Parents.

Having had my niece and nephew over last night for a "sleepover," it comes home more poignantly tonight how large the effect of a parent is in a child's life. I love my brother and sister, and I am honoured that they'd trust us to have their kids for a night and a day. In the afterglow of their visit, I see how formative a parent's perspective can be. The particular differences between us and the parents of these children became glaringly apparent to the niece and nephew this weekend. They discovered the chasm of contradiction between the contents of our fridge and theirs. These differences are usual; but for a youngster, it's somewhat more revelatory.

What WAS revelatory to me was seeing how an "able-bodied" child can be so inflexible in the mind. "I don't like [insert any normal food here]," . . .

What? My son doesn't even TASTE food, much less EAT it with his mouth! Argh, and here sits a 'normal' child using the mouth to not only deny the existence of every vegetable on the planet, but also TELLING me so. I found new levels of patience I didn't know I had. When we go to the trouble of making home-made waffles, and the kid tells me, "I want pancakes," well holy smokes, I wanted to hand him the yellow pages and say, "Find the local IHOP and call a cab."

Is this how 'real' kids act? Lord, it makes me wonder even more what is going on in my son's head! If nothing else, conductors have taught me to pay attention to the cues from a kid and respond to that; instead of to what I hope they are trying to say. Now that my boy is having a birthday, I feel almost allergic to having any other kids over to celebrate with him. They only gripe about things he never experiences. Drives me bonkers; totally bonkers.