Damn you, Reality

OK...yeah so about that "maybe soon" thing? Clearly it didn't happen. I'm thinking about all the things I will be able to do if/when Princess ever gets into school....I think I've run out of time before it ever got here.

But anyway...so we're coping, I suppose. There are days (like today) when patience runs low. Princess, who must be part ninja, decided to get up this morning, go down to the living room, climb on the desk, and get all of my books off the bookshelves...that was a pleasant surprise to come downstairs to. There are days that are great. And every day has it's moments. For example, most parents are annoyed with the "what's that?" game by the time their child is 4 1/2. Princess has NEVER been inquisitive like that. EVER. So yesterday, I was cleaning house a little bit, since it was nice enough to have the windows open and we wouldn't be choking on cleaning fumes. I am a big fan of The Talk and watch it every day; sometimes live, sometimes later in the day when life has calmed down. Lately, though, it's been live. Every time it comes on, even back from commercial, there's Princess "It's The Talk!!" then she goes about her business. So back to yesterday...

As I said, I was cleaning my house. She was in and out of the living room, playing with her toys, waiting on me to "do the big wild rumpus," aka the vacuum. I turned on The Talk, then just left CBS on because for once in 31 years, I actually wanted to watch Oprah (Katherine Jackson). So anyway...Oprah comes on, I'm almost done cleaning, Princess runs in the room, "It's The Talk!!" "No that's Oprah, not the talk." Ten minutes later, this scene repeats. So I finish the vacuum, aka I'm done cleaning, and I'm ready to watch Oprah from the beginning, because at this point, every time I've looked at the TV, Katherine Jackson was crying, so I put the vacuum away and go to sit down. Princess is just standing in front of the TV staring.

Now, we've started speech therapy, but we're not quite there with the "who what when where and why" things. Right now everything is kind of a "what," which is fine, because it's progress. So as I said, she's standing in front of the TV, just staring at it. On screen, Katherine Jackson on the left, Oprah on the right. Cut to just Oprah...

Princess points and says "what's that?"
"That's Oprah."
"Oprah?"
"Yes, Oprah."
Our first actual, unscripted conversation.

Sure...we talk all the time. God knows SHE talks all the time (don't judge me, it can be alot to take sometimes), but usually our conversations consist of her "talking tv" or reciting books and me sayin "whadya doin? hey stop! HEY! PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!!" This was started by her, followed a normal progression, and had a definitive ending. Did I mention she's not in school yet?

Cut to about 3-4 hours later. Now, "they say" autistic children can have intense interests. You could say Princess falls into this category. She LOVES animals. I should say, she likes all "characters" that aren't human. She plays with the Princesses a little bit, she plays with the mommy etc from her dollhouse occasionally, but really, it's all about non-human characters. Our house is littered with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toys, Sesame Street toys, Littlest Pet Shop toys, and stuffed animals....TONS of stuffed animals. She has a Barbie doll, but only because it was Sea World Barbie and she wanted the seal, killer whale, and dolphin that came with it. She has a Little Mermaid "Barbie" but she has been afraid of it since the day Santa put it in her stocking. These are things I "put away" in the hopes that she will one day play with them.

So she was playing with her Sesame Street stuffed animals. We don't have "Rosita" so she calls her Crush doll (yes, Finding Nemo) Rosita. (If anyone knows where I can get her that would be awesome...been looking for 2 years). So she's playing and she decides that her Mickey Mouse stuffed animals want to visit Sesame Street. This is, of course, all amazing, because it's not at all from a TV show or book, so about 70% of this activity is her imagination...also, progress. Anyway...she goes to get Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Donald Duck out to play. They're in a toy bin where I keep Barbie and Ariel. She gets the bin out and starts going through it, pulls out Barbie and Ariel. She looks at them, puts Ariel aside because she knows that one but PROGRESS! She's not scared of it! (She's had that for 2 years...) She picks up Barbie, looks at me and says,

"what's this?"
"That's Barbie."
"Barbie."
"Yes."

Progress....

Christmas should be pretty fun this year. Can't wait for Santa to bring age-appropriate toys and take the inappropriate toys away (though he may start that this week).