you want to work here

Well, Henry didn't let me go for long without a story to tell. But first, a few basics to help you understand him:

-Like many autistic children, Henry has trouble getting his pronouns right. The easiest way for me to explain it is that he says what he wants YOU to say- he wants you to repeat it. For example, he'll say "you need a potty break"- really this means that he needs to go potty. But our way of asking him when he was little was "do you need a potty break?" So, in Henry speak, "you" usually means "I" and vice-versa.

-One of Henry's passions is anything Disney. He has moved from one favorite movie to the next (The Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast...) but he also loves to admire an assortment of Disney things- spread all the video boxes out on the floor, pore over one of those ads you get in the mail for a movie club, collect fruit snack boxes featuring different characters...

So, yesterday afternoon we took his big sister to an appointment at a branch of our Children's Hospital. Henry has a very optimistic outlook on life and views every new place as potentially holding new Disney movies, books, or puzzles (another passion). He quickly looked through all the books in the waiting room, but they mostly seemed to be old textbooks or children's encyclopedias! Then, he spotted shelves of movies behind the receptionists' desk, and made a bee-line for those. (They show movies in the waiting room, but the one showing at the time was Jumanji or something that he had no interest in.)

So, I had to carry him kicking and screaming out of the receptionists' area. (They subsequently shut the door.) I tried in vain to interest him in anything else, but he could not be swayed. I told him that only "people who work here" can go in that room. So he started saying, in such a choked, pitiful voice, "you want to work here, you want to work here, you want to work here, you want to work here."

So then I said (why was I trying to reason with him?) "you're not old enough to work here" or something to that effect. He got even more agitated and said "you are NOT too big." Trying to contradict my statement, but getting it a little backwards. Then he said, (and this really threw me) "you want to go with Tommy." His little brother was at his babysitter's (Lori), and at first I thought Henry was just totally changing the subject and saying he wished he was at Lori's house! But then he elaborated: "you want to go in that room with Tommy. He is not too big."

He had misunderstood what I said- that he was too big to go in that room, and figured if he went in with his little brother, that would be allowed!!

These sorts of conversations leave me with mixed emotions- I am always so proud when he tries to "use his words", and impressed with the (sometimes circuitous) connections he makes with things. But it makes me so sad that he has so much trouble understanding these kinds of rules in life- there are areas where only employees can go.

I ended up carrying him back out to the minivan where we listened to a story tape and hung out for about 45 minutes.

Last night he did something I was really proud of: he told his little brother "thank you" 2 different times, without us even having time to prompt him.