Day 3: The Love Magnet teaches gospel doctrine

(the latest pic of my family)

Yesterday and today we watched General Conference. My fave talks were by Elder Gong and Elder Holland yesterday, and Elder Arnold today (I knew Elder Arnold when I was a child and my daddy called him Merv. I can't tell you how I remember that. Now, Daddy, if you didn't call him that, please let me know.)



We have a tradition in our house: after each talk we pause the DVR and ask the kids "What is your take-away?", meaning 'what can you take away from this talk and use in your life?' After they answer, we throw a couple of pieces of candy at them. (Jolly Ranchers were the popular choice this year.) Each of the boys usually gives us one or two sentences (aka bare minimum) about the general topic or something that resonated with them.



Not The Love Magnet (who is leaning on my shoulder, whisper-reading this as fast as I type, that smart little cookie).



She would insist on getting her turn at "Take-Away". Then she would stand up (the boys never stood up), clear her throat (a-HEM!) and talk as if she were marathoning a gospel-doctrine class.



TLM: "We should choose the right and make good choices because we love Jesus and I am a child of God and we need to help him by having prayers and sing Pi'mary songs at Conf'ence and be nice at school and pay attention and ...."



This would go on for a few more sentences, after which she would in "in the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN!" Then we could hand her some Smarties (her favorite) and start up on conference again.



She also sang along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, discreetly directed with the conductor (she also does that to me in Primary), and alternated between snuggling up next to Firstborn (because he had the softest fleece blanket), or Thirdborn (because Doggie-Girl stayed close to him for both sessions.



I tried to get her interested in some Primary and Conference games for kids online to help her be reverent while the rest of us watched Conference. It lasted for one talk, but afterwards she preferred to listen to the talks, too. I could tell she was listening: in the midst of her sharing-of-testimony during Take-Aways, she always listed something to do with the speaker's topic.



Never underestimate what a child (who happens to have Down syndrome) understands.



And go check out the talks by Elder Gong, Elder Holland, and Elder Arnold. Better yet, just watch all three sessions (4 if you include Priesthood session).