2/13/09

Valentines for everyone

Hope you have a happy Valentine's Day with the people you love!

It's been over a week since my last post to this blog. My personal goal is a post at least once a week, so I need to do better. Luckily, Orangeboy gave me something to work with last night. The kids were filling out the little Valentine cards for their classmates. The first thing I noticed was that Orangeboy was filling in a classmate's name on each card from memory. I was surprised and impressed that he seems to know all his classmates' names. This is a boy who just two years ago could not name any more than two of the kids in his class. He only had one friend in first grade - if you could call her that- a motherly-type girl who took it upon herself to look out for him. He could tell us the exact number of kids in his class, but not their names. But this year, he has learned all their names and was able to quickly fill out the Valentine cards.
When he was finished, we found out that he had made a few extra. He dashed around and tossed a card at each of us - his family members. He also had made one for his grandfather (Pops) and his grandmother (Mimi). Each of these family member cards was personalized with a little note.

On the card for me he just wrote: "Happy Valentine's Day." but to his sister he wrote:
"Don't be a pest. I mean it. Happy Valentine's Day."
To his brother he wrote: "Don't tease me."
To his Dad: "Please don't harash me."

So I guess my presence in his life is not that much of a nuisance, but the others are making his life difficult. Either that or he finds my presence so overwhelming that he couldn't even bring himself to summarize the difficulty in one line.

I couldn't read what he wrote to Mimi, but I think it was something about Mahjong which she plays on the computer. And he proved that he isn't always in his own world and unaware of the motivations of others by what he wrote on the card to his Pops: "Are you hungry? ha ha"
Pops likes to eat and really likes ice cream. So, those on the autism spectrum are supposed to lack "theory of mind"? I don't think so. He's at least got his grandfather down.

4 comments:

  1. That's so great! For the first time, Sayer is really enjoying reading his Valentines. He's starting to understand they are more than just pieces of paper mixed up with the real stuff - candy!

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  2. Hey, progress is progress, right? Glad Orangeboy did such a great job with his Valentine's. LOL about his note to his grandfather!!!

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  3. Anonymous27/2/09

    Oh my gosh... I am rolling on the floor so amused at what he wrote on those Valentine Cards! LOL LOL ROFL!!!!! Thank you for that laugh and small glimpse into the future that could be ours ;-)

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  4. You are welcome, One with Little Boy Just 2 Years Old! Thank you for enjoying an Orangeboy Adventure.

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