Under the Umbrella ...

Brett is funny. In so many ways. He's funny in ways that just leave you with a huge question mark in your thought bubble because you have no idea where he's coming from with an idea. It keeps things interesting. :) For instance, he Lah-Ha-Hoves umbrellas. Always has [as seen here in the bottom of a post from 2 years ago]. We? Don't get it. But that's okay. Who are we to question what's awesome & what's not?

A little over a month ago he drew the [above] umbrella. Before we knew it, he had cut it out and taped it to our door. After I got over the fact that he had gotten his hands on both the scissors and tape that I usually try I keep out of reach from little hands ... I told him how pretty it was. Brett was so proud of it, he showed all of us. And you have to know Brett. He doesn't just show you, he makes a production of it. He usually stands back with his hands on his hips with a smile so proud, yet bashful that you feel inclined to play along with the huge WOW factor, that quite possibly is there just for him. Sometimes he even adds a "Well, well, well... WHAT. do we HAVE here...."

His dad couldn't resist. He just came out & said what we have all been thinking. "Brett... why do you like umbrellas so much?" Instead of really telling us what the fascination is all about, Brett went on to tell us how they are useful, for instance that they protect you from the rain. Kyle, seeing a window of opportunity here, cut him off from his spiel & said "Brett. If you want ... I will buy you an umbrella. If you have 10 perfect days at school, I will buy you whatever umbrella you want.  You have to have 10 good days. I don't want to see "grumpy" or "sassy" or read that you stomped out of the classroom." Brett's face lit up like the 4th of July & said "You MEAN IT?" A big hug followed. So we made a chart. And day after day, we got reports of "Good; Great; Wow; Awesome; So proud!" I didn't tell his teacher until we were a few days into these good days because I didn't want to sway her in anyway ... I wanted the change to be real & noticeable.

He was so excited, he continued to have good days, every day. Even at recess during a kickball game when he reportedly kicked a pop fly & someone caught the ball, making it the 3rd out for his team. I think he had the umbrella on his mind when he slowly turned to look at his teacher & threw his arms up and ... just ... said .... "Ohhhh man!" [a line we've been feeding him for years for when he gets frustrated]. It was awesome.

10 stars later, we were ready to take Brett umbrella shopping. He had all sorts of ideas for what kind he wanted, but in the end ... it was slim pickin's at the store. But he was so excited to buy, he didn't want to go to another store to see what they had. In the ladies' section, it was leopard, zebra print, floral & this solid lime green one. In the men's section, they were all black. So we got the lime green one & he was happy. He was on cloud 9. All for an umbrella that was $7.99 + tax.

Now, this story wouldn't be complete if I didn't tell you what happened in the 5 minutes while we were taking the above pictures of him with his umbrella. Completely unrelated to the umbrella, but yet it falls under the umbrella of Autism. No true segue here at all. I'm just going to throw you into the situations as quickly as I was thrown into them. It's part of the fun.

Brett loves people. He loves to smile, say hi & hug. I'm usually hoping it just ends there. It normally doesn't. We can sometimes unknowingly find ourselves knee deep into an uncomfortable situation. Within about 5 minutes of each other we found ourselves in about 3.  He was on a roll. He pointed at a lady in a red Rascal & thought it was awesome :\ ... He's seen the infomercial & does think they are awesome. A Hispanic family walked by speaking Spanish. He spoke it back to them. And by "it" I mean a made up jargon that was his impression of the Spanish language :\ ... And when 3 Asian girls in their late teens walked by, he JUMPED at the chance to show off his Chinese he has learned from the cartoon Ni Hao, Kai Lan & gave them a friendly "Ni Hao" :\ ...  I decided to wrap up our umbrella photo shoot outside the T.J. Maxx ... 3 potential insults was our Maxx.

From there we went to the grocery store where in the parking lot he saw a lady maybe in her 60's. She did have gray here. He yelled & waved "hi". Surprised by Mr. Friendly, she happily said "hi" back. Then he said to me, "Mom, look! He's a grandma!" Double whammy. Wrong pronoun [every time] & then there's the age thing :\ ... so much for making her day. We're going on 4-5 years of this 'insult' in particular. I've probably told him 100 times, just because they have gray hair, it doesn't mean they're a grandma or grandpa. And some aren't comfortable with the term either way. :\

So, as we conclude this year's Autism Awareness Month, I think part of Autism Awareness is making you aware that not all insults are created equal. Some are born from a very sweet, innocent & friendly place. If only I had a chance to explain that to everyone we encountered. Perhaps I need to start carrying around pocket sized leaflets. They would read: "Sorry 'bout that. Rest assured, we will talk about ___________ and this situation just as soon as we walk away. Work in progress here. We'll learn about you, if you learn about us. Go to www.autismNOW.org. :)  Thanks & have a wonderful day!"  I will have to look into having some of those made. In the mean time, we'll be getting a lot of use out of that umbrella...


Did he say just say that? *unsnapping the closure strap ... hitting button ... vwoomp ... doo-dee-doo ... you don't see us under this big green umbrella ... keep walkin'.*

P.S. Tomorrow is the last day of the month, also the last day of my fundraiser & handmade with purpose! :) Thank you for all your support!