An Aha Moment, on Ben Being Literal

Growing up not knowing I was an Aspie I took things literally and people took me for being naive, I suppose I was that as well. It took many years being the brunt of jokes to "get" the jokes and use my newly learned "witticism" and multi-meanings of words to my full advantage.However, How I soon forget that my son Ben has yet to gain the vast knowledge about puns and living as I have.

This being established so begins my little blog about Ben. We were laying things out for the field trip tomorrow. This was the 2nd field trip Ben had been on this year. The first was to the Nature Center, mostly outside examining railroad tracks and such. I know tomorrow is going to be a rather warm day and said it was okay for the boys to wear their sandals. Ben insisted repeatedly he must wear tennis shoes. Many times I just let the words roll off and shrug and brush them aside but he was persistent this time. He wouldn't back down and was almost yelling at me I have to wear my TENNIS shoes because it's a FIELD trip mom. I said, Ben you are going to see a play tomorrow. HE stopped and said ..." a play?". I said "Yes Ben and explained where it was." That seemed to appease him but he still had to get in "Well, I thought we were going on a field trip..." and I said, "You are, to see a play". "Oh, he said one of many times pretending to understand"...and That was the end of that.As I was tucking them in bed the topic of the play came up. I said you are going to see James and the Giant PEach. Ben laughed and said "Who ever heard of such, a giant peach!" I said well the people who wrote the play Ben. He looked at me perplexed. I said my goodnights and went about my tasks before my bedtime. I was making sure clothes and snacks were set out and busiest myself in laundry.

Suddenly, as I am unloading the dryer it hit me like a ton of bricks. I BURST out laughing and said outloud..." A FIELD trip!!!" It had suddenly taken all this time to sink in that he thought he was literally going to a "field" outside and needed his tennis shoes to go there. I hadn't stopped to explain to him what a field trip really meant but recall in ear shot Jake his older brother explaining it to him in the bedtime shuffle. How could I have been so naive.Totally didn't occur to me that my son thought it was an outside ordeal, just as the one a few weeks ago had been when they did go across an actual field. Once I realized what the ruckus had been about it just tickled me...and I was laughing at myself. Being a very visual thinker.. a second wave of laughter erupted from within as I envisioned a GIANT peach... a real one. No wonder Ben had looked at me perplexed. He thinks he is going to a place tomorrow to see a boy named JAmes and this Giant peach he's grown... no wonder he thought it to be absurd... haha.I am still laughing as I am writing this, imagining how BIG he envisioned this overgrown produce to be.

Tomorrow I will have to prepare him for what's really going to transpire so he will not be laughed at as I was when I was his age and thought things of the similar nature. Oh well,at least this time when I have to relive my youth I can do it with fresh eyes and am empathetic heart for I know first hand what it has been like to be the one who didn't "get" things...and still don't sometimes. I remember so many times as a child, and even sometimes now shaking my head yes that I understood something I totally didn't get. I was too embarrassed to say otherwise. Occasionally I'd get the nerve to ask them to repeat the question, and be ostracized for doing such a thing...and still not "getting" it because I was concentrating on being laughed at. Just takes things longer to sink in, but once they are in there... they are pretty much embedded forever. I tell ya kids certainly keep our brains working... even after they are sound asleep.

The J-I-G is up.

...tip toe, tip toe... in the silence of the night around the corner of my door frame appears this incredibly adorable smiling face. It's only about 2 am as he sits there with a shit eating grin...I couldn't help but to smile at his exuberant expression. "Owen! What are you doing up", I exclaim with a half cocked smile. He says nothing...just grins and extends his arm holding an empty sippy cup. I said that he should be in bed it was too late for juice. He slowly raises his cup and points repeatedly at the water dispenser. "Ice and water, ice and water" he softly chants with a heart warming smile. Okay seriously who could be mad at that... he's too stinkin' cute and he knows it.

I sighed and got out of bed to fulfill his request as any good mother would. He just peered at me with the biggest smile in the world... he had toted with him this adorable green fairy froggy that the "ikea santa" brought him last christmas. I smiled at him and asked him what his frogs name was... he looked at me perplexed as I continued to refill his sippy... he then put his forefinger to his sweet little cubby face and said " spelled the letters J-I-G then said Froggy, that's his name". I chuckled. HE's the youngest of 6 and he's the only one that spells things before he says what they are. I suppose this has to do with the influence of a certain Aspergian role model he had the majority of his God given days. I said, "J-I-G"..."froggy, huh?" he said yep and grinned. I giggled and took him into my arms and selfishly made him kiss me on my cheek.

Since he was up and so was I now, we made our way through the laundry room so mommy could go potty. I sat him outside the restroom on a stool as I disappeared into the bathroom and he just grinned from ear to ear... I then proceeded to change his diaper after I was done... and we were then on our way back through the main bedroom... in doing so we had to pass a full length mirror. Out of no where OWen said look mom I see me in your miwwor. His cute baby talk stopped me in my tracks. So I enlightened him and let him peer for a moment into the reflection. He said I have blue eyes mommy...I said yes you do- as I giggled in my sleep deprived state... he then said you have blue eyes too mommy... I said yes I do. He said I see us in your miwwor, I said yes you do... he said I see the whites beside your eyes mommy... so observant for a 3 yr old... this inquisitive nature about various things continued for sometime until I said "OWen, do you know what time it is?"... Owen grinned and said "yes, it's tip toe time" hahaha.

Often when he gets up on our way back to bed I say he has to tiptoe, since he walks on his tippys a lot anyway as most autistic children do... it just tickled me the way he said it. I sat him down, reluctantly, as I enjoy holding him in my arms. He's just getting so very big, so very fast and I miss his baby stages. He adorably and literally tiptoed to bed and climbed in w/ his ice water sippy and his froggy named J-i-g... and I tucked him back in bed. I suppose his jig was up... but it will forever remain a precious memory in my heart and mind forever. I love that little boy so very much...as much as I do his brothers and sisters and his mentor... life really passes us by so very quickly. It's moments like these that are worth far more than money ever could be. I wouldn't miss this time for the world, nothing is more important to me than being with those I love. There is nothing that could keep me away from being w/ my loved ones, absolutely nothing.

Interesting word art ~

"let our words not define us, but rather refine us"-stacie hadley

A friend led me to this website that takes words from your blog site and turns them into word art...this is how it appeared to me colors and all... it kinda reminds me of a tree of life(or a bush)...I hope we can take these words of wisdom and grow from them :)~(CLICK on the PHOTO and it will enlarge so that you may view the words better)

Some of the word clusters are rather humorous clumped together...we all need more laughter in life right ;) Freud may have loved sections of this such as "someone need cracks one time...continue things forward bad behind"...yeah you get my drift... then other segments are rather inspirational...it could be interpreted in so many various ways... like in life we fall in cracks and we need God sometimes and people... I don't know it's just a fun little word art ditty :) I liked that it was organic in shape and color...earthy and real... like life itself.

It inspired me to create a personal quote "let our words not define us, but rather refine us"-stacie hadley

In life we learn something daily...it may seem trivial at the time but in days or years to come we can reflect back on life experiences and know that we have all grown from where we once were.

I stumbled across this quote online today:

"For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else. ~unknown~"

I found it rather thought provoking...so I will leave you with those thoughts and my word art...reflect,recollect,and refine yourself daily :)

I'm anxious to hear your thoughts...you can find this on the web at the link below :)


http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2574903/LIFE

PS~ THank you Sherilin for leading me to this fun little site and for walking me through the best way to share this photo on my blog !! :D