Thursday, June 11, 2009

When You Notice That They Notice (Especially When You Forgot)...

When you have a child with special needs, you don't forget about it very often. I am alway researching on line, reading about autism, taking AJ to his appointments, etc. So, I don't "forget" that he has autism very often.

But, last week, AJ and I went to the Children's Museum in Boston. He LOVES that place. LOVES!!! So, he was playing in the climbing structure. Being a kid. And I was just being a mom. Just a mom. Hanging out, watching him. He came out of the structure all excited. He made it all the way to the top and back. He was so proud. He couldn't do it last time, so I was so proud of him.

He was doing his happy AJ thing. He was flapping hard. When he flaps like that, you can actually hear his bones. And he does this "Stevie Wonder thing" with his head. Like when Stevie plays piano. Just freely moving his head. I'm used to it. Just AJ being happy.

I happened to look to my left for a minute. And, BOOM. I noticed that they noticed.

I heard and saw the other mothers staring at my kid.

I heard someone say "What's wrong with that kid?"

Another mother said "Probably a retard."

First mom "Glad that's not my kid."

Me: "Yeah, he's glad too."

It wasn't nice of me, but I think they had it coming. Because he's just a kid, just being a kid. Since when is that a bad thing?

Peace out.

2 comments:

MMMom said...

OMG! Good for you! Spoken like a true smart a$$! Found your blog through Ellen's Love that Max. I'm thinkin' I need to follow u. I too have a child with ASD, high probability asperger's. Come check me out, if u want.

Anna said...

You were much nicer than I would have been. I cannot believe anyone would act like that in this day and age -- and they call themselves grown-ups?!

By the way, my son flaps whenever he is excited to -- and does a little kick thing. He has PDD-NOS.