He Amazes Me When I Least Expect It

Many of you are intimately aware that Spencer is not potty trained. Okay, well maybe he is, but only if I remember to take him. Call me lazy, forgetful, scatter brained, whatever; I'm just not very good at remembering to take him. We (okay so maybe the therapists mostly) have been working TIRELESSLY the past year on teaching Spencer to "mand". (I think I've explained this before, but "manding" is basically the skill of "asking" or "requesting" something.) This is CRITICAL to move to the next step in getting him OUT OF PULLUPS for good! (Cause let me tell you, a 9 year old poo is no fun at ALL!!). This is the one thing that makes me crazy and completely irritates me about having a kid with Autism. I mean, come on I have been changing diapers for 11 years! ENOUGH already! (You might be thinking, geez Tami, if it bothered you that much you would not be so "forgetful" in taking him, but oh contraire it is not that simple...we do really good for a few weeks, but then I give up, thinking it will NEVER happen. The only thing worse than changing a pull up is changing real clothes that have been poo'd on...YUCK!)

Well, we had a little break through at home yesterday. I got home and was a little sleepy, so decided to lie down on the couch and read a little while. Spencer was quietly playing his video game. (He loves his video game, but more than that, he really likes to watch someone else play.) So as I was reading I started to doze off a little bit. Next thing I know, I feel a little tap, tap, tap, on my arm. I think to myself, that it's probably Parker needing something, but as I open my eyes, there's sweet little Lou standing there with the Wii control in his hand looking at me. I asked, "Do you want mommy to play?" He says "ess".

Please pray that we get to see more manding, I feel like we are so close!! More than that please pray we get him out of pull ups before he turns 10!! :)

Until next time...grace, peace, hope, love and prayers

T

The Amazing Music Man

Most of you know how much Spencer LOVES water, specifically water in motion, like sprinklers and splashing. You also probably know how much he likes music. Well, last night I went to pick him up from my mom’s house and she said he was making music with the water. We talked for a minute about it, but I really didn’t actually witness him doing it. We get home about 8:30 and needed to water the front plants, so I hand him the hose to help me out, his favorite job of all!!

After about 10 minutes my neighbor Bekkah pulls up with her friend Darian in the car. Both of these girls absolutely adore Spencer; Bekkah babysits for us and Darian is his caregiver at Promise Land. They hop out of the car and come over to talk to me and visit with Spencer. We start chit chatting and Spencer goes on about his way of watering the plants. Now that he realizes I’m not watching, he starts watering everything else; the house, the windows, the concrete ground, the grass, ME, the girls, everything. As he was doing so I noticed he seemed to be not only watching the water but listening to the sounds the different surfaces made when they were sprayed with water. (He especially liked the reaction he got out of us when he sprayed us!) I started thinking about what my mom had told me and realized YES, he is making music with the sounds of the water!! He would “spray, spray, spray the grass, then spray, spray the windows, then spray, spray, spray the grass again, and then spray the door, then spray, spray the windows again. I know that probably doesn’t make a lot of sense reading it and you have zero perception of the different sounds it was making. If you were there listening to it though, you could start to recognize he was making a pattern, and I like to believe he was trying to make music!! He is AMAZING….The Amazing Music Man!!! I think he may be on to some cutting edge new music movement!

Until next time, grace, peace, hope, love and prayers!

T