>Some children with autism wander. Escape. Run. El Grande doesn’t, and never has. So when this happened, it wasn’t scary — just odd. I was working on my laptop in the den when he got up to use the bathroom and didn’t come back. When I realized he’d been gone for a while, I got up to see if he had a stomach-ache or other problem. He was out of the bathroom already. He hadn’t come back to the den, he wasn’t upstairs listening to the radio, he wasn’t on the old computer in his sister’s room. I looked outside in the backyard; he wasn’t on the new backyard swing, either. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tail wag. It was our neighbor’s dog. Sure enough, El Grande was there on the driveway with the dog. This is an old and mellow dog (Shades of the old Beast) who thrives on attention. When she’s outside, she’ll come to the side of the yard and make little noises for El Grande to come pet her. It’s a win-win for both; El Grande gets to develop a relationship with a friendly dog, and the dog gets attention that the neighbors (parents of an adorable toddler) don’t have enough time to give.
>AWww.
You post such colorful pictures.
>This is really sweet and a wonderful perspective. our dear friends and neighbors had their teenage autistic son wander into our yard right after we moved and he accidentally broke a St. Francis statuette.
The mother was horrified and brought the son over to apologize and all I could think of was what a little nothing marker of welcome in my garden and how wonderful that my garden attracted someone who cared to come visit.
We bonded through that experience.
That we all might approach the world differently and appreciate the perspective of others.