Friday #8, 12/28/12 I took two friends with me: Eliot and Backyardigan Pablo the Penguin...
Christmas was sort of anti-climatic, Liam was in therapy that day, and Eliot had needed an outing.
I told him "we're going to the Art Museum" and he kept chanting it to himself on the drive there....
Pop art!
"Hmmm...which way..."
(Yes, he really said all the quotes...)
"We go this way! To the art museum! To do some painting!"
"C'mon Pablo! We're going to the art museum. Art museum! Art museum!"
(What I didn't document here are the three other kids who came up to Eliot and wanted to admire Pablo. That's how you make friends as a 2-year-old, with a Backyardigan side kick. Seriously. Kids were dragging their parents over to us in delight at seeing this penguin).
On to the Kohl's art studio to do some painting. Pablo drawing by Jamie...
How did this day spin back to autism?
Because it always seems to.
The tidy 6-year-old sitting next to us observed to her put-together mother (the one who I wasn't quite sure if she was nanny or mom until we started talking): "That boy is so neat when he paints! My brother could never do that."
And so I asked about her brother. Mom looked up wearily and explained her son (also 2)'s hyperactivity and his biting ("and the worst part is that he seems to take pleasure in hurting his sister...").
I showed them the bite scars on Eliot's arm, told them about Liam's autism, explained what sensory seeking is, and told them what a child who is very oral might need (gum, chewies, etc.). I pretty much did everything but make any diagnosis or conclusions about her son.
I'm there for Eliot and not trying to get too pulled into this autism story. Just for 1 hour please.
The mom was tight-lipped, to say the least, so we leave it at that, but perhaps the seeds have been planted. Maybe she will look at her son differently...maybe this conversation will change his path (from the psycho kid to the autistic kid who needs therapy?)...
But in the meantime, let's just focus on painting a penguin please...
Or gathering massive amounts of plastic animals...
"Too many animals mama!"
"Shark attack!" (Eliot's favorite game is to run screaming "shark attack" and then tackle. Adam taught him this...)
Yes, he can sit and paint a penguin carefully; but, tell him he can't cross the rope to touch a painting: full-on meltdown...
"All better now mama...hold hands mama?"
As we were leaving, I saw a mother and her son, walking hand in hand through the galleries. They were near the triangles my son loves. And this woman looked a lot, a whole lot, like my Grandma Merriman, who died last summer.
I watched them, surreptitiously snapped a picture, and held my 2-year-old's hand, hoping that we might still hold hands when I needed his strength and guidance as much as he needs mine now.
See you next week.
