What Makes Us Different

Image courtesy of University of North Texas Dept of Biological Sciences

As I have mentioned before, Birdie and Princess are identical twins.  Recently, Birdie has really been fixated on and fascinated by the fact that her sister is called her "identical twin", and yet there are many differences between them.  Being very literal in speech, every time this comes up, Birdie is really bugged by the discrepancy.  The fact that she and Princess have the same genetic material-- which is supposed to define you-- and yet they are so very different really drives Birdie's need to understand how DNA works.  I have not wanted to get into a huge amount of detail with her about the mechanics of genetics-- mainly because I am pretty sure I would run out of info before she was satisfied.  We have, however, talked a tiny bit about how a baby's womb environment can change its DNA expression.  She was not impressed by this explanation, and has apparently given the whole identical DNA thing a lot of thought.

Last week, Birdie and I had the following conversation:

When Princess Met Prince Charming

As I have mentioned before in a previous post, Princess has a *dun, dun, dunnnnn* Boyfriend.  I know-- crazy, right?  This is, after all, the child I withheld macaroni and cheese from in order to get her to interact with the boys in her class.  But for Princess, there is no need to interact with other boys because she is already friends with the most awesome boy on the planet, and his name is Charming.  *sigh*

Prince Charming and Princess at her 7th birthday "party"

Treasure Defined in a Nutshell

My daughters have very different definitions of treasure.  I am sure you have noticed that treasure is a topic of great importance at my house because of the frequency with which I use that word in my writing.  I thought maybe some visuals would help.

Birdie's definition of treasure is loose and expansive.  For example, discarded potpourri found in a neighbor's yard is treasure.

Old potpourri

Birdie the Activist

Birdie on safari at the zoo

You may not realize it, but my Birdie intends to save the world-- literally.  She has plans to save homeless puppies, endangered species, kids with cancer, underfunded local hospitals, disappearing forest land, and public education.  Oh, and she wants to abolish Daylight Savings Time.  These are causes that have been brought to her attention this year and she intends to rectify them all.

Fixations: Don't Stop 'til Ya Get Enough

For parents of children on the autism spectrum, fixations are often a very familiar part of everyday life.  Fixations are those things your child has become obsessed with and has dedicated countless hours learning about, talking about, thinking about, adoring, and DRIVING YOU CRAZY WITH!!!  Some people on the spectrum go on to make their obsessions their life-long careers.  Others' fixations shift with time to new fixations.  I look forward to these shifts at my house because I can finally learn about something new for awhile.  At my house, I pull double duty with the "fixation monologues" so change is good.