Okay, so a brief update is probably in order. Let's see if the Wretched iBook of Despair will let me do this.
Schuyler had a great time at the amusement park, as everyone figured she would. When I dropped her off at summer camp yesterday morning, I talked to the impossibly young, impossibly pretty and impossibly perky counselor who has been my usual point of contact, and she said that the trip was a huge success and that Schuyler had no problems at all. Most of the staff are sort of gleefully clueless, but this one girl seems to know what's going on and is always polite to me, in a "I'm being nice to you, old man, but please stop looking at my tits" kind of way. I'm not sure why she still bothers after all these weeks, since it clearly isn't working.
That was a joke. Settle down.
When I got home from work and gave her the Big Box of Words back, Schuyler wasn't very communicative about her day. That wasn't a huge surprise. She's still at the stage where answering questions and making very direct statements are what she's most comfortable with. Observations and descriptions are still difficult for her, although every now and then she'll surprise us, like in a restaurant about a month ago when she heard an infant crying in the distance and, without any sort of prompt, used the BBoW to say "Baby sad."
So when I asked her what she did at the amusement park, she sort of struggled for words before finally raising her hand in the air and then swooping it down with a loud noise and a laugh in what was clearly a roller coaster descriptive motion.
Holy crap, is my baby girl riding roller coasters? I'm going to be killing boys and burying their bodies in the alley in no time at all.
First comment!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad she had good time.
Welcome to the world of
ReplyDelete"how was school today?"
to which the stock answer is "OK" although the occasional "crap" prompts more probing.
end of conversation.
Excellent. I think I knew it would end that way but you had to go through it (as did she) to find out. The fact that it worried you endlessly was awesome. Sorry. You know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad all went well. That really was enpowering for her, I'm sure. Maybe scary a little but more than that, enpowering.
Jenn
I'm so glad she had fun!! :)
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, one of the first things that my otherwise "noncommunicative without prompting" Asperger kid actually piped up about was a crying baby in a restaurant, grocery, etc. He still gets worked up about it, which is really interesting because Aspie kids have a very difficult, if not impossible, time developing empathy. Something about crying babies, I guess. :) It's a start!
Whew. So glad to hear it all went well at the amusement park. Best to be prepared for the worst, I always think, then most outcomes are a pleasant surprise, like this one.
ReplyDeleteReally glad to hear it went well. Roller coasters, huh? Better her than me (although my husband and children love them too.)
ReplyDeleteSome things are too big for words. Anyway, BBoW or not, there's no time for chatting when you're flying down a huge hill on a roller coaster.
ReplyDelete(Not that I would ever do that being a HUGE 'fraidy-cat. No surprise that Schuyler's braver than I am.)
What kind of iBook is it? Would a G3 800 with some loveable quirks be an improvement?
ReplyDeleteWhat a perfect way to communicate "roller coaster"!
ReplyDeleteThat's fantastic, I'm glad she had a great time.
ReplyDeleteYou and Julie were brave to let her go w/out the BBoW, just as Schuyler is to ride super humungous roller coasters. Gosh, that would have been great to see!!!!!!!!!!!
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ReplyDeleteI knew she'd have a great time. I knew y'all would be fine.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad y'all aren't letting the buttheads keep you down.
Smooches!
I chuckled at the 'rules for dating my daughter' no matter where they came from. Calm down.
ReplyDeletei've found your blog through quirky nomads and i just wanted to tell you that your daughter is adorable. i look forward to reading more about her :) i'm the proud mommy of two and stepmommy of one. my stepdaughter is autistic and i have a soft spot for all of the kids out there who have to express themselves a little differently than others :)
ReplyDeleteso glad everything worked out.
ReplyDelete