ipad & air hockey

In the past couple of weeks I've had 2 distinct conversations with Bronson.  They were short, but it was a two way conversation...which is HUGE! I went out on a limb a few times and asked Bronson open ended questions, instead of our usual yes and no responses.

The first one happened after his summer school session.  We were sitting on the couch and I said, "Bronson did you have fun at school today?"  He smiles and proudly yells, "YES!"  I then step out on my limb..."Bronson what did you do at school today?"  He says "I play with ipad!"  I was so shocked and excited!  I said, "You played with ipad at school?!"  He was equally as shocked and excited that I understood him, and he repeated..."Yes! I played ipad at school!"  We repeated this over and over.  It brought tears to my eyes, how communication was being bridged.

Today as we were leaving the YMCA, I asked Bronson, "Bronson what did you do at the Y?"  He says, "I play air hockey!"  WOW.  I couldn't believe it.  I responded to him, as we walked back to our car,..."Oh wow, that sounds like a lot of fun!" 

To most, these conversations are common place.  But for us, this is a huge accomplishment and an excitement, that I am having a CONVERSATION with my son.  A dialogue back and forth, that so many take for granted, but oh what a beautiful thing.

Weird Tears?--Where the Wild Things Are

So I watched "Where The Wild Things Are" yesterday.  I didn't really have any expectations about the movie.  But as the movie started, I began to tear up watching this little boy.  His character clearly had a form of autism.  Once I made this judgement, I watched the whole movie through the eyes of autism, and was tearful during the whole movie.  Most people, who have no interaction with autism wouldn't make this judgement call about the movie, I would say.  A lot of people would probably say the movie is "weird", "creepy", "depressing", etc...But if you look at it through this little boys eyes, it is a precious story. 

No one understands how his mind works.  His mom tries her best.  The little boy (Max) acts out a lot in the beginning.  A lot of parents would look at this as he is out of control (on the surface-he is), and that he needs to behave better.  But what I noticed in the beginning, was certain things "set him off", and a child with autism has to learn out to deal with these "set off" moments.  Change was happening in the movie, the mother had a visitor over, she made a different dinner than normal, his sister did not come to his rescue when he was crying earlier in the day,...all these different instances lead to his "outburst", and thus thrusted us into his imaginary world.

The creatures in his imaginary world are, in fact, strange looking...but if we can move past this and look at what the characters represent, you will have a whole new outlook.  I believe the characters represent  different facets of this boys mind.  Listen to what they say, how they talk, what is coming out of the mouths of these characters--struggles that Max deals with, and how he wars inside his mind for a physical outcome of the struggles.  One part that I thought was awesome, was when they crowned him, and made him "king".  They all cheered, "Yay for our king!  You are smart!  You are so smart!"  Can you see where I'm coming from with my thought process?

At the end, as Max was sailing away back to his reality, the creatures began howling, and Max howling back.  One might look at this and say, why are they doing that?  That's weird.  I look at this scenario as the creatures "get it".  They understand Max, and he understands them. (his mind)

When Max came back home and was eating his cake, I loved how the mom just stared at him.  I related so well to this.  She wanted to get inside his mind, she loves her son so much, and just was content loving him, and trying to help and understand. 

I cry as I write this, because this movie touched me so greatly.  I encourage you to watch this movie again through the eyes of autism, and maybe you to will shed some "weird tears". 

Egg Decorating--Veggie Tales Style

Bronson is obsessed with Veggie Tales, so Meme sent him the Easter Veggie Tales DVD and the corresponding egg decorating kit.  The boys and I decorated some eggs this morning, and had an indoor egg hunt.  It was fun.  Here are some pictures!

      (we dropped the eggs in each of the colors waiting for them to change colors!)

                               (Brock decorated some of his eggs with the stickers)

                                           (Bronson is proudly saying "Eggs!")

                                       (Brock holding the "Bob the Tomato" egg)

                                                      (The finished product)

                                We did it, it was fun, and it's documented!  Happy Easter!!!!!

Bronson's 1st week of school

Bronson started his new school last week, and he made the transition beautifully.  People asked me if I cried while dropping him off, and I confusingly say "no".  I don't know why.  When I dropped Brock off to school when he was young (back when I worked days), I did cry.  Maybe it's because he was the first child...or maybe it was because he cried when I left.  Bronson gets excited about school, and walks right in, not looking back.  The main teacher in there is great.  She's been in the same classroom for 7 years!  She's really soft spoken and gentle.  She has 3 other helpers in there as well.  The classroom is integrated for those with special needs and those without.  Right now Bronson is FASCINATED with shapes and colors.  He can name all his shapes and colors.  We will be driving down the road and he will be randomly calling out shapes and colors that he sees in the world.  As we were walking past our car to get in, he pointed to the reflector on the side door and said, "orange oval!"...yes, indeed it was an orange oval.  I had to sneak this picture of him, as he didn't want his picture taken on the first day of school.  This is him walking into his classroom.

Since Bronson is at school 4 mornings a week for 3 hours, it's just been me and the Brockster.  We've done fun things, as well as do some much needed errands that I can't do with Bronson in tow.  Here are some pictures of what the 2 of us have done.

     (after waiting at the car shop, we went to Barnes&Noble to look around and play with the train table)

                                                 (rented his favorite movie, "Tangled")

(surprised him with a stuffed "Mario" that he thought Santa would bring him for Christmas next year...he would hold it every time he saw it and say, I get to see you next Christmas...it was too cute, and I couldn't resist)

Brock has been so sweet with Bronson.  He looks out for him, and introduces him to new friends on the playground. "Hey, that's my brother Bronson,...he's 3".  It melts my heart.  They have conversations with each other in the backseat of the car while driving.  Bronson proudly calls his brothers' name "Brott!"

Determined Moms Wait in Blizzards...

I decided that since Brian was going to be in seminar all day at school, I would get the kids out to see this great "Cars 2" exhibit at the transportation museum.  It was a free event, and advertised that it had life-size cars from the movie.  Cool right?  I hyped it up with the boys, and off we went. 

I figured that since we would most likely just be getting out of our car, walking into a warm building to look at the exhibit...no need for big heavy jackets that I'll have to carry. There would probably be ropes and a bunch of their cars, and we walk around and look and enjoy ourselves.  Just long sleeves and fleeces will do right?  *side note* check weather before leaving!

The exhibit was up this long hill, and there was a LONG line.  So we waited, and waited some more, inching forward.  Then it started to snow....and I mean SNOW.  Keep in mind, we're still not in heavy jackets.  I felt so bad for the kids, but we had already waited in line at this point, and they wanted to see Lightning McQueen. 

(waiting in line when snow just began)

(Bronson looking at advertisements while in line)

(waiting to see Cars)

We finally make it up there, and it was an outside pavilion with 3 cars.  Tow Mater, Lightning McQueen, and the blue one.  Basically, you could pick 1 car to get your picture in front of....they hand you a card, and you can look at it on your computer after 48 hours.  What?!  We can't even walk by all the cars to look at them.  Who designed this set up....clearly not a parent. 

We walked through the blizzard back to the car, (I warned all parents in line on my way back...I would have wanted to be warned)...kids were snotty nosed, red faced and Bronson was crying at this point.  Oh forgot to mention, that I had Bronson (40 lbs) on my hip for an 1 1/2 hours b/c otherwise, he would have ran everywhere.  We make it inside our car, and I look turn around in my seat and look at both boys staring at me.  Bronson is crying snot everywhere, hands red and puffed up like balloons they are so cold, and Brock wet with snow.  Then I started crying b/c I felt so bad, that it was so cold, and it wasn't what we were expecting.  So we all sat in our car crying. lol!  We got over it once the car warmed up, and now home eating a snack and drinking hot chocolate.  I'll be sure to post the "free picture" that we got with Tow Mater, once they post it online.  I'm sure it's quite hilarious.

(On our way home,....this is what we stood outside in)

Here it is....Here is the infamous picture we waited out in the blizzard for.

all I can say is....wow.

"Thank You" is for another day

I took the boys to the library today, and I usually let them check out a couple of dvds along with their books.  Bronson usually finds a Thomas the Train or Veggie Tales dvd that he likes, and then holds a death grip on it until we have to go.  When it's time to check out our books, I have to pry it out of his hands to let the lady scan and unlock the case.  During this time the "quiet" library is all staring at a screaming red face child.....who doesn't understand that he will eventually get the dvd back.  HOWEVER, today was thankfully different.

Bronson found a Veggie Tales dvd that he wanted, and I kept reminding him during the course of the library.."Bronson, you can take that home, but the lady is going to have to scan it first.  You are going to have to hand it to the lady".  I wasn't sure how much he was grasping, but nonetheless, it was check out time.  We walked up to the counter and Bronson WILLINGLY HANDED OVER THE DVD.  No questions asked.  I was amazed.  I said, "Good job Bronson!"

The library lady proceeded to go slower than molasses to check it out.  Bronson, not screaming, but insistently saying over and over below the counter...."tales, tales, tales, etc..."  "I know, bud, she's going to check it out and hand it back to you, good job.".  Meanwhile, I'm staring at her,...HURRY UP.  Then the 'all knowing' library lady tries to hand him a book mark to distract him.  Bronson throws the bookmark at her and says, "TALES!".  She asked me what he was saying, and I said, "He is saying Veggie Tales, if you could just please unlock it and hand it to him." lol.

She gives it to him and he smiles.  I was so proud of him!  Then the 'all knowing' library lady says sarcastically, "oh, was that supposed to be a 'thank you'?"  Expecting him to have said thank you to her.  Which probably a child that is his size and age, should, but she has no idea what a daily struggle or victory is in his life.  I just smiled at her and shook my head and said, "You know what?....I am so proud of him right now, for willingly handing that dvd to you.  You have no idea what a huge deal that was for him."  I look at Bronson, rub his head and said, "Proud of you, bud". 

Yes, "thank you" can wait for another day.

                                                                

Boys' Birthday!!!

I decided to do another video blog of the boys' birthday.  Brock turned 5 and Bronson turned 3.  Wow, time flies.

The boys had a GREAT time at their birthday!  They were worn out by the time we got home, and fell right to sleep with their new Woody the Sherriff and Buzz Lightyear!