Allegro

Parker is pretty smart. Sometimes he is scary smart. He remembers words and phrases the first time he hears them and then uses them correctly the next time the opportunity arises. For example, I was thanking him for sharing something with Austin, and Parker's reply is, "Awww shucks... it was nothing. "

In addition to being very smart, he is also VERY active. If he gets overstimulated or really passionate about something, you can see him start to escalate in his hyperactivity. When this happens, there's literally nothing you can do to pull him out of it, but hug him and hold him if you can. But he's usually moving very fast and is very loud. Not an easy situation.

One day when he was not in one of the above-mentioned moods, he was talking to my mom about those episodes. He explained, "My brain is like a spinner. And it spins around and gets faster and faster and starts shooting out ideas." He told her that God told him that. Also he added, "Your brain helps you to make choices. Good choices or bad choices. Everyone has a brain and God wants you to use your brain." I can hear some of my talking mixed into his explanation, but it's amazing how he articulated what he is feeling internally.

On Sunday, Parker was at church and learning some new music. The music teacher is AWESOME and teaches correct music vocabulary. She explained that allegro means to sing fast and andante means to sing slow. It's hard to tell how much Parker is taking in during class, because it appears he is always turned around and hopping out of his chair.

Anyway, yesterday while we were driving home, Parker was chatting away in the backseat. "Mom, you know how my brain spins pretty fast sometimes... like it spins allegro? Well, you should try to spin it andante instead to calm down." Haha. Guess he was paying attention after all. Then we had a good conversation about techniques to help our brain slow down to andante.