Autism Therapy: theater therapy

Summer vacation has begun and I’m already being driven nuts by these children. These small, charming Gifts from God are making me wonder if we should move to a district that has a twelve-month school year. What’s really going on here is that Thomas and Hayley are driving each other nuts and that, in turn, is making me crazy. The root of the problem is that the weather has been so crummy (for mid-June) that we haven’t been able to do anything. If it’s warm enough to swim, it’s raining. If it’s sunny outside, it’s too cool to go swimming and all the slides at the park have big pools at the bottom. We’re still waiting and waiting for the weather to improve.
Today was actually pretty nice, but I made a grooming appointment for the dog that we had to work around. We left the groomer’s straight for Uncle Tom’s Pool and stayed there until the groomer called us to come pick up Sophie. Frantic pool and swimming activity usually works wonders on kids who have cabin-fever (in June, for crying-out-loud!) but my kids are not like other people’s kids.
We did have a few playdates a few weeks ago with the family I mentioned in my last blog. Thomas was actually really good with his buddy. I explained before they came over that he couldn’t just sit alone and play when we had “company” (what’s “company,” Mommy?) but he had to play with his friend. So, since he couldn’t play PSP, Thomas and his friend played MarioKart on the Wii. Whatever. They had fun. Hayley and her friend played Barbies and the littlest wee one just bounced back and forth, watching. Hopefully we’ll see them again soon and maybe meet at the park or something.
Graduation went fine, but of ALL DAYS for me to forget to give Thomas his Strattera, the graduation ceremony day was probably the worst. He had to sit quietly for semi-extended periods of time which didn’t work out too well for him. The video is funny because he kept waving me away, telling me to turn the camera off and go sit down. But he got an extra-special hug from Mrs. H., who I could tell was genuinely sad to have to say good-bye for the summer.
After the graduation ceremony, Thomas had just one more day of school that happened to be on Tuesday, my help-out day. So I got to be there for the last day, helping take everything off the walls and put things away for the summer. It was kind of sad. I’ve been there every Tuesday all year and have apparently built up a sentimental interest in the Kindergarten classroom and the routine. I really appreciated how much emotional investment the teachers must have in their kids by the end of the year and how hard it is for them to have to let them go. During the graduation ceremony, Mrs. H. gave a short speech about how once the kids go through her classroom for a year, they’ll always be “hers” and can come back and see her anytime. She got choked up as usual and it was very sweet. The kids all wore caps and gowns and Thomas kept pulling his up to reveal the decidedly un-formal t-shirt and shorts I put him in that day. No point making him doubly-uncomfortable in fancy pants AND mortar boards, I though. Nobody gave me any funny looks, though.
Hopefully the weather will turn better so we can walk to the park more often and maybe go to the zoo. All I know is that if we’re all cooped up in this house together for much longer, I’m going to start frantic home-improvement projects like re-painting or something. Hayley’s fifth birthday is coming up; her party is this weekend and Jonathan is apparently going to be up at 4 a.m., slow-cooking pork butts on the grill. It’s the only way, I guess. What I really want to do is get pictures of this madness. We’re going to turn the pork butts into pulled pork sandwiches made with Jonathan’s homemade BBQ sauce. He’s such a gourmand. I’m in charge of potato salad and coleslaw. And I’ll be buying beer too, I think.
We’re going to a wedding in Peoria June 26-28 and leaving the kids with Grandma Jackson. The dog’s going to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s house, God bless them. That’s the main reason I just had her at the vet and the groomer. Nothing says, “Gee, we sure do appreciate this” like dumping a shaggy, smelly and potentially unhealthy dog off with relatives. Jonathan and I certainly could use a break. We keep talking about taking a “date night” for ourselves, but there is just no time! This Friday, we’re going to be getting ready for Hayley’s party which is on Saturday, and I have to work on Sunday. We should be able to have some quality alone time in Peoria, if you can have quality alone time with twenty aunts and uncles, thirty cousins and their dates or spouses, your mom, dad and sisters all staying in hotel rooms nearby. We’ll have to take whatever we can get, I think. We’re going to be driving down with my sister and her husband, whose company we genuinely enjoy, so that will be fun too. Plus, I get to dress up! Yee-haw!
A couple weeks ago, Jonathan only had a half-day at work so we took the kids to see “Up” at the theater. We had never, ever taken both kids to the show before! Like so many things we’ve been doing recently, it was to be a litmus test for Thomas’ performance during stage and theater presentations at Disney. He was GREAT! Outstanding, even! He was, in fact, better behaved than Hayley. He sat in his seat and wore the 3-D glasses (yes, we sprung for the 3-D effect, but don’t think it added too much to the show. The previews were more impressive in 3-D than the movie was, so FYI, you can probably skip the 3-D showing and do the less expensive non-3-D show) and watched the WHOLE THING without complaint. The only problem was that he talked a lot during the show, asking a lot of questions, but he wasn’t too loud asking the questions and didn’t disturb others. There were plenty of children at this showing in particular that were allowed to run wild all over the place and I’m so glad to say that mine were not among them.
I’m trying to keep up with helping the kid’s reading and writing so that their brains don’t turn to mush over the summer but Thomas is totally on to me. He says, “I’m not in school anymore! I don’t have homework!” And then he finds something else to do. Hmpf. Hayley is still really interested in writing and will write words, asking how to spell them and drawing really cute pictures of people who look like potatoes with toothpicks sticking out for arms and legs. They’re really cute.
Well, there goes the random quiet moment I was able to enjoy today. Thomas is stealing noodles out of the colander and making Jonathan crazy and Hayley has fallen asleep next to me in a position that cannot possibly be comfortable. Ho-hum.