I like to move it-move it!

*Kyle jumping on his birthday

What ever happened to jumping on the bed? When David was in Europe and it was COLD the entire time he was gone, I asked him casually if it would be so bad if I let the kids jump on our bed and leap off of it into a pile of pillows. I had checked my kids' temperatures with my Smart Mom Thermometer and discovered what I already knew--they were sick and furiously feverish with Cabin Fever. And what's the next-best thing to being outdoors? Turning the indoors into the outdoors! I don't know how many times as a child I dragged my mattresses into our living room and did gymnastics with my friends. And we weren't doing silly little rolls. We were doing full handsprings and complete front and back flips. By the grace of God we never flew off into our fireplace hearth or ended up on our necks on top of the piano. If my parents never knew we did this while they were at work, they know now. And aren't y'all glad you paid for all those gymnastics lessons?

Today I was jumping on Kyle's birthday present, a trampoline, and loving it as much, if not more, than they do. I love swings still. I love tireswings too. I even love going down the slide on a playground. The higher and faster, the better. The trampoline has to be one of the best inventions ever. It feeds every sense in the body. It provides tons of joint compression and the nervous system of kids like Kyle LOVE it. Makenna is learning to manage her body on the trampoline, and after I jumped multiple times and was out of breath, I realized what a great workout the trampoline is! And I have to say, I love it too.

As a child, I took daring risks, climbing as high into our mimosa tree as I could. I even jumped out of a tree once at childcare when I was six years old, which resulted in plastic surgery on the tear ducts in my left eye. When I was two years old, my Mom found me sitting atop an a-frame swing set in our backyard...or maybe I was standing? And I can even remember challenging my balance in our home in Austin (so I was under age 8). I remember making it my goal to move around my bedroom without touching the ground because it was quicksand. So what did I do? I stood on all my furniture and crawled from piece to piece, chairs, tables, chest of drawers, bed, you name it. I stood on it. Kyle is learning to walk more in the house which is a work-in-progress. He's growing in his ability to walk in stores and I find him learning to stabalize himself by holding onto the cart and walking at my pace. It's exciting to see him doing this on his own as his brain learns how to manage his 'body in space.'

If you're at all curious about our journey with Kyle, look up www.spdfoundation.net.

God has created us so fearfully and wonderfully. The brain is a fascination that propels one to point to an "Intelligent Designer," even if you're an Atheist. It is hard to deny the role of a Higher Being that brought order out of chaos. I call Him God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The ancient Hebrews called him YHWH. And yet due to the entry of sin into the world, our brains don't always function with perfection, right? But more of that in another blog sometime.

Adventures in the World of My Children

When you 'sign up' to be a parent (ha-ha), you just never know what you're going to get. I might as well quote Forrest Gump now. Parenting is like a box of chocolates, except in one main way. You can't do like I do...take a bite and put it back in the box if you don't like the filling. In fact, it's the filling that makes it interesting and it's the filling that has taught me so much about myself and my Creator.

Each creature comes into the world as God has created him or her. Certain environmental things of course affect us. I'm a nature AND nurture theorist--what has been so freeing for me in raising Kyle in the last six months is discovering that both he and Makenna came into the world with personalities that I have little to do with. They also are each wired in particular ways that have nothing to do with me. However, it's clear that much of both my children's wiring is something I've passed on them. They do have some of my chromosomes!

God has freed me from one main lie from Satan. I believe Satan delights in destroying a mother's view of herself. My heart aches now with other moms who start blaming themselves for their child's challenges. And I have been so blessed to reassure them that their child is simply hardwired and there is always a solution to whatever they are facing.

Kyle loves to move. So does Makenna. But they move for different reasons. Makenna moves because she's a busy 2 1/2 year old. She's interested in what is going on and is just a busy-bee. She spins and falls down. She swings and hops to the slide when she gets off. She runs to the porch because she wants to rest. She moves but can also stand very still, as I saw her do today when she was watching Kyle get his hair cut.

Kyle moves because he is seeking sensations at a much higher level than I need. I do love to move though and enjoy excercising and need to work out hard, like dripping with sweat and panting for life, to feel like I've excercised. So I understand his need to move harder and faster to feel good. He spins and spins and then can run in straight lines. He does well in a store when holding onto the shopping cart and walking alongside me, but if he lets go, you can bet money that he will run forward about six steps ahead and then jump and land as hard as he can. That is how he 'walks,' unless I'm constantly reminding him to slow his body to match my cadence. He's very proud of himself when he walks in step with me. At the same time, I let him do his "run-run-run-run-run-run jump" way of walking through stores.

I'm sure some parents or non-parents don't like it. I do my best to keep him out of others' ways, but I've learned that he's hardwired this way. He can never run hard enough or jump hard enough. In some ways, I'm envious at times at his ability to move as hard and as fast as he can. Makenna is bewildered at times by his energy. And through it all, he is rarely out of breath. Can I harness that endurance? Yes, we can. And we will.

My son is spirited and my daughter is spunky. I'm a spirited adult. Kyle and I are in good company. And I have a husband and they have a daddy who lets us all be who we are, as God made us. I love that and cherish that.

Kyle doesn't process through his senses in the way 'typical' kids do. And I wouldn't have him any other way. I'll try to post regularly as we watch Kyle's body learn how to harness all that endurance. We might have a future figure skater on our hands. But we'll stick to soccer for now. I think it's easier on the pocketbook.