No Prince

Michele and Aaron and I were in Michele's room today looking on the internet for something that Aaron wanted to buy and we heard him making kissing sounds. We turned to see him kissing one of Michele's many frogs. He said, "I'm kissing it to see if it will turn into a prince.... It's not." with this serious expression. So he tries one more time and then says "Nope - still the same." and then he tosses is over his shoulder. He had this little twinkle in his eye. I'm sure you had to be there, but it was so funny if you were. I think back to the days when trying to get any eye contact or any language from him was practically impossible and now he's a comedian. Of course then a few minutes later he was inconsolable in tears because I got orange soda instead of grape - oops. (I tried to make a guess at the store and guessed wrong - I should know better by now. I mean what are cell phones for?) It's the whole "gotta keep even numbers of things on the shelf" thing. He's definitely still autistic, but he's an autistic comedian at least. He's so cute lately.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

So I was leaving the house this morning and of course Aaron's the only one of the kids up - he usually ignores me of after the "Good Morning, Ma". But this morning, he asked me where I was going (work), and am I going to be home tonight (probably for lunch), so I'll see you tonight, right? (yes, okay). So as I'm going out the door, he says "So Long, Ma! I'll see you tonight." and then starts singing "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to work we go", complete with whistling which he's just learned to do and waving. He serenaded me all the way out the door. He also told me he was waving, just in case I missed that part, I guess. Believe me, I didn't miss a thing. Goodbyes are another of those social things he's never felt a need for, so another big deal for us. He has no clue how we're jumping for joy on the inside when he makes these big leaps - he'd be annoyed if we made a big deal about it. So we go along with it like it's business as usual. Wish we could acknowledge the change - maybe he'll eventually get to a point where he can accept and even look for our approval and excitement in his accomplishments. Who knows - he's certainly not following the textbooks in all he's accomplished this far.

He's also started calling Michele "chele" which is what we all call her, but she's been Winifred Michele for quite some time to him. These changes seem socially based to us in that it seems he's trying to conform to what other people are doing, not because we've worked to achieve that conformity in alot of these insignigicant (to us) things like the names he gives people, but because he's realizing the differences and trying to make changes to be "like everyone else". I'm sure all the experts and (I know all the) non-experts would totally disagree with the way we've dealt with Aaron all these years, but it's really gratifying to see him developing in a natural progression and making changes because he sees a difference and apparently has an understanding of some sort of need to conform and is comfortable making those changes. Michele said "I think I'm going to miss being Winifred Michele". There's that bittersweet in the growing up process - but we still rejoice in it. And he gave her a nickname of Curly Hair so maybe that will soften the blow. He seems to be working on nicknames for everyone. There's apparently a difference in his mind between nicknames and the alternate names he's given us for years. He's making changes so fast it's hard to keep up with him lately. So I'll keep posting here so I won't forget it all. I wish I'd had this when they were all little - it goes so fast and you lose so much in the busy-ness.

Internet!!

We finally have internet at home! So now I can post at home and add pictures. But not now, because I think my head's about to explode. We have a phone too, but it's mostly just annoying. I didn't really miss it at all. I'm going to go find a dark room and try to stop this headache. Maybe I'll post something later if it stops.

Hello?

Any one out there? I think we're all too busy, because I'm missing reading as many new posts from everyone. I'm back for the weekend to my sick girl. She went to Iowa for Anna's wedding and was going to spend the week here visiting, but she came back sick and spent the week in bed running fever without Mom to take care of her. ( A whole week in Fort Worth and all she felt like doing was sleeping. That's bad!) She said she enjoyed the quiet though. I took her to the doctor today and she has bronchitis. When I told him she keeps getting this same thing every 6-8 weeks, he said it's very possible her asthma is back. She had it as a toddler, but outgrew it. I sure hope it's just bronchitis, but I'm afraid it's the asthma. Her temps back up to 103 this evening. I'm a little worried that it's that high even with tylenol. Pray that the antibiotics work quickly. She's so pitiful right now.

(Oh, and Paige, I'd love an update on all your little guys and the walk the line club. No pressure or anything, but they are entertaining.)

Good Morning, Ma!

That's how Aaron greeted me this morning. He's never initiated greetings of any kind. He doesn't really even like to respond to them. So this was a big deal. These moments that Aaron springs on us are both exciting and bittersweet in a strange way, if that makes any sense at all, like any milestone with our other kids maybe. I guess it's a sign that even Aaron is growing up and gradually growing away, which of course is what we want, but those moments always feel even more profound with him. Reminds me of the Karen Kingsbury books Let Me Hold You Longer about how we notice all the first with kids but seldom notice the lasts. I guess with Aaron we notice those changes more and are a little sad maybe, but really excited that he's made such a huge leap for him. Like when we had to take Kate (our foil daughter which he made because he couldn't talk me into providing him with a real sister - "It's really easy - You just go get them at the hospital" - Yeah, right!) complete with beach wardrobe - hand me downs from Michele - to Galveston last year. All the kids were slightly horrified that they were having to help cart their "sister" around, but then shortly after that, we found Kate rolled up in a ball and set aside. With no fanfare or warning or anything, Kate was no more. We'd had her for several years by this time - she was even in our church directory pics - I know people thought we were strange, but that makes for a neat memory now. Michael and Michele were in Green Bay for a month and when they came back to find that Kate was gone they were really sad. We all were, but we knew it as a huge growing-up thing for him too. I know - we're all CRAZY! But back to the greeting of the morning. I responded to him with something with a "sweet" in it because that's how I refer to all my kids except him when I'm thinking clearly (sweetpea, sweetie, sweet-whatever - they probably all hate it, but are too nice to say anything). Aaron doesn't like sweet or nice anything because "it's yucky". But instead of getting upset with me, he said, "I'll just pretend I didn't hear that." So I say "I'm sorry." And then he says, "You don't have to be sorry." Maybe you have to be really familiar with Aaron for that to seem like a big deal, but trust me, it's a big deal. It seems like since we've always tried to join him in his world when we can, he's trying harder all the time to join us in ours. I just had to share, and I know at least Genny's always up for a good Aaron story. And this may be the only way I ever keep a record of those moments. I never seem to have time to stop and write them down.