“Life moves pretty fast.
If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” -Ferris Bueller
Lately, I haven’t been looking around. I’ve been staring at a calendar, counting
down the days til the boys go back to school.
(It’s 19 days away, as of today, August 5, in case you were
wondering.) Now don’t get me wrong. I love my boys with all my heart and would
give up my life for them. And this
summer has been filled with lots of fun and sweet moments! But having all 3 home with me (they weren’t
enrolled in any day camps and I’m a stay-at-home-mom) has been tough. I felt like I’ve been trapped at home with
them, unable to escape. Or when I do get
out of the house, I have to take all 3 of them with me......for
everything: grocery store, Target, the
bank, AAA office, all my usual errands.
And it’s exhausting bringing them with me. They’re always hungry. Someone always has to go to the bathroom when
there isn’t one nearby. They’re always
thirsty. They get cranky. They run around clothing racks at stores and
almost crash into people. They all want
to ride in the cart. They wander out of eyesight and freak me out when I can’t
see them.
Then Alex gave me a reminder. Today, for the first time in his 8 years of
life, he was able to sit in a movie theater and watch a movie from the very
beginning to the very end. I know most 8
year olds can do that. But Alex has
autism. His senses get overloaded at
theaters. We’ve tried to bring him in a
couple times years ago. He lasted about
10 minutes before he ran out of the theater.
The theaters are dark. Loud.
Crowded. Overwhelming. It’s a
lot for his senses to process. But I
felt bad that his typical brothers couldn’t enjoy a movie theater.
So with the help of his wonderful ABA therapist, we brought
the boys to watch the Minions Movie at a regular movie theater. We both prepped him. We reminded him what it was like inside. Yeah, it’s dark but not so dark you can’t see
anything. It’s loud. But if it gets too loud, I brought his
noise-cancelling head phones. It’s
overwhelming. But I brought his security
blanket to comfort him. The movie
started and at first, I kept my eyes on him.
I was waiting to see the panic in his eyes before he bolted
outside. I was waiting to see fear on his
face. Instead, I saw my sweet little guy
staring at the screen. Smiling. Laughing.
Enjoying the movie. After a
while, I stopped worrying about him and started enjoying the moment with him. Half way through the movie, he was concerned
that it was night time (the movie started at 3:15pm.) He was so concerned that he asked his
therapist to take him outside to see if it was dark. About 2 minutes later, they returned to their
seats and finished the movie.
But as soon as the movie ended (before the credits even
started) he had to get out. He couldn’t
wait for us to gather our things. He had
to get out. Luckily, his therapist was
quicker than me and his brothers and was able to take him out right away. A couple minutes later, we follow and I find
him outside the theater in tears. I
talked his therapist and Alex. He had
broken down and cried because it took all of his focus and energy to hold it
together til the end of the movie.
I was so proud of him!
I told him I was proud of him. I
wanted to hug him and thank him. But he
doesn’t like attention on him. At
all. I know I would have made it worse
if I made a big deal out of it. So I
just told him, “Good job, Alex.” Like I
tell him after he’s done his homework.
But this wasn’t homework. This
was a huge, momentous occasion. He has
come so far. Over 5 years of ABA therapy….
speech therapy…..countless therapists….thousands of hours of researching autism
and how we can help him…..talking to specialists….reading all autism books,
magazines, online articles…..talking with other parents and sharing ideas and
resources……holding on to my patience as long as possible. All we have done to love and support him as
best as we can, all his hard work to learn and try hard…….it all had shown like
a bright, shining star today. He was the
sun.
Time does move fast.
I still remember the day he was diagnosed……5 and half years ago. Now he’s 8 years old. I’m so glad he reminded me to look around
today. Today was a day I did not want to
miss.
LOVE this!!
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