Did you hear the one about ...

You might wonder why I feature Archer's work here so often, and Cady Gray's so rarely. Of course it's mostly because Archer is writing much more frequently than Cady Gray. I'm sure I'll have many adorable and precocious samples of her thought processes to share in the years to come.

But it's also because Archer's mind is something alien to me. Whenever he gives us a hint of what makes sense to him, I'm fascinated.

In 2007, music critic Tim Page wrote an essay in the New Yorker about his Asperger's syndrome. I'll never forget the second grade report on a field trip to Boston that he reproduces in his introduction, a seemingly willful refusal to conform to the assignment that he says angered his teacher.

Well, we went to Boston, Massachusetts through the town of Warrenville, Connecticut on Route 44A. It was very pretty and there was a church that reminded me of pictures of Russia from our book that is published by Time-Life. We arrived in Boston at 9:17. At 11 we went on a big tour of Boston on Gray Line 43, made by the Superior Bus Company like School Bus Six, which goes down Hunting Lodge Road where Maria lives and then on to Separatist Road and then to South Eagleville before it comes to our school. We saw lots of good things like the Boston Massacre site. The tour ended at 1:05. Before I knew it we were going home. We went through Warrenville again but it was too dark to see much. A few days later it was Easter. We got a cuckoo clock.

At least Archer's teacher didn't scrawl "See me!" on this paper he brought home. But tell me if it doesn't remind you of something.

My 2009 Spring Break
written and illustrated by Archer

During Spring Break I gone to my mom's school. She teaches there in room 402. I gone in these rooms: 306B, 303, and 302. In the library I gone in room 221. 221 -- I looked for books. 302 -- I practiced for my piano lesson. 303, I had dry erase board time. 306B -- I had workbook time.

In the same vein, here's a joke Archer wrote that I found quite funny -- which may indicate that I've been living with him for too long.

My Favorite April Fool's Joke

Knock knock.
Who's there?
238A!
238A who?
238A as a number!

But then there are the flashes of normalcy -- or at least the kind that Archer can simulate. They tug at my heartstrings.

"Friendly"
by Archer

Roses are red,
violets are blue,
as you know,
I love you.
You care,
you share.
I love you
like a dove.
We might fall in love.