Our little enigma

Will has kept himself pretty busy lately being alternately really really adorable and so SO challenging. One of the most textbook aspects of his autism is his lack of flexibility - he focuses so intently on what he believes should happen and is completely unable to deal with anything different. Chuck and I are pretty masterful (if I do say so myself) at handling this - we choose our battles, attempt to anticipate problems, use all of the tricks at our disposal (songs, distractions, reasoning, lists, consequences, tickling, etc) but there are still times we look at each other and wonder how we're all going to make it alive :).

 Funny story from a couple of weeks ago (I shared this on facebook, so sorry if it's a repeat): Chuck was speaking in church about becoming goodly parents (here's the General Conference talk he referenced if you're interested). At the beginning of Chuck's talk, Will decided he preferred to wander around the back of the chapel - which was honestly fine with me since I could watch him and listen to Chuck at the same time. The only bummer was that Will decided to tune in to Chuck's words at the exact wrong time. In referencing our current parenting struggles with Will, Chuck said "Will is at that stage where he thinks HE'S in charge" - at which point Will immediately looked at me and happily exclaimed, "I in charge!! Daddy say I in charge!"

 Yeahhh, that pretty much sums up our life of late...

Will is making awesome progress in a lot of areas, though. We signed him up for a playschool at Nampa High in October and he LOVED it. I had emailed the supervising teacher beforehand to make sure Will's autism was something that they would be willing and prepared to work with. I was really impressed with how adeptly they handled his special needs.

 He always came home with cute projects and stories and songs he had learned; the day about camping and outdoor activities was his favorite. Ask him sometime to sing the 'going on a bear hunt' song for you... but only if you have like ten minutes to spare :).

 I had the camera with me when I picked him up on the last day, so I asked him if he wanted a picture with a couple of his teachers - and immediately a whole group of them came over to be in the shot too.

  I loved how excited they were to see him everyday. We were sometimes regularly late, but regardless of when we finally rolled in, three or four of the teachers would come over to greet him and take his sweatshirt and help him get going on the activity.

We totally understand their excitement; Will brings a great deal of joy and sunshine into our home every day. He's bright and hilarious and imaginative.

Another funny story: we were in Winco a few weeks ago and this nice worker had a feather duster tucked in to the back of his apron, which Will noticed and promptly shouted, "Look! He have a tail!!" [Thankfully the nice worker either didn't hear or opted not to react...]

Chuck and I sure love our little enigmatic Willy boy. In his talk that I referred to earlier, Chuck spoke about how parenting requires adaptation for each child, and this is especially true with Will. Sometimes we feel like we have some aspect figured out and then it's clear that we need to change up our game plan mid-play :). And that's when the good Lord helps me come up with yet another funny song or game to distract Will or help him adapt to whatever curveball we've thrown at him (I'm really on a roll with the sports metaphors tonight!) and all is well within his little world again. Which makes everything good in mine as well!