We are back to the business of brownie baking, though we are still taking a breather from shopping with Charlie in the little local grocery store after an 'incident' of a few weeks ago. So Friday afternoon Jim dropped me off and I ran in to get a box of brownie mix, and some bananas.
Charlie kept asking for 'red' and I realized he meant the mix. More and more, we've noted that he mentions the color of something that he wants, but that he can't pull up the whole word for---a sign of how he perceives the world (i.e., colors first). Too, colors were some of the first words that Charlie learned when he was a toddler and, therefore, indelibly stamped on his mind as, with Charlie it is always the first and earliest thing that he most harkens back too.
Colors also count as far as his clothes. Charlie has still been insisting on wearing the ultra-infamous green shirt. At school, his teachers again got him to change out of it for most of the day. Then, around 1.45pm, the behaviorist called me and asked me what I thought about throwing away the green shirt.
I was sorely tempted to say 'yes.' But I was quite sure that Charlie would ask for the shirt and, me still in recovering from the flu mode and Jim not having gotten the Severe Version of the illness but having a bit of something, I figured this was not the weekend to handle life without the shirt. Plus, with Charlie's IEP meeting now rescheduled for Monday, there would be the perfect time to discuss the green shirt and strategies to help Charlie let go of it.
So I asked to have the shirt put into Charlie's bookbag and he made it home in a dark blue shirt and then changed.
He and Jim were again out on a dad 'n' son driving around New Jersey adventure when I came home from the train. As I had approached Journal Square in Jersey City, I had seen this rally, a celebration with cheering and the beating of drums after the resignation of Hosni Mubarak.
Just two weeks ago, I had walked past an anti-Mubarak rally in the same place (photo here). It was really something to stand in the same spot, with many of the same people, and think of the great change wrought thousands of miles away---or just a cell phone call away from the people above (and many indeed held their cell phones to their ears).
And while it had been gray two weeks ago, the sun was shining yesterday, and the air felt a little warmer.
Is the shirt too small? Or is it just that he's too attached to it and won't wear anything else? I've had the same obsession with pants in the past . . .
BTW, is he shaving? And if so, how do you handle that?
Posted by: lastcrazyhorn | 12 February 2011 at 08:18
Do you take Charlie shopping for clothes? Does he ever pick out new clothes for himself? It seems like he has to be able to imagine or visualize himself in a new situation, and enjoying it, before he will actually try it.
Your happy modeling of the behavior also seems to play a big role. (Jim modeling-shoveling the walk, for example.) His mirror neurons need to be engaged for him to see himself in the situation.
Where did the blue shirt come from? I remember when you bought the matching sweatshirts (which he loves). Did he select them himself, or was he involved in their selection?
Posted by: Louise | 12 February 2011 at 11:22
This makes me anxious just reading about it. I'd be searching the internets to buy six of the same green shirt. Now you can yell at me and tell me to leave. ((hugs))
Posted by: Brenda (mamabegood) | 12 February 2011 at 13:21
Currently my mom buys almost all of Charlie's clothes---he's so far been happy with her choices! I get his pants online. I do think we'll start buying multiples of clothes though---Brenda, we have at least 6 pairs of grey pants!---as he has started to have a much stronger opinion about what he wears and this seems age-appropriate.
Jim uses an electric shaver with Charlie though Charlie is more inclined to say no than yes to this. Shaving is a goal on his IEP...
Posted by: autismvox | 12 February 2011 at 19:58
How is it possible that Charlie has facial hair?...oh, wait, when I first met you and Charlie, in the online sense, my daughter was 15. She's now 22. YIKES!
As you know, I am more or less neurotypical. Still, I have more-or-less a uniform. Mostly I buy clothes online. If I find a pair of pants (more difficult) or a blouse that I like, I order one...if the garment fits and is otherwise satisfactory, I then go back and order multiples in all the colors (or patterns) available.
Posted by: Liz Ditz | 14 February 2011 at 22:38
This boy won't stop growing!
I think we're rapidly moving towards a self-created Charlie uniform. Ordering more pants....
Posted by: autismvox | 16 February 2011 at 17:40