On Saturday, Pookie and I spent the day together. First I took him for a haircut, which he tolerates, but does not really like. Then he said he wanted to go to Chilis. I thought that was a fine idea, except it was only 10:15 in the morning. So we wasted some time and made it to Chilis at 11am, just as they were opening. After lunch, we went to Walmart and I let him walk around where ever he wanted. It sounds like a weird thing, but its sort of payback for all the times I drag him there and he has to follow me around. He likes to be in charge once in a while, so we go. Then we went to Gameworks, which is sort of a Chuck E Cheese for older kids/adults with lots of arcade games. He did Skeeball and tried the crane game. He had fun, but his favorite part was riding the race car arcade games. He is a lousy driver, lets be clear. But this game was the kind that jostled the seat when you hit the wall or another car, so it actually encouraged him to be an even worse driver than usual. Then I took him to Starbucks for our monthly Sign Language Chat. He hit me up for a bagel, milk AND a banana! He tries real hard at sign language, but when he does not know a word, he just wiggles his hands. Its cute.

This month, a deaf woman joined the group and came with her interpreter friend. Up to this point, the group was made up of hearing people with an interest in sign language. She asked me why Pookie and I were learning sign language. I told her it was just another way to keep him communicating and make sure he had all the tools available. She told me that he would do better if we “turned off our voices” at home. I see where she is coming from, but I do not want to turn off Pookie’s voice. He is lucky to be one of the small group of vocal ASD kids. Sure, alot of what he says is echolalic, but at least its communicating and it changes more into real speech every day. I appreciated her interest, but I think her comments just reinforced why we go to sign language. I do not want Pookie to become fluent in sign language. I want him to be aware of words and thoughts…every minute of every day. I want him to know they can be written, spoken, signed, drawn, danced, etc. Any way he wants to get his message out is fine with me.

At the end of our day, BAGD asked Pookie some questions. It went something like this:

BAGD: “Pookie where did you and Mom go today?”

Pookie: “Haircut”

BAGD: “I like your new haircut. You and Mom also drove a car game. What color car did you drive?”

Pookie: “red. red car.”

BAGD: “Are you a good driver or a bad driver?”

Pookie: “Bad Driver.”

Good day.