Category Archives: Family

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Loved Metra Trains

Buffalo Grove Train Station

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. A day off of school, work, a day to remember a great man, a great leader who was taken from us way too soon. I always wonder what he truly would have achieved if he had not died. We have spent the last week learning about Dr. King in the second grade classroom in which I work. I know that my own kids have continued to discuss his numerous contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. Adam has had this day circled on his wall calendar for weeks. He has been waiting anxiously for, I’m sure what seems like forever in his mind.

You see, although Adam loves to learn about events and dates in history, and he has recited many facts about Dr. King,  January 18, 2016 was his next day off of school. His next opportunity to make another pilgrimage to yet another Chicago Metra station. As we are getting in the car, Adam starts going through his scripted dialogue, which I have heard all weekend.

Mom ‘spaced out’ and didn’t take Adam to the Buffalo Grove train station this weekend so we are now going on Monday, January 18, 2016. 

Ok, so I need to set a few things straight:

First of all, I didn’t ‘space out’. I have just learned that I need to strategically plan these visits, for, if Adam had his way, visiting Metra Stations and riding the Metra train is ALL  I would do in my free time.

In addition, visiting a particular Metra station once with Adam is never enough. There is always something new to discover, something new to take in. A new detail to digest. Autism doesn’t allow the Metra train or it’s station to get old.

We begin to drive and  Adam says to me:

Martin Luther King loved Metra trains

Huh. How do you know that he loved Metra trains buddy?

Because Martin Luther King starts with an ‘M’ and Metra starts with an ‘M’. They match! That’s why Adam knows that ‘Martin’ (now they’re on a first name basis) loved Metra trains.

I started to speak, but no words exited. My mouth slowly closed and I decided that it was just not worth it. For anything that I would potentially say would be rebutted with one of his classic responses such as ‘mom’s talking was hurting his ears’, or something of the like. It just wasn’t worth it. In his mind, his reasoning made sense, and he’s already moved on. WAY on. We continue to drive in silence. Me, deep in thought, and Adam with his eyes as wide as saucers and an enormous grin on his face.  We have arrived at the train station! One that we have never visited, however, he has studied it’s every minute detail in pictures that he has Googled. He immediately rips off his seat belt before I even get a chance to fully park. He starts stimming; drumming his fingers together in front of his face rapidly, as he often does when he is excited. Once again, I’ve lost him to the Metra. He is not in his right mind.

I quickly grab my hat and gloves,  glance at my car thermometer and note that it reads -3 F. We won’t be out here long…I pray that we are not out here long. Adam’s world stops when it comes to anything to do with the Metra. As I am sprinting to keep up with him, I note that his head moved ever so slightly to the left and right to check for cars. Wha hooo!! He’s finally remembering to check for cars! Or maybe I was just hoping.

After about 20 poses of Adam standing outside the station and 1oo more shots of the various angles of just the station alone, Adam thankfully decides that it really is insanely cold and he makes a run for the car. He once again barely turns his head to look for cars, but he did look a little, right?

He couldn’t get his seat belt on fast enough and immediately starts swiping through his new pictures on his iPad at warp speed. I notice his eyeballs jumping back and forth, up and down, absorbing every detail of those pictures like a sponge. Soon he will be reciting random facts about the number of bricks, how many cracks in the mortar, and the number of shingles this train station contains. I sigh, and smile ever so slightly.

You see, although Adam’s obsession with the Metra train, the Metra stations and the maps of the Metra line can be a bit overwhelming to me at times, it truthfully isn’t. It’s really such a simple thing. All he really ever wants to do on a day off of school is take a leisurely drive to a Metra station, take a few pictures, admire, in his mind, it’s remarkable beauty, and go home.  Going to a Metra station doesn’t cost me a dime,  except maybe a little bit of gas. I get to spend time with my son in the car, listening to his theory and reasoning of why Dr. Martin Luther King loved Metra trains. But most importantly, I get to witness the pure joy on his face, as if I took him to Disney World.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Letter to My Son’s…and My Daughter’s IEP

Hi There! It’s me again…

It’s been a while since I’ve actually opened both of you. Maybe it’s because I have you memorized like the back of my hand. Or maybe, it’s because I truthfully get a bit sick (both physically and mentally) of you sometimes… You and I both know that there are some reasons for that.

Regardless, once again it’s January, and in a few days, we will be meeting along with several others. They call us a team. Your drafts have already been sent home for my review, my notes and questions have been made.

In a few days a copy of your 25+ pages will be passed out to each member of the team. We will start by introducing ourselves; and then the real fun begins. Over the course of two hours (sometimes longer) we will discuss my parent concerns and then your present levels of functioning. We will discuss your goal data, and determine whether the goals written on your precious pages have been met. If your goals haven’t been met, we will discuss the possible causes, brainstorm solutions and reword the goal until the verbiage is so intricately precise. All in hope of giving my son and daughter the best chance possible to make progress in order to achieve academic success. We will then discuss and determine each of their classroom accommodations:

Will a 4×6 or a 3×5 index card be allowed to be brought to class to remember math and science formulas? Yes, your words are that specific.

You state that you do not allow double sided worksheets/articles to be given to my son or daughter for flipping back and forth is too distracting.

You make it clear that study guides are to be given no less than 4 days in advance.

You state that tests are to be read to my children, there are to be no true /false questions and they are to get the double allotment of time to take assessments for, their processing disorders make all of the above challenging.

I won’t bore you with the many  other speech, OT and social work accommodations that you hold. You know exactly what it says.

We both know that an enormous amount of time is dedicated to combing through your words, for, as nit-picky as it is, these very important details help to ensure that my children achieve academic success. A few more loose ends are tied up. And if everything goes well, and everyone is in agreement, signatures are obtained and your new pages are ready to be followed….that’s in a perfect world.

Now don’t get me wrong, most of the team takes you back and begins to painstakingly implement your every word immediately. But there’s seems to  always be  that one team member. The one who thinks that they are above you. The one who thinks that it isn’t their job, but someone else’s, to read you or even acknowledge you. The one who thinks part, if not all of you is stupid. The one who thinks that they don’t have time for you. The one who takes your precious pages and tosses you aside, throws you in a drawer. It’s funny how that one team member is always the first to roll their eyes at my children, get frustrated  when they aren’t understanding or performing. And they are always the first to call and tell me. It has to be an awful feeling to be abandoned like that after the entire team worked so hard to create your pages. If only your words were read. If only you were heard.

Honestly,  as much as I truly love and appreciate you, I really wish that you were not a such an enormous part of my life. Oh how I wish that I could send my children to school and go about my day without you being on my mind, every hour, heck, every minute for that matter. How I wish that I did not have to use up precious vacation time to meet with the team or field phone calls and emails.. I mean, a beach and an umbrella drink sounds so much better than a board room; and if given the choice, I would think that you would much rather still be a tree.

And then there’s my reputation that you have indirectly helped me to achieve. I know that I am “That Mom”. I know that I have been called a b*itch. I also have heard through the grapevine that I am a “piece of work”. That’s been my favorite phrase to date. But no worries, as the old ‘sticks and stones’ adage goes…..names will not hurt me. You and I both know that my children are entitled by law, to receive a free and appropriate education; so therefore, you are the law.  you are to be followed. I guess that together, we will have to continue to be that reminder. If only we were all a part of the team.

So, in a few days, the team will be gathering to pour over your precious pages. We will review you, discuss you,  dissect you, and sign you. I just sincerely hope that this year, everyone spends time with you and really gets to know you. Because after being a part of an IEP team for 13 years, I know that you really truly do have a lot to say. You really do know how to make the lives of all those involved a WHOLE lot easier.  You just need to be heard.

With Love,

Mom

 

 

Raspberry Iced Tea, an “Epic” Pillow Fight, Ke$ha and a Box of Tampons….

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It’s been an exciting weekend. My middle son, Alex’s baseball team won their Fall Ball league championship. The team has only played together for 5 weeks and they ended their season undefeated. As fun as it was watching the team pose with their trophy in their first place sweatshirts, and as proud as I am of my son and his team, I couldn’t help but think that this was only the second or third time in the past five years of playing travel baseball we have been able to take this picture. Maybe that’s why this picture was all the more special. No sooner did we finish this game, our team was back on the road to our final tournament of the fall ball season. I know…. We’re one of those  families.

Sports are a big part of our lives. My daughter, Lacey, danced competitively for many years. She now dances on her high school dance team and is a member of her high school track team. Alex runs cross country, plays basketball and lives and breathes baseball. Adam plays baseball, soccer and is passionate about Tae Kwon Do. Our family vacations are planned around tournaments and competitions. In fact, sometimes our family vacations are incorporated into their sport schedules. I, myself, grew up playing travel soccer. I got to play in some pretty awesome places.  Competitive sports have always been a way of life for me and now I get to live the world of competitive sports from a different perspective… as a parent.

I love to watch my kids participate in sports.  I know first hand, there is so much to be learned from playing sports. And there is so much more to competition than the wins and losses.  There is a difference between being a winner and winning.  A winner works hard, keeps a positive mind, picks up a teammate who is struggling, works hard to better themselves and their teammates, and they never EVER think that they have mastered their skill. A winner leads by example, makes no excuses, and never EVER gives up. A winner develops close relationships with their teammates. But most importantly, a winner has FUN.  These were qualities that were pounded into my head by my coaches while growing up. I am more often than not, reminded of how many of us misunderstand the difference between a winner and winning. The bottom line is….how many wins do you truly remember anyway?  Thus, the reason I had to snap this picture……

Unfortunately, so many of us get caught up in the ugliness of sports….winning. Everyone knows THAT parent. THAT parent  is always yelling at their own kid to run faster, swing harder, dance cleaner. And after they are done criticizing their own kid, they start targeting the other kids on the team. They just can’t help themselves. Winning is just that important to them. They suck the life out of their own kids, not to mention, the rest of team, the team parents, and the coaches. I’ve experienced THAT parent. They truly make me want to stick hot pokers in my eyes, for I’m convinced that the hot pokers have to feel better than enduring hours on a sidelines with THAT parent. In addition, look at the kid of THAT parent… Do they ever look happy? Think about it….

I look back on my own days of playing competitive soccer. My second home was a soccer field. I vaguely remember the wins. I vaguely remember the losses, for that matter. What I do remember is the fierce friendships that I formed with my teammates. Most of whom I still talk to 30 years later.  I remember traveling to overnight tournaments, staying in hotels and the crazy pool parties. I remember sitting on the floor in the hall near our room listening to Prince, The Cure, Duran Duran, the Pretty in Pink soundtrack, and whatever other music was current and popular at that time; over and over on our Walkmans, until we knew every word. I also pride myself on my ability to style every type of braid known to long hair for this is how we passed time in between games…by the way, teammates…my daughter is truly grateful to you! I remember the team lunches, the team dinners. But, I think my most favorite of all of my soccer memories is a long drive back from a tournament in Cincinatti, way before there were televisions is cars. All of the books and magazines that we brought with us were read and tossed aside. We were beyond bored out of our minds, when, a box of tampons caught one of my teammate’s eye. This little blue box of individually wrapped cotton, suddenly came to life. Our tampon family was born, complete with faces and names, all hanging by their strings and happily flapping outside the window all the way back to Chicago! I remember the endless belly laughing until our sides were ready to explode. Obviously a memory that I will never forget.

I am currently sitting on the sidelines of our third game of Alex’s team’s final baseball tournament of the fall 2015 season. We’ve won two games and as of right now, are currently winning our third. I don’t know what the outcome will be. If we win, I’ll be standing there with my camera, because otherwise,  I’m pretty sure this win will be long (or shortly) forgotten. I will happily remember, however, the boys that I took to lunch today in between games, chatting about how great the raspberry iced was in the dining room during their Cooperstown trip this past summer and reminiscing about the “epic ” pillow fight that broke out among the teams on the last night that they stayed in the bunk house; all while Ke$ha’s Tik Tok was blaring on my car radio and the boys were singing at the top of their lungs all the way back to the field.

Just Push Her in a Bunch of Butter and Lock Her in the Closet

Posted in Autism, Family, humor by

 

It’s the last weekend before dance classes, baseball, soccer, and school activities return with a vengeance. 2015 has gone by so fast. Lacey is 6 months in to having her driver’s permit and as she was driving us to a soccer game and two baseball games today, I was mentally remarking how well she is doing behind the wheel and how she gains more and more confidence each time we get in the car. Meanwhile, back in the peanut gallery, Adam is giggling hysterically in the backseat and going through one of his favorite scripted dialogues about Lacey and her driving:

Adam: When Lacey get’s her driver’s license, she will take me to the Metra station, to Dunkin Donuts on Saturdays, take me to art class and Tae Kwon Do, and to Culver’s all of the time. But if Lacey crashes mom’s car or the driver’s ed car, what will happen?

Me: I don’t know buddy, you tell me.

Adam: If Lacey crashes mom’s car or the driver’s ed car, she’s going to get ‘all flunked up’ 

He then continues to laugh hysterically, which, I have to admit, every time I hear this, I chuckle to myself, for he has no idea that he is so spot on in so many ways. Lacey is always such a good sport about this image that he has in his head and will usually throw in a chuckle as affirmation.

At one time or another, we have all been on Adam’s “list”; but my poor daughter has been on this list for quite a long time. He has taken an extremely strong interest in her demise. Adam continually imagines Lacey flunking all her classes and not being able to go to college, locking her in closets, moving her into other rooms in our house, or better yet, other people’s homes. Yes, he has relished in his sister’s failures for what seems like and eternity. In his autism directness, he even flat out tells her that he only likes his brother. And while we continually correct Adam and remind him that he can’t hurt people’s feelings by being so direct, It just seems to repel off his head. And Lacey continually amazes me as to how she always seems to take it all in stride. She may, once and a while, throw in an eyeball roll, but her patience is endless with Adam.

Adam LOVES puzzles. He can typically complete a 1000+ piece puzzle in about a week, with minimal help. Upon completion, he always asks me to take a picture, then immediately destroys the puzzle and moves right in to the next one. He always tries to recruit me to help him, but I’ll fully admit that I have an attention span of a gnat when it comes to tedious tasks.  I immediately take a sudden and intense interest in the laundry, the dishes, cleaning toilets with a toothbrush, organizing my sock drawer…you know, anything BUT that! One particular rainy weekend, two weeks ago, Adam was in the dining room working on his latest masterpiece. Lacey wandered in, sat down next to him,  and began to work on a section. Adam immediately says:

If Adam ( he sometimes still refers to himself in the third person) pushes Lacey back into a bunch of butter and locks her in the closet, what will mom do?

He’s obviously trying to tell her to ‘get the heck out’. As I am correcting him not being very nice, I have to admit that  I’m amused with the visual of Lacey being pushed into butter and locking her in the closet, wondering where on earth he devised this potential “punishment”. I mentally note his crazy imagination and I’m silently thankful that he at least warned me that he is contemplating a retaliation. Lacey gets up and calmly says:

“Ok, Adam. Let me know if you change your mind and want help.”  

Over the summer, I spent a full week with just the two of them, while my husband and middle son were in Cooperstown, NY for a baseball tournament. I was surprisingly stunned as to how “anti-Lacey” Adam really is. Over the course of the week, he presented to me, many potential scenarios; from pushing Lacey into the pool, throwing her off the boat into the Chicago river, and finally wanting to fly HER out to Cooperstown and bring Chris and Alex back home. Lacey just continued to shake it off, commenting that someday it will change. As much as I too know this, I can’t help but to feel sorry for her.

They say that you can always pick out a sibling of a child with special needs by their endless tolerance and compassion. As long as Adam continues to express his dislike for Lacey, she will still continue to agree to make detours past the Metra train station, always be ready for a nightly tickle monster, listen to him read the same book over and over, continue to subject herself to getting her butt kicked by Adam at Mario Kart, patiently answer his endless questions, and let him monopolize her phone in order to listen to his favorite Imagine Dragons song for the one millionth time. And she will NEVER complain when Culver’s is ALWAYS the choice for a family dinner.

I know for sure that Lacey wouldn’t trade her brother for anything in the world. I also I know one other thing  for sure….when life “pushes her back into a bunch of butter, and locks her in the closet”, she will come out STRONG;  because she is the sister, of a brother, with special needs.

My Hores are Moaning

Posted in Autism, Family, humor, kids, motherhood, Parenting, teens by

Adam’s first week of middle school with  is complete. Adam navigated his first 5 days without a glitch. 5 days down, 171 to go. I’m currently sitting on the sofa, writing, and breathing a sigh of relief….oh, who am I kidding, I’m actually sitting here diving headfirst into my second glass of wine. Tomatoes/tomatoes.

Adam says his favorite classes so far are math and science…no big surprise, for both of these classes are fairly concrete and have rules to follow. Adam loves rules. New to him are FACS classes (Family and consumer science…Home Ec for those of us who are a product of the 1980’s) His first class in this rotation is sewing. His first project; a drawstring bag.  As we were waiting in line at the fabric store on Friday night, with his chosen Chicago Blackhawks material in hand, I was counting my blessings that Adam has a wonderful paraprofessional, Mrs. H.,  that helps him to navigate his schedule and his day. On the other hand, I was thinking that this poor woman does not make nearly enough money, for the video that I have playing in my head, of my son operating a sewing machine, is nothing short of a bloody massacre. This is going to be a huge learning curve for all those involved.

As we continue to wait in line, I decide check his sewing project assignment one more time from my phone.  I scroll through Canvas, the on-line assignment program that our school district uses, and I happen to notice, much to my horror, that Adam has health class is first in his PE rotation. I’m now trying to fight the overall sinking and sick feeling in my stomach. Sewing and sex ed…all in the first month of school?  I silently promise Mrs. H, that I will start saving my spare change in order to send her on a fancy vacation accompanied by lots of tropical drinks that I KNOW she will need, come winter break, in December.

Any typical middle school boy dreads sex ed in middle school. But not Adam. His  mind does not allow him to understand embarrassment. He will march right into this class with the same pragmatic approach that he does with anything else in life. I often admire how matter of fact he is about everything and am often envious of this quality…..Until he turned 11 years old. Over the past 6 months I have had many interesting conversations with my son. His inquisitive mind, minus the inhibition, in combination with ‘who knows what’ is going on in his head, is a dangerous mix. For example,

Earlier this past spring, I was laying in bed with him,unfortunately fighting a headache, as he was reading one of his favorite chapter books to me. He stopped for a second and examined a crease in the middle of my forehead as he does occasionally. This time, however, instead of making a comment about my face being cracked, me being old, or some other blunt observation that he is so well know for, he just begins to rub it:

Me: Thanks buddy. That’s actually making my headache feel much better

Adam: Mom has a headache because why?

Me: I just have a headache.

Adam: Because why?

Knowing if I don’t give him a reason, we could potentially be having this conversation for a while; I decide to proceed with the old ‘answer-the-question-with-the-actual-terminology- and-reason-and-it-should-be-over’ trick.

Me: Probably because of hormones.

Adam: Mom’s ‘Hores’ are ‘moaning’ because why?

And with that, I quickly jumped out of his bed, turned off his light and ran for the hills. That was enough questions for the night!

-or-

The time that I came home from work one day and found Adam in him room playing on his iPad. I sat down next to him on his bed and proceeded to ask him about his day. He was immediately distracted by something on my shoulder. I look to my left and realized that my bra strap was showing. I cringed and braced myself for the parade of questions that I knew were coming:

Adam: What’s that white thing?

Me: My bra strap.

Adam: Mom’s bra strap does what?

Me: Girls wear them like an undershirt.

Adam: Or to cover the pointy things on Mom’s chest.

Me: Typically never at a loss for words, I feel my face getting redder by the minute, and am now frightened as to where this conversation is heading. I then reluctantly respond: “yes”

Adam: Otherwise what will happen?

Me: ummmmm…..I don’t know, buddy, you tell me.

Adam: Otherwise, if mom doesn’t wear that white thing, her chest is going to fall all over the ground. 

I sat there, really wanting to be in his head for just one minute, realizing that he does have quite the imagination. On the other hand, maybe it’s wishful thinking, because, for the record, if I did not wear my bra, my chest definitely WOULD NOT fall all over the ground!!

I still reflect on these conversations and continue to waffle on whether he even remotely understands anything about the birds and the bees. On the other hand, I’m completely convinced that for boys, bras, boobs, hormones, and butts are just innate and he 110% totally gets it!! Regardless, I’m thoroughly convinced that I will have more to worry about with Adam  than Alex, his brother, who turns beet red at the mention of the word “girl”.

So tomorrow is day #6. 170 more days to go. Mrs. H., I can’t tell you how much we appreciate you. For sure, you have your work cut out for you. I apologize in advance.

Meanwhile, I’ll be rubbing my temples, bracing myself for another week of Adam and middle school; anticipating headaches, and at the same time praying that my ‘Hores’ don’t moan too much!!

I love him with all my butt…..and my heart!

Posted in Autism, Family, humor, kids, motherhood, Parenting, teens by

So last night, I had this dream….

Adam and I are on big yellow inner tubes floating on the Chicago River going west. I’m using my hand to paddle while frantically trying to grab his hand so that we don’t get separated. Suddenly, big military ships start heading our way and I quickly realize that they do not see us. Somehow, I get us both over to the side and a black iron fence appears out of nowhere. I reach out and grab on to it and start alternating my hands while frantically looking back to see that Adam has a hold of my tube. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a thick brown sludge start to swirl around us. I desperately try to paddle us out with my hands. We are eventually swallowed up into the sludge and….That’s it… I wake up.

I have been playing this dream over and over in my head all day looking for meaning; and suddenly it occurred to me. I was with Adam traveling up s*it creek without a paddle…..

Who has not felt this way at one time or another with their children? As my husband likes to remind me, after our third child, Adam, was born we transitioned from playing man to man to strictly a zone defense. As soon as one fire was extinguished, another one erupted. It’s life with kids, plain and simple.

Monday is the big day. Adam has had this date circled on the calendar for months. Never mind that we still had half a year of 5th grade to finish. He has been ready for a new chapter in his life to begin before the last chapter even ended. He spent the summer practicing creating “the flow” with an obscene amount of hair gel. He has decided that he is too old to take a bath and has switched to exclusively taking showers.He faithfully washes his face every night in anticipation of the non-existent pimple all because that’s what his older brother and sister do. He has even explored deodorant. On August 24, 2015,  Adam will officially be a middle school student. His next three years will be filled with pre-teens and teens jockeying for a spot on the ladder of social hierarchy. He will be entering a new world filled with cell phones, texting, social media, boys liking girls and girls liking boys. He will be entering a world in which where you choose to sit at a lunch table is probably the single most important decision and possibly the biggest disappointment and source of drama that a middle school student will face in the first couple of weeks of school. He will be surrounded by a new world of academics and demands that can send a young 6th grader into a tailspin of uncertainty. On Monday, Adam will be navigating this new experience. He is my third child to go off to middle school, but my first middle school child to charter these socially treacherous waters with autism. He is confident and ready; and as uncertain as I am, I couldn’t be more proud.

In June, as he excitedly walked out the doors of his grade school, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of sadness for we had been a family at that school for the past 10 years. Ferris Bueller once said it perfectly: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once and awhile, you could miss it.”  This statement couldn’t be more true;  I literally blinked and elementary school for all three of my children was over. My sadness, however, was quickly replaced by a huge sense of pride, for over the past 4 years, Adam defied the naysayers. He continued to prove that he could be successful in a mainstream classroom with the proper support, which I largely attribute to a wonderful and dedicated group of teachers and therapists that have faithfully stood by Adam’s side for the past 4 years. These wonderful teachers rolled up their sleeves, and went to the mattresses for our son, when we made the decision in the middle of his first grade year to move him out of his self-contained classroom back to a mainstream class. Adam has been on quite a unique journey; a journey that I know will continue to unfold. But just as each and every child is unique, each and every child with autism is unique. Just as he has been taught by many over his short life, he has taught many, many more.

You may be scratching your head and questioning…. ‘Tales From the Butt’ ?? This very, very, VERY long story has twisted, turned, evolved and has taken on a life of itself. Just as autism is very unique. My butt is Adam’s unique autism perseveration. He loves to talk about how big it is. (I’m 5’3″ and 120 lbs.) He often expresses how ‘boincy’ and bouncy’ it is. He loves to remind me that on May 4, 2014, he noticed my butt under a blue blanket, marking the date that his fascination with my behind began. He likes to imagine that I have train tattoos on my butt. He likes to pat it, talk to it and for whatever reason make the “mmmmmmm” sound by it. He has nicknames for my butt such as ‘hip hip hooray butt’ ‘engine butt’ ‘jazzy butt’ and my all-time favorite “found it at Costco butt”.  I have tried with all my might to understand why my butt is so interesting to him. Our discussions about his fascination circle right back to that infamous day in May when my butt caught his autism eye under that blue blanket. I have identified dates on the calendar marking the time in which he needs to stop talking about my butt…..with no luck. I’ve also tried to ignore his perseveration, but his intrigue with my booty is endless. As exhausting as all of this “butt talk” can be,  I am grateful for two things: 1.) Adam is only fascinated with my butt. 2.) He is a rule follower and therefore abides to my strict instruction that he may not talk about my butt at school or the principal will call me and he will be in “big trouble”.  I have put all of his teachers on “butt alert”. This was quite a unique and interesting conversation the first time I presented it in the “parental concerns” portion of the IEP meeting. In the end, even though at times I feel like I am only a butt to him, I’ve come to realize that my son’s fascination with my butt is his unique way of expressing that he loves me.  I have no choice but to find the humor in his unique and endearing way of displaying his affection. Therefore, I in turn, love him with all of my butt….and my heart!

And so, in two more days, I will have a sophomore, a 7th grader, and Adam will land at his new middle school as a 6th grader in his own unique blaze of glory. I’m excited for him to begin his new chapter. I will be right there along side him paddling west on the Chicago River, with ships coming straight at us, helping him to navigate this socially awkward time in his own unique way. I’m sure that there will be many, many more unique ‘Tales from the Butt’ to share.