OK I know it is totally not fair to be writing about my child's play date while the play date is still here. If I have said it once I have said it a million times - you never know when autism is going to pull a fast one on you. It can happen anywhere, anytime without warning. At this very moment it is happening in the bedroom next door to the one I am sitting in, typing furiously with two hands while listening intently to the mini-drama playing out in the next room.
Maya's friend from next door is over. They really play nicely together and even though Maya listens to the little girl probably only 50% of the time, the little girl has gotten a lot more patient with her and they seem to have found their own rhythm. Despite pretty pronounced differences in development they seem to have found a simpatico now which wasn't there a year or two ago. It's lovely to see and sweet, as Maya is getting older and more eager for peer contact that she has a friend who seems to enjoy her.
At this moment they are in Maya's room playing school. The little girl, who is sweet and a real take-charge kind of girl is naturally the teacher and Maya is her somewhat reluctant student. They have pulled out a chalkboard and the teacher is giving the lessons and telling what are they going to do. So far she has tried to make Maya add, subtract, all the while Maya is trying to politely ignore her and is half watching a dvd which is playing. Of course the little girl doesn't realize Maya's avoidance dance isn't just Maya playing along at "not listening" but that Maya is not able to do math on cue. She thinks Maya is playing her game, being the naughty student so she can be the teacher. I just peeked in over there and she has turned the tv off and is trying to fix Maya's sleeping bag where Maya has caught the zipper.
Still, I sometimes worry that this little girl will grow impatient with Maya as she does love making the rules and Maya is just not that good at following them. Although her near obsession has faded a bit Maya is really fixated on this little girl and intently looks to see if their car is outside and they are home and plans, plans, plans for the next time they will play together. A second ago Maya went bounding down the stairs and the little girl came to me and asked if she could stay longer. I asked her if they were playing school and she said they were and she was the teacher and they were doing math and language, but Maya found that to be too hard so the little girl thought it would be better if they played kindergarten instead and now Maya is listening very good and it is fun.
So maybe I should stop worrying and monitoring and just let them find their own rhythm?
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