Monday, January 11, 2010

A true blessing

Preschool is working out marvelously. Who would have thought? Benjamin now tells me to "sit down, circle time" and it is the cutest thing ever. EVER. I mean baby bunnies and ducks do not even begin to compare with this kid. (I do like fluffy animals though.) I was watching a video of him from over the summer and fall and it really hit me how many words he has now compared to then. We still get excited over a single new word like we're brand spanking new parents with their new baby learning how to coo and smile. I know that I say this often, but perspective plays such a big role in parenting a child with any type of special need.

Benjamin has one classmate whom I have never heard speak a single word and she is rather frail looking. I'm not really at liberty to ask the teacher what her condition is, but I'm assuming it's probably more than speech. Most of the kids at the school are at a minimum significantly speech delayed. Last week, we were coming out of the library to join up with the rest of the kids from Bp's class (All of the other kids ride a bus to school, but I'm just not interested in that just yet.) and she shouted "Ben!". And now we all know that we never, EVER call him Ben at home, but I let it slide at school. I know he'll probably go by Ben as an adult, but he'll always be Benjamin to us. His sweet teacher said that she'd never heard this little girl speak that loudly about anything. She said all of the children in the class just love Benjamin and they have all adopted him and that he brings out the best in all of them. Um, I'd give that a A for socialization!

Benjamin really is a sweet child. I have read many books on autism and the positive and negative effects on children. Benjamin has truly absorbed all of the positive effects and very, very little of the negative ones. I seriously do not know a more compassionate child than Benjamin, autistic or not. It is really rare to find an autistic child with compassion, empathy, and outward love for others. We are so blessed to have him as our child.

3 comments:

Lady Cayt said...

he is so sweet and I'm so glad he's making such amazing progress! I'm sure it's mostly due to having an amazing mother! :)

Erica said...

You are a wonderful mother. I love how much you adore and love Benjamin. He is lucky to have you as his mom!

Sonya said...

That is just so sweet! Reminds me of that old hymn (do you know it?) make me a blessing, out of my life let Jesus shine, make me a blessing to someone today.

(Sorry, I'm way behind on blogs).