The desire of my son's heart

My son's latest interest is "jumping stilts." If you haven't heard of them you are not alone. The reason I know anything at all is directly connected with my being the mother of 12-year-old boy. 

If not for Nathaniel I would be completely ignorant to the important things in life such as--

*duct tape skills in sword, wallet and mask making

*creative ways to scare friends, family and perfect strangers

*every Chuck Norris joke known to mankind

*the highly refined art of rejecting 98% of the clothing in the mall and then complaining that shopping takes too long

*the various lingo and body language of junior high students

Jumping stilts are only this year's obsession. If my life depended on it I could not even try to guess what next year's will be.

When I ponder on the reason why my son's thinking is so diverse (ie: wacky)  I naturally blame it on his father. The same man who asks me questions like:

"What if I was harboring all these years the secret that I could professionally tap dance?"

"What if I wanted to name one of our kids Beowulf?"

"What if you found out I was a actually really rich?"

"What if you discovered I was a government spy?"

"What if I had a secret passion for synchronized clogging?"

My favorite part of these "philosophical" questions is not imagining him doing synchronized clogging, but watching him laugh at his own jokes.

Most people don't know this hidden side of my husband. In my last ward people would ponder out loud how we ended up together, me so goofy, and Peter so sober and serious minded. They assumed my children's quirks were solely the responsibility of their mother. 

Not so. If they only knew. Anyway, I guess the secret is out now. I can't be sure anyone will actually believe me. He is, after all, very convincing.

In case you have the inclination to be enlightened on jumping stilt skills, you can check out this site: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jg6uMc-Z-k