It's Hot, In Topeka

1. Share a treasured memory from 2006 of something your child with autism did or said and why it was special to you.

I was getting Nathan ready for bed after all the Christmas chaos. He was still really excited about all his loot, and he looked up and asked me what my all-time favorite Christmas present was. I told him the best Christmas present I ever got was him. He looked at me and smiled. He said, "You're the best Christmas present I ever got!"


2. What challenge or task did your child accomplish in the previous year that you thought you might never see?


At school, he always was pretty much a loner. He didn't eat with anyone, didn't join any of the kids when they were playing. Just before Christmas, I found out at school that Nathan has been joining the other kids when they play football outside! He did it on his own, with no prompting. (And scored a touchdown, too!)

3. What was one of the funniest things your child said or did in 2006.

On the way to the movies, I was teasing Nathan. He had put his hands on the back of the driver's seat, kind of pinching my hair. It caught me by surprise, and it suddenly occurred to me that for him to be reaching my hair, he couldn't be belted into his seat. I asked him if he was belted in, and he insisted that he was. Oh my! Then I realized that he was now tall enough to lean forward and reach me! I pretended to be all upset, comically wailing, "No, it can't be! My baby is growing up!" (He hates when I call him my baby, so I was really giving him the business, now.) "He can't be big enough to reach me! He's just a baby!"

Nathan was laughing at all this, pretending to get mad and grit his teeth. "I'm NOT a baby!" he protested. (Of course, I kept it up.) Then he reaches up and grabs me firmly by the shoulders from behind, shaking them slightly, and yells, "GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF, WOMAN!!" (Where does he get this stuff???)

Oooh, one more! During the summer, it was one of the warmest days of the year. I had the air conditioner cranked. I went to put Nathan to bed, and suggested that, for once, we don't use all five blankets (one of which is a comforter!) that he insists on covering himself with at night.

I sighed, "Nathan, let's not use all these blankets. Let's just pick one, and leave the others at the end of the bed if you need them."

"Why can't I have all my blankets on?" he protested.

I shook my head. Wearily, I countered, "Nathan, it's just too hot."

Nathan looked up at me, seriously, and in a sing-song voice he said, "It's HOT, in To-pe-ka."

Startled, I stopped my fussing with the blankets and looked at him. Topeka? Where on earth did he come up with that? (We've never taken him to Topeka, and for the life of me, I coudn't remember the last time the city had even been mentioned!) I thought perhaps I had misheard him. "What did you say?"

A big grin spead across his face. He stretched the phrase out a little more this time. "It's H O T, in To - pe - ka."

He just looked so cute, and the inflection was so comical, that I had to laugh. (Again, WHERE does he get this stuff??)

(I later found out it came from a cartoon, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends). Echolalia at it's best.

4. Name one goal - small or large - that you would like for your child to achieve in 2007.

Fewer meltdowns at school/daycare.


5. Who has made the biggest impact in your child's life in the past year & have you told them?

I don't think it was any one person. I think it was his whole "Team" at school. Everyone has worked very hard with Nathan, and it's all had a major impact on him. He's calmer, he's more social, he's doing better scholastically, he's having fewer meltdowns than he did in the beginning of the year... Many improvements, resulting from the hard work by many individuals. Every time I see a member of his team, that's all we can talk about lately - how well he's doing. I try to always tell them about the positive changes I see in him, and how wonderful we think it is.