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Teeth/Park/Ignorance
Check it out guys! K.C. put the toothbrush in his mouth without being asked, all by himself! I have been helping K.C. brush his teeth every single night, my hand over his, sometimes him not being very happy about it. Well he totally caught me off guard when he walked into the bathroom and put the toothbrush in his mouth and moved it around a bit! It's hard for him to do the back and forth motion but we are going to work at it everyday just as we have been. I am so proud of him. It actually rained here today and I am hoping it sticks around for a couple more days. We don't see enough rain here, what do I expect, after all we do live in the desert, he he. I took the Boys to the park yesterday to play. K.C. did great, there were quite a few kids at the park. Sometimes I am amazed and I mean amazed at what ADULTS say to each other especially when what they are saying is about your KID and them not realizing that the kid they are talking abouts Mommy is standing right next to them! There were about 20 to 30 kids playing at the park, parents standing around watching their children. I was watching K.C. walk across the wobbly bridge. (yep he finally got on it and walked slowly across) In the middle of the bridge he decided he would sit in the middle and zone out and flick his fingers in front of his eyes at about light speed. I know when K.C. does this it's very hard to bring him back until he's finished. Well he was holding up traffic on the bridge and I noticed Big Brother had covered his eyes when he looked in my direction (meaning yep Mom, you are about to have one very angry kid and I don't want to watch) Before I made my way over to K.C. I waited and listened to the 'ladies' talk. The children on the bridge were simply going around K.C. and I didn't see an urgency in moving him. One lady said, 'oh my gosh look at that kid, the lights are on but nobody is home.' The other lady said nothing just looked on. The lady with the big mouth wouldn't shut up. The next thing she said was , 'I think he's a mental retard, aren't their parks for 'THEM' in the state?' I walked over to both ladies and said, " You know I saw a television program the other day and it was all about Autism and children." "I think that little boy maybe Autistic, of course I'm not an expert but it does look similar to what I saw on the television the other day, it was very interesting. "It was also reported that 1 in 150 children are born with Autism these days." The big mouth lady listened to what I said and watched K.C. I then told her, "you know Retarded ain't bad." I walked over to K.C. and said, "time to go home." Big Brother ran up to us and we left. I looked over my shoulder and the big mouth lady made direct eye contact with me and it looked as though she whispered, "I'm sorry." I smiled at her. Maybe just maybe that lady will go home and read about Autism. Maybe just maybe she will understand.
Check it out guys! K.C. put the toothbrush in his mouth without being asked, all by himself! I have been helping K.C. brush his teeth every single night, my hand over his, sometimes him not being very happy about it. Well he totally caught me off guard when he walked into the bathroom and put the toothbrush in his mouth and moved it around a bit! It's hard for him to do the back and forth motion but we are going to work at it everyday just as we have been. I am so proud of him. It actually rained here today and I am hoping it sticks around for a couple more days. We don't see enough rain here, what do I expect, after all we do live in the desert, he he. I took the Boys to the park yesterday to play. K.C. did great, there were quite a few kids at the park. Sometimes I am amazed and I mean amazed at what ADULTS say to each other especially when what they are saying is about your KID and them not realizing that the kid they are talking abouts Mommy is standing right next to them! There were about 20 to 30 kids playing at the park, parents standing around watching their children. I was watching K.C. walk across the wobbly bridge. (yep he finally got on it and walked slowly across) In the middle of the bridge he decided he would sit in the middle and zone out and flick his fingers in front of his eyes at about light speed. I know when K.C. does this it's very hard to bring him back until he's finished. Well he was holding up traffic on the bridge and I noticed Big Brother had covered his eyes when he looked in my direction (meaning yep Mom, you are about to have one very angry kid and I don't want to watch) Before I made my way over to K.C. I waited and listened to the 'ladies' talk. The children on the bridge were simply going around K.C. and I didn't see an urgency in moving him. One lady said, 'oh my gosh look at that kid, the lights are on but nobody is home.' The other lady said nothing just looked on. The lady with the big mouth wouldn't shut up. The next thing she said was , 'I think he's a mental retard, aren't their parks for 'THEM' in the state?' I walked over to both ladies and said, " You know I saw a television program the other day and it was all about Autism and children." "I think that little boy maybe Autistic, of course I'm not an expert but it does look similar to what I saw on the television the other day, it was very interesting. "It was also reported that 1 in 150 children are born with Autism these days." The big mouth lady listened to what I said and watched K.C. I then told her, "you know Retarded ain't bad." I walked over to K.C. and said, "time to go home." Big Brother ran up to us and we left. I looked over my shoulder and the big mouth lady made direct eye contact with me and it looked as though she whispered, "I'm sorry." I smiled at her. Maybe just maybe that lady will go home and read about Autism. Maybe just maybe she will understand. 
13 comments:
Awesome K.C. Way to go buddy!!!! That is so incredible that he put the toothbrush in his mouth and moved it around! I am so proud of you Tina for saying what you did to that woman BRAVO!!!! You remained calm and was very articulate and that's the way it needs to be done in order to get the point across. K.C. looks so handsome in that hat, I just love that picture!
You are amazing Tina. I love your grace, wit, and charm. Grrrrrrr to ignorant people. I am very proud of KC and brushing and handling the kids on the bridge. From one mom to another, dive into the brushing battle. Sam just had his first cavity last week. I have been stressed as to how we were ever going to get passed the sensory issues, dentist visits, but I have decided that he has to let me at them so we won't continue the dental path we are going. Sam finally started putting the brush in his mouth this last year. He doesn't get the brushing on teeth part, but mom gets to brush second, and I always tell him he gets to go first. Some days he chooses me to go first.
I am so sorry about the park lady, but am so proud at the incredible way you handled her!!! You go girl!!!
I would have slapped her. So you are wonderful for being so calm. Karma...it will get her. Karma.
I have to say that I was impressed by how you handled the mom at the park! I wish I had your grace in those situations. I tend to not say something and then get more and more mad at myself as I rehash the situation in my brain. Good for you!
Wow Tina! Good for you! I am going to remember how you handled that situation and I hope I will be cool enough to do the same someday. (I would be more likely to run off crying!)
You are awesome! I imagine you made her feel like a complete @#%^
(as well she should). I mean COME ON! She may as well have been describing herself.
Kudos to you, and to KC for brushing his teeth. That is a really weird sensory experience when you think about it.
I tryed to comment the other day but it would not let me. Now i forget what I wanted to say. Have a great weekend.
Glad you spoke up [you advocate you!]
Cheers
Hi Tina:
The ignorance/intolerance is so annoying isn't it? I came face to face with it several times in the first month Billy Ray was with us. He was 14 months old with only a few features of Down Syndrome and Autism had not become apparent yet.
The first one was in the peds office the day after we got him. He was smiley and happy and SO CUTE (I thought)but the lady sitting next to us was describing to her teenage daughter the lines in his hand that meant Down syndrome. A few days later we were standing in a grocery line and some lady made a very negative comment.
Re the tooth brushing up and down - if KC could tolerate a slight noise they have these wonderful (and cheap about $5) battery operated ones that help a lot. The one we have is made by Crest.
I'd take the rain and send the snow for Big Brother if we could. I know he'd love that and I am getting tired of it.
YAY on the toothbrushing KC! WTG! You Rock Kiddo!!!
And YIKES on that Mommy.. holy crap do people still use words like Retard??? I can't believe it? Nor can I believe that she actually thinks they need their own park.. holy crapoli! Someone drag that woman into the present!
You handled her superbly! I'm proud to be your friend! YOU ROCK MOM!
Our kids teach us how to be strong, and they make it easy. Cheers!
First, WAY TO GO KC on brushing teeth!!! KC and Conor parallel each other so much sometimes. I remember going through the same thing with Conor and the wobbly bridge, and he just recently (a couple of months ago?) started brushing his own teeth.
Now, onto YOU! WOW!!!!!! You absolutely ROCK, Tina!!! That's right out of a movie script! You did more for that woman than if you had become defensive and said, "Hey, that's my kid, he has autism and you're an ignorant moron." (which is probably what I would have said!) Now, she just might look into learning about autism and you never know where that might lead.
You are so awesome!
Charlie will still only brush his teeth for Amber, his TSS. For me he just runs and hides.
As for the witch at the park, I don't even have words. I am steaming here. Just livid. She's the rotten bully in the schoolyard all grown up with nothing to show for it. You handled it just right, I can't imagine how I would have managed that situation. Certainly not as well as you did.
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