Meltdowns!

Went to see a musical that my friend was in, and it was spectacular. When we got home, Max had a severe meltdown for the second day in a row. This time, it was because he felt they should have sent the actors home to sleep hours ago; so he could come home and play on the computer. Autism is such an unpredictable day by... day experience; it’s altered my life drastically.

Ten things I love about Max.

1. Max loves to say the prayers at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
2. Max loves to dance to Michael Jackson thriller song and he is amazing dancer.
3. Max does point out physical differences in people, but he is not judgmental.
4. Max says the funniest things...like, "Mom will my deodorant stop hair from
growing in my arm pits?"
5. Max loves nature and the outdoors.

6. Max has an unbelievable sense of humor and invents things like transformers costumes.

7. Max never lies!
8. I love Max's blue eyes and sweet smile.

9. Max loves to sing and I enjoy hearing him.
10. Max loves math and he is really good at it.

Max and Numbers!

Max is counting down the days until his birthday. Every morning I wake him he looks up with the questions that you know he expects and answer for. “How many more days until my Birthday?” I answer him with “How many more days Max?” He will throw out the number and believe me, he is correct each time. Max has begun to find an interest in math. He loves to count and add numbers. He is a joy and a blessing to me. Each day I thank my Heavenly Father for the opportunity to have him in my life.

A young blonde hair boy walked up to Max at the store and said, “Hi Max.” Max looked down and then up and smiled. I prompted him to say hi, after a few seconds Max said, “Hi.” I asked this young boy his name and how does he know Max. “Oh, I see him on the play ground with his special ed class. He then, looked over and smiled at Max. It warmed my heart to see a typical child warm up to my sweet loving Max.

Tears are forming.

Sociologist told me today that Max will never be able to comprehend what he reads in a story. I don’t believe her. She told me his IQ, and it’s disturbing. Yes, he has autism, and yes he is unable to do what a nine year old can do, but I can say one thing, he is a valuable child of God. Oh, he can count, he can write his ABC’s, and he can read a little.

Max's life with soccer and math. Oh yes, and Christmas!

I haven’t written in quite a while. I guess I have been procrastinating. Max has grown so much these last couple of months. He can now add, which he is very proud of. Three days ago he told his teacher he will do math, but no reading or phonics. He came home with only a ‘good’ written on his commutation report, instead of an excellent. Max cried for two hours. Finally, I was able to divert him to think about something else, like how many days until Christmas.

My heart seems to take a jump when I wake him each morning and the first word to come out of his mouth is, “15 days until Christmas.” He is extremely excited about Santa bringing him a Bumble Bee transformer with Sam and Optimums Prime transformer. It never fails when I take him to the store he has to go and look at the Transformers. He will glare at them and then look at me and say, Santa is going to bring me one and he is making it right now.”

I’m proud of Max’s desire to be on a soccer team called, ‘Orange Crush’. Last week was his final game and he did an amazing job. He loved to kick the ball and it didn’t matter which way it was headed. Out of bounds, in the opposite opponents goal or to a player that isn’t on his team. Each time he would kick the ball he would raise his hands in the air and walk with pride. He constantly had a run in with another player who is six years older and has downs syndrome. Max would walk up to this other player and say, “no points” while pointing his finger at him. I have plans to put Max on a basketball team next month. I hope he enjoys it as much as he has soccer. Oh, he got a trophy last week and was so happy. He carried it every where.

I have never mentioned before, that I’m in the middle of revising a novel. I have worked on it for nine years. I know that is almost a decade ago. It’s been hard to write with kids, therapy appointments, dinner, sickness, laundry and housework. I hope next year to have it published. I will be starting a blog for my book in the next coming month.

Thanks for reading about Max. He has been a joy and a blessing.