Day 6. Year 4.

The other day I made a comment about articles that give you lists about what children with autism want you to know. And lists of things that describe autism. Today I was listening to the radio and heard that David Letterman has decided that it is time for him to retire when his contract is up. So, in honor of his Top 10 lists... Here goes mine for the night. 

10 things you may or may not know about Vicki, in no particular order:

1. Vicki loves dressing up for Halloween. Over the years, she's been a tiny ballerina dancer, Tinkerbell (to Joey's Peter Pan), Snow White, A Kitty Cat, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (Ally was her Toto), Little Red Riding Hood, Jasmine, Strawberry Shortcake, A Lovely Witch, Annie, Ariel, and Belle. With as much difficulty as she has in going to people's houses... she LOVEs trick or treating. The holiday of Halloween knows how to do reinforcement right. What better to reinforce socialization than by getting a piece of candy for engaging in conversation and eye contact? I love how engaged Vicki is and how polite she is. Once she is prompted at the first house, she will always say thank you. :) 

2. Vicki has been to 28 states (I think): Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and California.

 

3. Vicki has never been on an airplane. But she has been on a train, a subway, a boat, a canoe, a kayak, and  has taken a cab ride.  

3. Vicki has ridden a horse, a donkey, and an elephant. And once had a zebra's head in her lap. 

4. Vicki loves amusement parks, absolutely loves them. Let her ride a roller coaster with Daddy and her face lights up. I love her giggles and her squeals and how happy she looks when she is coming off the roller coaster holding Daddy's hand and skipping. Our favorite amusement park is Busch Gardens. She's also been to Disney: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. She's seen Universal Studios and the Lego Land in CA, as well as Sesame Place and Idlewild Park in PA.  Oh, and King's Dominion.

5. Vicki loves, loves, loves the beach. She could stand in the waves with Daddy for hours, and has. She loves the sand, not necessarily building sand castles, but she loves feeling the sand on her body. She'll lay on her tummy right where the sand meets the water and just run her fingers through it and let the waves lap around her feet. She loves the wind whipping her curly hair around and enjoys picking up seashells and rocks and throwing them into the water. 

OK. I am going to stop here fore this post with 5. I purposefully put all fun things on this one. We never want to let autism dictate what we can and cannot do with our family. There are certainly things we can't do and don't even want to try. But there are so many things we can do. They may not always be easy. For each of these, I could easily write pages upon pages of modifications we have to make or difficulties we have had when doing these things. But today, I just wanted to say...  I am so thankful that Vicki has been able to experience all of these wonderful things. With all the preparation and planning and bumps and stumbles along the way, at the end of the day if we were able to make Vicki smile and hear her laugh and see the sparkle in her eyes... Well, then, it was all worth it. xoxo