Monday, November 27, 2006

revenge of the nerds

My boys are such nerds. And I mean that in the best way.

some examples:

1. The other day, I picked Max up from playing at his best friend's house. I asked him how it was and he said it was so much fun. When I asked what they had done that was so fun, his response was: "we talked about science." Excuse me? Apparently they rode scooters around the driveway and discussed string theory. Um, yeah. I had never even heard of string theory, and had to have Max describe it to me. (As far as I understand it, strings are the smallest elements, smaller even than quarks, and scientists theorize that if we could fully understand strings, we could teleport.) This is what they were doing for fun!

2. Max loves chess. He joined the chess club at school, and often stays inside during recess to play with classmates. When he was 7, he wanted to have a chess birthday party, but I convinced him that many of the friends he wanted to invite wouldn't have fun because they didn't know how to play. He has taught Lucas to play. He can't play against our computer program because he always wins, and he can even beat Marc now. (Have I mentioned that I refuse to play because chess makes me feel dumb? Am I a loser?)

3. Tonight while reading in the book of Alma, Max noticed that each verse was one sentence long, it's just the length of the sentences that varies. He searched out the longest verse so he could take it in to his teacher tomorrow to challenge his sentence diagramming skills. Later, Marc and I were watching TV and heard the boys were still up. He went in to tell them to go to sleep and found them diagramming sentences together. Who does that?

4. The boys both love jazz, specifically Stacey Kent. Now I fancy myself somewhat of a music person, and I appreciate jazz. But it's not my favorite, not by a long shot. Max went to see Stacey Kent in concert and he and Lucas argue every night over which of her CDs to listen to while going to sleep. Remember they're 7 & 11.

My boys don't know a lot about sports, unless you count kickball, four-square, or horse. They don't make farting noises or employ scatological humor, at least not to my knowledge! They like school, and they even like math. I think they're destined to be nerds, and to be honest, I think that's a good thing. I mean, I definitely don't want them to peak in their teens and look back at high school as their glory days. I'm pretty sure they will triumph in the end. I only hope I can instill enough social skills in them to prevent them from being outcasts in those hellish junior high days...

17 comments:

melanie said...

I love it, they are so cute. My mom said she tried to keep us a 'little nerdy' (we did have social skills- I promise!) so that we wouldn't get caught up in the whole I am better than you phase of high school. To be honest it worked out quite well now that my brother and I are adults. They are sweet boys indeed!

Crystalyn said...

that is awesome! how great for them to have things they're smart about...what a good source of self-esteem. they truly will triumph in the end.

Amie said...

Michelle, this is awesome and a post you will NEVER read on my blog. I love how smart your kids are.

Jessica joined the chess club at her school a couple of years ago and really loved it. She tried to teach me but with her limited knowledge and me it didn't go so well. Maybe I will have to hire Max as the chess tutor.

When my kids were learning to read I was told that the Book of Mormon was one of the most phonetically correct books on earth can't wait to find out how grammatically correct it is.

Anonymous said...

This is way funny- my brother was like that and he still is so stinkin' smart it drives me crazy sometimes. It comes fairly easy to him as well. I think I would be in over my head if I had a kid who liked stuff like that- I wouldn't know how to answer any of their questions. The jazz thing is great.

Julia said...

Yay for the nerds!

If you are looking for a good Christmas present for Max, he might like The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. It is a really well-written book that takes string theory to a whole new level. It may be a little above his level, but then again, maybe not-- if string theory comes up in casual conversation.

Robin said...

That is so awesome that your kids have "nerd-ish" tendencies! I've always kinda been the same way actually (except I've never learned to play chess, though it has always intrigued me). To this day, I still love math, I play video games, I love learning about "science-y" stuff, etc.

And how fun that they love Jazz - I took a music class at BYU that just focused on Jazz music, and it was one of my favorite classes in my entire college career.

Tasha said...

I love it! They sound like great boys who will be great renaissance men! The world needs more smart guys!

My good friend has an 8 year old son obsessed with George Washington. She said she tries to get him to listen to music he should like, etc, just so he has some degree of knowledge relevant to his peers. In the end, he, as well as your boys, will triumph for sure!

Liz said...

Wow! You have got some smart little cookies on your hands. It kind of reminds me of my husband and his brothers, (kind of scary what they can calculate in their heads!) They will be able to do so many great things though, and you won't have to worry about them getting into trouble when they are teens!

Jill said...

I always advise single girls to look for a nerd with a sense of humor, so you're just grooming good husbands. Ha.

Jordan said...

I don't know why but I love this post. I love that you see it as a good thing, as it is, that your boys are "nerds". they WILL triumph in the end because they have YOU as a mother!!

Alison said...

I love nerds. I am dating one. There is nothing better than a nerd. There's this t-shirt I saw on-line that says "Talk Nerdy To Me" and that about sums up how I feel about nerdy guys. HOT. That's why I want to marry Conan O'Brien.

amy gretchen said...

This is really funny. I love that they like Jazz and chess. I'm not so huge into Jazz like Adam, but I enjoy playing chess. Your boys seem pretty cool to me and wicked smart.

I sort of feel the same way you do about social skills with my Bella. I hope she is smart enough not to care what other people think and to do what makes her happy.

Anonymous said...

I love that Max and Lucas are nerds! I have hoped that Henri would grow up to be one too... Pete doesn't understand. I'm not sure how to cultivate nerdiness, but I'd try it if someone had a suggestion! Shell, I thought about one of my first trips to Seattle to visit you last night - we are having icy, snowy, record breaking temperature weather - do you remember it snowed like 2 inches and the whole city shut down? Well, the times have not changed! All of Seattle still only has 5 or so snowplows and probably the same amount of sanding/salting trucks! Oy!

Diana said...

Your boys are amazing. I can only hope that my kids end up as smart as your boys.
I love your post I hope my kids are a little nerdy too!

jenny said...

That is too funny. I don't even know how to play chess and would probably feel dumb too.

Love the science conversation while riding scooters. Classic!

Robin said...

In a comment further up, Alison mentioned a t-shirt that says "Talk Nerdy to Me."

I actually HAVE that shirt.

And my husband is the one who gave it to me.

That just about sums up both of our nerdiness (:

Anonymous said...

MIchelle I just loved this post. I HOPE I have nerdy kids! I would love to hear my children discuss Jazz (and we love Jazz in this household). They sound like great boys!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...