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| Best Mother's Day Present EVE |
OK, that's two British-y things I will never do. I can probably think of a lot more, but that is a post for another day.
So, now that I have gotten that out of the way, I can stop pontificating on the Brits and move onto what I want to talk about.
Ready?
Facebook has been hounding me to look at my Year in Review. This is where they make an overview of your 20 most popular posts throughout the year and put them in one little place so that
I found mine to be rather fascinating:
1. Maya on a playdate with a friend.
2. Maya toughing it out during Purim with the noise and the crowds.
3. Maya's class picture.
4. Maya writing.
5. Happy anniversary to Leo.
6. Anniversary of D-Day and remembering that event and it's significance for my family (we wouldn't be here without it, duh).
7. The State of Israel's Righteous Among the Nations Award being bestowed on the family that saved my Father in law during the war. Read more about that here.
8. Cute photo of Maya.
9. Maya dealing with grief in her own special way, and her own beautiful way of processing emotions.
10. Maya and her little tradition of giving me something of hers to take with me when I travel.
11. Another cute photo
12. The requisite birthday post (complete with baby photo) on Maya's birthday. We all like to think we are so unique, but guess what? We're not.
13. Maya cueing us in on that she knows how to spell.
14. More cute photos (note to self: next year, not so many photos, yeah, right).
15. Maya and her hedgehog obsession.
16. Another photo (f*ck, enough already)
17. Cute Maya post about how she processes life and emotions.
18. Catching Maya reading aloud (probably my highlight of the year).
19. Some lame-ass post about going on vacation.
20. Maya and going to Happy2Move and how much she loves having an extracurricular.
So, what does this tell us?
Well, some would say that I post about my kid too much (A. Your problem. B. If you don't want to hear about my kid, why the hell are you reading my blog anyhow?).
Along with all the debates in the autistic community that are raging, one that I have taken notice of lately is the one over whether autism is something to be celebrated or something to be rid of and cured. As I have said all along on all these debates, your point of view on these issues is related directly to where you (or your loved one) is with autism. I totally get both views.
Yes, we definitely have our struggles and Maya is getting older, despite her doing well, her differences are becoming more pronounced in her peer community and less able to wave away with the cute-little-kid explanations than they were a few years ago. We are entering adolescence (sh*t, we're here, who am I kidding), certain things are getting harder. The fantasy of Maya "catching up" and ending up with a Math Degree from Harvard (or just being able to do long division) is being pushed ever more into the whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis category more than ever.
Still, a year ago, Maya's being able to read was still big fat question mark. She couldn't write her name. This year on Mother's day for the very first time, she gave me a handwritten card along with her home made present. I have no idea what the hell the gift even was, but that little note is on my nightstand and I look at it every day.
My girl IS learning. It may be at a microscopic snail's pace, but it is happening. She understands more and her emotional intelligence continues to amaze everyone around her. She's kind, she's sweet and she thinks well of herself. At her age, I could recite multiplication tables and was reading novels, but I didn't understand half of what she does about the human heart.
It's been a great year.
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