Not Your Typical Kid

So I am well aware that my kids are not typical kids. And I am cool with that. Last night, my fabulous 25yo niece called and asked me what our plans were for today (Saturday). I told her we were going to Robot Day at the Central Library. She was silent for a second and then started giggling and said, “Why are your kids so weird? Can’t they have a softball game or something like that?”

I laughed it off and told her I was okay with weird kids. Cause really I am!

So we rode the trolley downtown today to attend Robot Day. The Big One competed in a First LEGO League robotics competition last month. She had a lot of fun and learned a lot about robots, programming and dealing with obnoxious boys. She was on a team of eight – six boys and two girls. They did well as rookies and had fun at the big competition at LEGOLand. (I think they finished 7^th out of 62 teams). It was a great experience.

At the library today, there were a lot of big and small robots set-up and different displays to check out. We watched a 3D printer create part of a castle and then laughed as the guy tried to sell me my very own 3D printer for $799. (or $70/month he offered!)

Then we moved on to watching a some 20-something year old young man play with his robot. The robot was supposed to be doing a line following program. But each time the robot approached a curve in the line it stopped running. The following conversation ensued:

FIXITMOMMY: “See even the big kids have some challenges with line following programs.”

BIG ONE: “Ummmm, We had some trouble with it but eventually got it to work.”

20-SOMETHING DUDE: “Yeah, well the problem isn’t our programming, it’s the course.”

FIXITMOMMY: – rolls her eyes at the kid as if to say, ‘yeah right, it’s the course’s fault not you the one who created the course and the programmed the robot.’ I didn’t verbalize my thoughts, merely kept them to myself. But clearly he knew what I was thinking.

20-SOMETHING DUDE: “No, the curve is too tight, the robot cannot do it” as he is peeling off the black tape to change the course on the table.

BIG ONE: “Well for my team, we weren’t allowed to change the course. We had to fix the program until it followed the course right.”

20-SOMETHING DUDE: “ Ummmm …..” continued to peel off tape to change the course.

FIXITMOMMY: “OKAY, umm, let’s go see something else.”

It was fabulous to watch my 9yo school this big kid! Yes I admit I walked away laughing. Poor dude didn’t even know what to say. Weird or not, the Big One is awesome!