I have moved over to WhittereronAutism.com. Please follow the link to find me there. Hope to see you after the jump! :)

Thursday, April 19, 2007

The long goodbye

[from the weekend]

I make him do it against his will. I make him hold the pencil, although I skip the pencil grip to correct the manner in which he grasps it.

I edge him towards my make shift chart, a soft shoe shuffle but in bare feet. He faces the chart but his chin drops down so that his eyes can avoid it.

“It’s going to be fine dear,” I coo. He raises his arm stiffly, like a lever and draws a wobbling line through ‘Saturday’. This is everyone’s visual cue that we are on the last day of the holiday. Sunday has a arrived. The last 24 hours before they return to school.

Luckily for me, I learned a long, long time ago that transitions, the passage and concept of time, were a challenge. A week’s holiday was fabulous but at the end, a monumental weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth would ensue. People would make accusations that they might, or might not regret, based upon a faulty concept of time travel. Wild angry rebukes about theft of time, larceny of holidays, and kidnapping of leisure by some willful nere do well, would whirl around the house.

I attempt the usual platitudes, the joy of seeing ‘friends,’ a quick spiel about what constitutes a friend, the pleasure of being back in a familiar class, adding verbal clues to the visual ones in that room. He is not impressed and snuggles back into my dressing gown burying his face. He nuzzles and giggles the plumbing, holding excessive quantities of Ensure. Such affection. He mutters into the material, “but I stay home,’ he pleads. I lift his lovely face, smooth his troubled brow and utter more reassurances, that all will be well. His nose crinkles with annoyance, “no I wanna stay home and play Gameboy forever!”

Hmm. Definitely time to go back to school.

13 comments:

n. said...

substitute SecondLife and this is me before back-to-school. and i am a teacher.

Melissa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Melissa said...

Love the Gameboy comment, sounds like my son. He was upset about going back to school because that meant more restrictions on the Gameboy.

Melanie said...

I was a teacher before I became a stay at home mom. I used to be that same way. When I was a kid I never knew that teachers dreaded going back to school just as much (if not more than) the kids!

Kim Rossi Stagliano said...

Ah yes - "vacation." NOT!!! I can not fill the hours for three girls with autism with meaningful therapeutic moments. No can do. It's depressing.

Thanks for the kind words on HuffPo. I'm sure I'll take a hit from many folks - I'm trying to get used to that!

I posted a photo of my girls on my blog in relation to the HuffPo piece.

Kim

Melissa said...

My 8 year old is that way. We visited grandparents over our spring break and he had a lot of nintendo/playstation/xbox whatever time with cousins and uncles. He didn't want to come home because "At home I only get half an hour of time... " ah... so fun! My son with autism always has a hard time after a break. I HATE summer vacation for that very reason :S

Anonymous said...

The little one can't wait for school. The eldest gripes, moans, whines... etc.. until the school bus arrives... :)

Whiskers said...

I know what you are going through.

Jerry Grasso said...

Me? I'd rather stay home and play GameBoy forever! Sounds like this is extreme male behavior if one was ever categorized that way...

kristina said...

Spring Break starts today for Charlie----here we go!

Joeymom said...

Joey just got an extra week of spring break because he reacted to his antibiotics. Its been quite a fortnight, since its been cold, rainy, and both have had ear infections. What is one to fill the time with? We don't have Gameboy, we have Oobi. :P Oh, and LeapFrog Phonics Desk. Anybody have an electronic thing that does spelling, longer than three letters?

Boop BOOP boopboop. Now push LeapFrog to erase!

Unknown said...

We had spring break right after Easter. Yes, I'm calling it Easter, but that's another story.

My son LOVES being home. I don't think he'd go outside if he didn't have to, at least at home.

And Gameboy and Gamecube rule the house. We try very hard to restrict it.

Please come by and say hi--Chris from Write and Whine (got the new blog set up)

Anonymous said...

This reminds me of me. I hate going back to school!!

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button