Yellow. Where would YOU take someone that said that?

What if your daughter came and stood 5 feet away from you, staring intently at you? You have NO idea what she wants and she keeps staring deep into your eyes like you can read her mind. You finally feel uncomfortable and say "Go get your talker and tell me what you want". She comes back and says (with the talker) "car". You think to yourself...."this is pretty cool. She wants something and is initiating telling me. But does she want something out of the car (that she left there?) or does she want to go for a ride IN the car?" Jack pipes up..."Show her both options with your hand in the air" (a common practice we use). Meanwhile Brooke chimes in "We went on a Jeep ride earlier and I told her we could go again so maybe that's what she wants?" We look outside and it is dumping rain so Jeeping is out. So I put emphasis with my left hand "do you want something inside the car?" and then with my right hand "OR a car ride?". Molly points to car ride.

"Ok, where do you want to go?"

She said "Yellow".

Your guess is as good as mine when she answers like this. "You want to go for a car ride to Yellow?"

She nods.

Ugh. Where is Yellow? Yellowstone in Wyoming? Kinda doubt it. My mind is blank.

Brooke says "Oh, right!! She was telling me that she wanted a yellow shirt and some red socks the other day when we were out. Maybe that's what she is talking about?"

I look at Molly...."Do you want to go shopping for a yellow shirt?" She nods and immediately heads towards the door. Sweet! We figured it out....way to go team Bell! If Brooke hadn't been there, the outcome would not have ended so happily. And it's Saturday afternoon with no commitments so I could take her right then.

We head over to Big 5 as I know that's where she and Brooke had been the day she was wanting "red socks". The Arc Thrift Store is right next door so I asked her which store she'd like to go to and she said (with her mouth) "Arsh". So we headed to the women's aisle and started pulling every yellow shirt off the rack. As she'd see another one, I'd ask which one she liked better, as she was only getting ONE shirt (because really...yellow is not her color). ;)  The second shirt she pulled was a very deep yellow shirt that said "Costa Rica" on it. None of the next 5 shirts compared and she held on tightly to the one that she really wanted. We checked out and paid $1.99 since it was marked down $1. Gotta love shopping at the ARC! Then we went to Big 5 and bought her socks and my girl was happy!!

And so was I as she had initiated a shopping trip and asked for what she wanted. This NEVER happens and I love being able to do something for her that SHE wants!

Can't wait for the day that she says "Happy Hour"!

Yellow

You CAN teach a 20 year old new tricks!

At 20 years old, Molly still surprises us with new things that she has learned. Not sure if they are taught to her at work, if she is recalling years of lessons attempted to be taught at home, or if finally she is just picking up on things naturally through life?

Brooke loves a good milkshake and Sonic has a fun summer special for 1/2 off milkshakes after 8 pm. It's awesome! He recently asked Molly if she'd like to go after dinner. She of course nodded her head "Yes". 8 pm rolled around and the 3 of us hopped into the car, pulled through the drive through, ordered our shakes and once in hand we proceeded to try and suck them through our straws. No go. WAY too thick. Molly and I both had strawberry chunks blocking the path and Brooke's had an piece of Oreo lodged in the straw. Luckily the drive home is not even a 1/2 a mile away and Brooke mentioned that we could eat them with a spoon when we got home. So with pedal to the medal, we headed home.

Upon arrival in the driveway, Molly booked it out of the car (she does everything fast) and ran straight for the kitchen to grab a spoon. Brooke and I sat down in the TV room to watch a show. This is where Molly shocked us.....she had grabbed THREE spoons and handed one to each of us as she sat down next to Brooke. We looked at each other with surprised faces.

I know that this probably doesn't sound like any big deal to most of you and I'm not even sure that I can adequately put into words why it was so shocking to us but I'll try. I even had to ask Spencer's mom and Brooke if they had words to adequately explain why this was so cool.

1. She thought of someone other than herself! Kids with autism aren't notorious for thinking of what others might want or need.
2. She counted the correct number of spoons. Hey, she can't add or do math (that we know of) so that was kinda cool to see.
3. This was totally unprompted from us. And that's probably the biggest thing as she will do anything that you ask....but she relies almost 100% of the time to be prompted (asked) to do something. So the fact that Brooke had mentioned that she might need a spoon to actually eat the thick shake 10 minutes before, did not mean that he had asked her to give us a spoon too. So when she thought to grab utensils for us; that made our hearts melt. Brooke looked at me with the same surprise that I felt inside. I love when he responds the same way that I do as it validates my reaction. It's nice to share life's little victories with someone else that totally gets your life. Someone else might not see the beauty in that tiny little gesture but a parent sure does.

Cheers to thick milkshakes in the summer!