It turns out that a miracle was going to happen there.
Miracles like these can fetch a "what's the big deal" reaction from someone who has not parented a child with autism. But they are miracles none-the-less and become the precious memories that a parent like me will always cherish. They also become the fuel which runs our Son Rise program!
We were walking in Capitola downtown when... Aditya suddenly said to us, "Check this out". He was standing on one leg, his other leg folded at a right angle. That did not last for even a second... but it was the first time Aditya did something as purposeless as that and showed it off to us! Woo-Hoo!
He was super-flexible for the most part today, freely allowing us to change plans. In one case where Aditya and I (Baba) were standing in the ocean water... one of his absolute favorite activities... I said to him that I had found this cool sea-shell and I wondered if he could take a 1 minute break to give it to his sister who had been looking for them at the beach. He not only accepted it, but in fact went to sister and offered it personally saying "look we found a shell for you"!
He also had his challenges today. At the top of them was him constantly asking when we are heading back home because he wanted to go potty and did not want to... until Aai spoke to him in confidence and he decided to give it a try with Baba at a coffee shop. It was easy once he agreed to go. He even asked me (Baba) to rub his back as a way to help him "go"!
Right before this, I (Baba) told him (in response to "when are we going home?") that I was really interested in enjoying what I was already doing. I was okay not to have decided what next. I was doing this so I could enjoy "now". He cried at this point and said he did not know what to do "now". He then asked me for suggestions. We were sitting on top of a small bridge at this time, looking over the beach. I looked at the beach and found a small boy with a cart that looked like a miniature shopping cart. I told A about it and even wondered aloud if it had a motor. Our boy was immediately interested and got up to see! A little later we also found a mother and a boy flying a kite, which also fascinated him. I celebrated him soon after for being there with me as we figured out something to do... such as checking out what people were doing at the beach! (versus continuously thinking about the next thing to do or place to go)
Of course, it was right then that Aai spotted that the real issue was he feeling like going potty... except he did not want to go!
After going potty he seemed a lot more relaxed.
He then asked Baba if there was a take away menu of this restaurant on the internet. What happened next? Stay tuned for more in the next post!
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