Asperger's Syndrome is Leroy's innate ability to hold large amounts of factual information in his mind.

Yesterday at the dinner table, we played Table Topics. Izzy picked a card and this was the question:
"What one goal do you hope to accomplish this year?"

Izzy (first): "I want to be just like Sissy (Tori). I want to look like her and act like her.
Bubby: "I want to be one of those really skinny and fast runners. I want to become a better runner and train more."
Me: "I want to drink more water and work out so that I can breathe better."
Leroy: "I don't have a goal."
Me: "Not an option. You have to choose something."
Bubby: "Maybe you would like to accomplish getting really good at violin or something?"
Leroy: "I don't have a goal."
Me: "Still....not an option. Take your time and think of something....."
Leroy: "Okay. I want to learn more about planetary nebulae."

Silence

Me: "Great goal Leroy!"
Leroy: "There's the egg nebula, the rotten egg nebula, the cat's eye nebula and I really like the twin jet nebula. The twin jet nebula's gas travels away from the central star at 186 miles or 300 kilometers per second."
Me: "Fascinating!"
Leroy: "Then there's the Eskimo nebula and the ring nebula on page 66 and some secret nebula's that I can show you pictures of after dinner."
Me: "Great! Show us some pictures after dinner Leroy. Okay Tori...your turn."
Tori: "I want to learn more about planets."

Silence

Due to Tori's wanting to constantly please her parents....Tori will use whatever person's answer that she thinks will give her the most praise.

Bubby: "Tori, you don't have to choose learning more about planets because your brother said it."
Tori: "No. Really Dad. I want to be a person that studies planets when I grow up."
Bubby: "An astrophysicist?"
Tori: "Yes."
Me: "Okay Christian...your turn."
Christian: "I want to sleep more." All I can say in mind to this one is.....how fitting.

And later, after dinner, Leroy showed us pictures of nebula's and was completely accurate on all of his statistics and what pages they were listed on in his books.

Amazing.

3 comments:

Girlie said...

I like this table topic idea you have. It's interesting.

I'm always worried that if I interrupt, the kid might be scarred for life and will never have an opinion again! :)

Jennboree said...

Each of your children sound so unique and wonderful. The way you encourage them is inspiring. Even if all they wish is to sleep :)

T-girl said...

I like the idea for dinners... I am going to file this away in my brain bank for future reference!

Very cute btw- I am amazed at little people and thier ideas and how they get thier ideas!