Brain Limitations

The title of this post has nothing to do with being so sleep deprived that I came within a hair-breadth of throwing my cell phone instead of a ball for our new puppy. (Did I mention that we had a new puppy? Were y'all even aware of that fact?)

No, the title of this post is because I have come up against a real limitation of my brain --something I just cannot do (besides remember to bring my grocery list with me when I go shopping.)

Our friends Mike and Sherry came for dinner on Sunday and introduced me to a game that is played on my iPhone. (Well, first they helped me update my iPhone, which hadn't been updated in, oh, a year and a half. Whoopsie.) The game is called Scramble and it's a sort of word search. (I only included the link because of the YouTube video that shows how the game is played. The narrator guy is REALLY annoying and also? He has gum in his mouth. Who makes a podcast with gum in his mouth? People who were raised by wolves, that's who. Just watch the first two minutes and shut that dude right down.)

Note: Every Thursday morning for the past school year, I have made Jane (8) a word search out of her spelling words. Y'all, I KNOW word searches. I'm the person who always does them in the airline magazines before you get on your flight. I like words. I like word searches. I can HANG with the word searchers, know what I mean?

But I cannot play this game. My brain just doesn't seem to be able to find the words unless they are linear and this game is totally based on being able to pick out words with letters going in all directions. (Which you'd think would be easier but it turns out to just be beyond me.)

Oh, wait--this just in: Never mind.

I was going to write this whole blog post about the difference in learning styles and how I've never quite figured out which way I learn best. And how important it is to recognize not only how WE learn best, but also how our KIDS learn best. And I was going to ask if you all knew YOUR learning style and if so, how did you figure it out?

But it turns out that I'm actually pretty average at the game. And getting better, since I have a lot of time in between throwing the ball for the puppy (Did I tell you about him?) and following him around taking stuff out of his mouth.

So, there goes THAT whole analogy. So much for THIS blog post.

Here, look at the cute doggy:
Austin's learning style is oral--as in, he puts everything in his mouth. (This picture makes me laugh because his tiny brain is clearly overheating at the riches of having two such amazing toys from which to choose.) (Well, either that or he's holding on to the rubber bone because he knows I'll be taking that stick away from him...)


Aside Number One: I kept writing LEANING style but that is not at all what I meant. I KNOW my leaning style, thank you. Right this second for example, I am leaning heavily on caffeine.

Aside Number Two: I have a subject category on this blog that says, "I don't do linear --EVER." I now know that this is not true. I do do linear-- wait, that doesn't look right. What I mean to say is that I AM capable of linear thinking --in word searches.

Aside Number Three: The annoying dude in the video? Has a high score of 34. Mine is more than TWICE THAT. HAH! Not that I'm the least bit competitive or anything.