Amazing things… Everything's better on a Ritz!

So why does this entry start off with a photo of half-eaten Low Sodium Ritz Crackers?  Has the food photographer lost his mind and begun posting his not-ready for prime time images on a blog that’s supposed to be devoted to his son?  Should someone be contacted in regards to his mental state…

Any of that could happen I suppose, but it’s not the case today.

The photo above was taken in tribute to an amazing happening.  Like most other completely amazing experiences, this one happened in an unlikely place, at an unlikely time and took me completely by surprise.  There was no time to grab my camera and record video, only time to live the moment and savor the wonder of it all.

My son stacked those crackers.

That may not sound like much of an accomplishment in and of itself, but you have to realize that our hero has an aversion to anything being stacked on top of something else.  Books in bookshelves may be lined in rows, but they cannot be stacked.  If they are, he pulls them from the shelves.  Toys may not be stacked.  If they are, he throws them out of his room.

Likewise clothes may not be stacked in drawers.  If they are found that way, they are removed and placed (as neatly as a two year old can place them) on the floor.  The same goes for any other item found on top of something else.  he has always been this way.

But he stacked these crackers himself.

Just seeing him place one object on top of another would have been enough to leave me staring in amazement. The fact that he decided to do this all by himself, out of nowhere, was enough to invoke shock, awe and more than a touch of pride into this humble narrator. But what he did next brought tears of joy to my eyes.

He clapped and said in the clearest voice I have ever heard him use; “Yay!”

My son does not speak often.  When he does it’s still very much in baby-talk.  If you don’t know what he’s trying to say, you’re not going to understand him.  A deaf chimpanzee would have understood this.  It wasn’t baby talk, it ws a two year old that was immensely proud of himself speaking in a voice so clear that I have to believe angels in the heavens were applauding right along with him.  I’m sure his grandmother was right there with them. I know I was clapping like mad.

He spoke.

Of course I woke his mother for this.  She had gone to bed early after two days of finalizing a manuscript for publication.  We both stood with him for as long as he was willing to go on, stacking and unstacking crackers, clapping and screaming “YAY” into a dark Texas night.  I don’t think I’ve ever been happier for him than I was last night.

This is a breakthrough of proportions that I’m still trying to wrap my thoughts around.  For just a few minutes at a dinner table I was looking at the person that’s usually trapped inside our silent hero.  The little boy that he is bubbled up to the surface and came out for the rest of us to see.  The moment may have been fleeting, but it’s for moments like these that we work so hard with him on his off days.

For just a few minutes I wasn’t working with my autistic son.  I was playing with a very happy two year old who was acting exactly like any other very happy two year old.  Call me greedy, but I want more moments like this.  A lot more.

The fact that this happened to a backdrop of twinkling Christmas lights just made the moment seem that much more miraculous.  It is the season of miracles, after all.  We just got ours.  If it’s the only one of the season, I’ll be perfectly content.

I guess the old commercials were right.  Everything’s better with a Ritz.

Peace All, I’m out.

Tagged as: Autism, breakthroughs, milestones, Miracles