October 10, 2005

Another First

So Chandler and I just got into our first disagreement. It was a really nice experience. He didn’t get frustrated or upset. Just locked on eye contact and advocating for what he wanted. Here is the transcript:

Chandler: (standing at the back door) Outside.

Mommy: No outside.

Chandler: Yes. Yes!

Mommy: Sorry Chandler, you can't go outside.

Chandler: I want outside.

Mommy: No. Sorry.

Chandler: (Sighs and walks away. Comes back 20 seconds later) I want bye bye.

Mommy: What?

Chandler: (taking my hand and pulling me across the room to the front door) Door open.

Mommy: No Chandler, we are not going anywhere.

Chandler: (Groans/whines in that 'mommy I am so bored' way that kids do and plops down into a pile of blankets on the floor.)

Mommy: Wanna go jump on Mommy's bed?

Chandler: (Jumping up and running down the hall) Jump! Jump!

The End.

We went and jumped on the bed and had a great time. At one point I was tickling him and yelled, "Hey, watch it!." So funny.

Now he is standing in the living room and singing the theme to Jack's Big Music Show. I didn't know how much he knew until he started sharing it with us in the last few weeks. He hears a song once or twice and then can sing it. He can also read and spell a lot of words.

I was writing letters on a piece of paper this morning and thought he was just shouting out random letters for me to write, as he has done for the last two years or so with numbers. I was writing them in random places on the paper, and he took my hand and made me write them in a line. It was then that I realized he was calling out the word STOP.

3 comments:

Brett said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Brett said...

Don't you just love moments like that. Even as our kids get older, and these moments happen more and more frequently, parents of autistic kids know not to take any of them for granted. Even from our NT kids.

One of the many "gifts" of autism (or silver lining to the cloud, if you prefer.)

Brett
29 Marbles

Wade Rankin said...

I've often said that autism is a gift because we get to celebrate little victories every day. This sounds like a reason to celebrate to me.