Saturday, February 17, 2007

Thank You for Sharing

We've been using organic French Fries as a reward for pooping for the last 2 years. Michael wasn't fully potty trained until he was about 6 1/2. I don't think he even peed in the toilet until he was 5. It just freaked him out. Anyway, the FF's worked- so we've stuck with it.

Tonight Michael did his duty (pun intended) and I gave him some FF's. I heated up some extras for me. Of course I couldn't let him see them- because he thinks that they are HIS and HIS alone. But, he snuck into the kitchen and saw the fries in the toaster oven. His eyes lit up.

I'm like "Michael, tonight Mommy & Michael are going to SHARE the fries". Share. Share. He probably knows that word. But, being an only child- there isn't a lot of opportunity for sharing. He's not bad at it, especially in school. But, he's not used to sharing FF's at all.

I give him some and put the rest in my plate. He's all confused. He finished his fries and comes over to me. "Mommy is going to share the fries". I say "well Michael, I did, but here are 3 more". He's happy, but still confused as to why I have more than him. He's probably also confused in general because I'm eating his fries.

He eats the three and hits me up for more. I give him the last one "This is how much I love you kid".

About 5 minutes later I'm writing an email on my laptop and Michael walks over, puts his hand on my shoulder and says "Thank you Mommy for sharing the french fries". He looked right at me and the way he said it- it was perfect. I actually FELT that he was thankful. The fact that emotion came thru in what he said- well that's rare for him.

It was like one of those non-autism moments. I get these flashes of.... don't want to use that word normal.... typical behavior. It's like he can't say it any better. I see that in him once in a while. More recently than 1-2 years ago.

It's little things- like going to a birthday party and not having to follow him around. Or going to a movie and making it to the end. Sometimes it's just me asking him to get a pair of socks- and he does it.

The other morning the neighbor, who is Michael's age, ran across the grass- which was a sheet of ice and fell right on his face. I ran over to him to make sure he was ok and he was crying. What was Michael doing? laughing.

I just don't see that connection- that compassion most of the time. Fact is- I rarely see it. So, tonight, when he truly thanked me for sharing- it was amazing and perfect and the reason why everyone works so hard with him.

On a side note; We got his latest Urine test back. All his metal went down, except for Mercury- it went up, just alittle. I've seen 3-4 other kids and their tests and Michael has the lowest numbers (least amount of metals being excreted). But, it's doing well- so I'm not going to stress over it. He behaviors have been A LITTLE better this week and with vacation here (10 days off) we'll see how he is on the first day back.

Also: I rescheduled his CSE meeting so I can get together the information on the laws regarding Michael's summer program. I'm working with an advocate. The next meeting should be at the end of April. Again, I'll keep everyone updated.

Thanks!