Angles

Ashton sees different things in everyday items.

He sees a helicopter in our dishwasher sprayer.

He sees a playmate in his shadow.

He sees a pocket when he wears his undies backwards (and likes them better this way).

He sees the world through a different perspective and I think this is the greatest thing about him. I wish I was more like him and I love him for this.

I Didn't Do It....My Shadow Did

Lately Ashton likes to blame his shadow for all his wrongdoings.

"Did you hit Kate?" says mommy.

"No. I didn't do it." replies Ashton very convincingly.

"Why is she crying?" I ask again.

"My shadow hit her. Yeah, my shadow did it."

"Oh, I say. Well, your shadow is going to go to timeout if he hits Kate again. And since you go where your shadow goes, guess you'll have to go to time out too. So just tell him to play gentle with Kate." I sigh.

"Ok, shadow be nice" lectures Ashton to his outline on the wall.

An Imaginations's First Flight

Tonight, while putting Ashton to bed, we read the appropriately titled book "I'm Not Sleepy". The tale is a story within a story, beginning with a little boy, Alex, being put to bed by his father with a bedtime story. In the tale Alex walks through a jungle, (Alex in the real world walks to the bathroom to get a drink of water), drinks from a lake (Alex in the real world uses the potty), then is chased by a "Thingamajig". The Thingamajig chases Alex up a tree, where he escapes by grabbing on to the moon. It is only on a breeze that Alex floats back to his house landing in his bed and falling asleep. I've read "I'm Not Sleepy" to Ashton only a few times, as we just got it from the library last week and Ashton was VERY concerned by the pictures in the book. He's had a great misunderstanding that Alex is falling through the air.
After explaining to him tonight that Alex is not falling, but FLYING, Ashton showed me a wonderful side of his imagination. Without a word he got out of bed, solemnly raised his hands parallel to the ground and began to flap them up and down, explaining to me HE too was going to fly. I kept a watchful look as he scrunched his face up and flapped even harder, with a jump or two thrown in with hopes of lifting off. But, alas, no luck.
With the gloomiest of looks Ashton fell face forward on the bed in defeat. Ready to console him, I reached forward to rub his back, but my hand was quickly thrown off when he jumped up in the air with an "Ah-Ha!" look and said "Mommy, turn on the wind! Mommy, turn on the wind!", pointing to the switch on the wall behind me. Reaching up, I turned on the fan, to the highest of settings, and whirled around to see a quickly returned look of hope on his face with arms again flapping. After a minute or two, defeat slipped back on his face and his shoulders slumped once again.
My mind began to spin, wondering how to explain to my three-year-old the fine line between flying and floating, when he solved the problem for me. He let out a long sigh followed by a simple explanation, as if he were consoling me, "Mommy, I cannot fly. There are no wings on my back." and laid his head on his pillow to sleep.
I am so happy for him! While his body did not move an inch, his imagination soared tonight, high above any cloud and over the moon. Good night my darling.

Ashton and His "Moon"

I Pretend With You?

In honor of a wonderful moment this afternoon, I am starting a blog on behalf of Ashton & Kate, wishing to keep family & friends apart of our world.

Ashton named the blog with a simple conversation he started, beginning very carefully, "Here Mommy, here's some candy.", quickly searching my face for a response. I must have looked very confused when I saw his empty hand, as he then repeated his words adding in a voice that could only emerge from a 3-year-old - a special mixing of both an invitation to share in his magic as well as cautious self discovery --"I pretend with you?".

For those of you who know our family, we struggle day-to-day with Ashton and his extreme eccentricities, often wondering if he is "normal", having previously been diagnosed with SID. Hearing him say such an ordinary thing in such an ordinary way was really extraordinary, so much in fact a tear came to my eye.

Out of all the things I wish for my children, happiness and a true sense of self with confidence are really my greatest hope. Through this simple interaction today it seems Ashton is on his own path to that destination, blazing a trail for Katherine to navigate her own way by. I am proud of them and find these simple times both trying and rewarding, each day as much a surprise in its ups as well as it's downs.

I invite you to join us on our journey through Kate's terrible and terrific two's as her personality takes shape, Ashton's newly found "big boy world" and struggle for independence, my own search for self and where my life is heading and to watch Paul as he tries to both help everyone and stay clear of us - all at the same time.

Feel free to comment or email me and enjoy checking up on us from time to time. I make no vow of how often I will update this, but promise to blog as much as I can. Thank you for reading!