Today's the SITS Back2Blogging Challenge has asked us to re-publish a blog post with a title we really like. And then we can explain its significance.
I started to post "Life is a spectrum," because I liked that one so much I changed the whole blog to that title. But I posted that so recently that it might be as irritating as when they keep re-running the same episode of Seinfeld once a week. I swear I've seen that episode about the close talker 100 times.
So instead, I picked the post below. It happened this summer, so it hasn't been that long ago. But it was a milestone day. It was the first time I caught Billy making up a game of his own. Since that red letter day, we've had lots and lots of imaginative play. Some of it has been re-enactments of his favorite books or TV shows, but some of his games are recognizable -- and understandable -- only to him. There's one that involves Batman, Noah's ark and the planet Saturn, which I still haven't figured out. But it all started with the day ...
"So a pig, an astronaut and a tractor got into a race"
originally posted 07/06/2010 08:17 pm
Today Billy staged a race between a small plastic pig from his toy farm and a tractor. It went on for quite some time. During this race, which went around and around the dining room table, he hummed the "William Tell Overture" (the Lone Ranger song). The pig won -- which might have had something to do with the fact that the tractor was pulling a trailer carrying an astronaut and Linny from the Wonder Pets -- but that's not the point of the story.
Billy is really starting to explore his imagination. He's starting to make up his own games and tell stories with new endings -- in his own way.
Many of you have been on this journey with us since I started this blog -- and some before that. You know already that we're practicing Floortime therapy, which encourages us to follow the joy of our child. Imaginary play is highly encouraged by this philosophy of autism therapy, because it encourages not only communication, but also problem-solving and thinking more abstractly.
Billy is getting it. He's making progress.
He's still a pretty concrete thinker. He can memorize anything – and I mean anything – that has a name or a number or a specific concrete label. He's not yet four and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of road machinery.
So tell me how a kid who can identify a “steel wheel soil compacter” at 50 yards is incapable of knowing when he needs the bathroom. He's messing with me. I'm telling you that he could use the potty if he wanted to, if it didn't amuse him so much to see me unravel at the seams.
But I guess knowing when he needs to go to the potty – or telling you what color a carrot is, if there's not a carrot in front of him – is still hard. Telling you what he did earlier in the day or yesterday, understanding those vague concepts of time, is next to impossible ... for now.
It's like he lives absolutely in the moment, completely immersed in whatever or whoever he's with. He's not worried about what's going to happen tomorrow, and he's not bothered by what happened yesterday. He is totally with that pig as he crosses the finish line.
I could learn a lot from him.
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This week has been a wonderful walk down memory lane. Thanks to SITS Girls, Standards of Excellence, Westar Kitchen and Bath, and Florida Builder Appliances for sponsoring this opportunity to re-share some of my favorite memories.
Love it!
Wednesday September 15 2010 12:09:49 pm
Amy @ baby baby lemon
My Daugher Was so Similar!
Wednesday September 15 2010 12:19:43 pm
Cheryl D.
Billy
Wednesday September 15 2010 03:17:00 pm
Billy's Nan
Awesome Post
Wednesday September 15 2010 03:56:46 pm
Sheri Carpenter
Imaginative Play is Huge
Wednesday September 15 2010 08:15:42 pm
Big Daddy
Awesome!
Wednesday September 15 2010 09:02:23 pm
Monkey's Mama
Beautiful Post! PERFECT title!
Wednesday September 15 2010 09:50:44 pm
beth@bethszimmerman.com
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