Trying to catch my daughter's train of thought... :)

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This is just a curious sort of observation; whenever I see a difference in the way my daughter thinks from the way I do, it's fun to mull it over a bit.

We live across the street from a beer & wine drive-thru, and when its big door is closed you can see big decals of bare footprints walking up the door. The other morning, while my kids were waiting for the school bus, my 6-year-old daughter was looking at the drive-thru door and suddenly said, "Oh! I know why they have those feet on their door!"

"Why?" I asked.

"Bare feet? Get it? Bare?" Then she pointed from the door to the big ice machine next to it. "Bear? Ice?" And she laughed delightedly, as if she had finally caught on to some obvious connection. Therefore, I naturally said, "Oh, you're right, of course!"

I think it was just awesome to see her feeling proud of herself. So often she reminds me of a blind person trying to pretend she can see just like everybody else; trying to hide her insecurity by acting like she's tough when she's not, like she gets it when she doesn't.

I think it is rather amazing that she extended a simple sign into a more complex line of thought.
and i think it is rather rude that you patronize her with "oh, you are right".

Oh gosh, no, I just wanted to show enthusiasm and encouragement. And as the bus would be there any moment, I didn't have time to delve into asking her to explain it to me. I was just quite pleased with the comment, as I don't get many peeks into her head. She's quite brilliant, as a matter of fact, and the fact that a lot of our interaction gets lost in translation on both sides is frustrating.

In this particular case, maybe I didn't make it clear...I think she made a connection here that escaped me completely. It was ME, this time, that was simply smiling and nodding because I didn't get it and didn't have time to ask.

i am sorry i misunderstood you . i am so glad that you appreciate your daughter uniqueness.
try to explain her your point of view. since she knows you love her and won't judge her, it is a best way for her to get an understanding of NT point of view.

No worries!

One of my challenges to myself is to learn how to explain the rest of us NT people to her, so that she'll know how to deal effectively with us. I want her to be able to go as far as possible, and, sadly, most NT people have no idea how to deal with people different from them...so it seems to be up to me (another NT) to help her learn to be sort of bilingual, if that makes any sense.

Thankfully her older brother LOVES her and, although they have opposite personalities and sometimes clash horribly, they also have an amazing and a surprising bond. He is fiercely protective of her and they've developed their own little world, insulated to some degree from the rest of the world. He has accepted that she will shadow him in social situations, and whenever I take them to the playground they will usually play mostly with each other, no matter how many other kids are there. This makes me very happy. So, yes, she knows her brother and I love her, and that we accept her just as she is.

What you're seeing in her thought process here is the Aspergian brain constantly looking for patterns. When the patterns line up perfectly, the world will make sense (at least we hold out hope that it will).

Bare and Bear - they're right next to each other, it must be that way on purpose, how could such a remarkable coincidence be unintentional? Someone has made a joke, and only those of us observant enough to see the pun will get it!

I get it, too and it is funny (even if it was unintentional). She's a clever girl. Puns are humor for smart people.

Turns out that's what it was. I asked about it tonight and she said the footprints looked like polar bear footprints, hence the connection from footprints to ice. It appears the joke that she found in this had too complex of a connection for me to get at first; and you know jokes are never as funny if you have to have them explained to you.

I'm glad she explained, though.