This blog was initially set up as a means of communicating with my son's team. Since then, I've heard from other parents with similar stories. If you are living with challenges or journeying alongside someone who is, you are not alone. There are many of us. I'm a single adoptive Mom (http://richesofsimplicity.blogspot.com/) of a young man who lives with many abilities and many diagnoses. We have journeyed together through many challenges and a few adventures over the years as my son has tried to find space in this world that makes him feel more comfortable, an attempt made especially difficult when living with Attachment Disorder, PDD-NOS (Autism), Developmental Coordination Disorder, ADHD, prenatal substance exposure, etc. Some of the strongest elements used in this journey have been music, visual arts, therapeutic parenting, team-connection, boundary-setting, boundary-setting, boundary-setting, communication skills, community-building, continual lifeskills training, and elements of Theraplay. (Click here for some written resources.) On this journey, there is laughter and tears and growth and hope. The greatest of these is hope.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Pants - December 7, 2010

On Monday, I reminded Chef that he was not to wear his beige pants anymore. He'd been wearing them for numerous days already (and probably nights) and there were spots on them that were questionable at best. Chef said he only had a pair of jeans to wear then and reminded me that he didn't have any other clothes and we reviewed the reasons for that (most have "disappeared" again and Chef hasn't been putting in his laundry). "Well, jeans it is then. You're not wearing the beige ones again."

On Tuesday morning, Chef came out of his room wearing his beige pants. "Did you need help taking those off?" I asked. "No," replied Chef as he shuffled back into his room. A couple of minutes later, he came out of his room, stood in the hallway and said, "Mom, did something spill on my pants?" "Pardon?" "Did something spill on my pants?" "Well, whose pants are they?" "Mine." "And where were they?" "In my room." "So why are you asking me about them?" "I don't know. I just wondered if something spilled on them during a room check."

This was all sounding a little odd.

"No, why are you asking?" "They smell." "I would smell too if I were a pair of pants bunched up in your room the last few weeks." "Yeah but I washed them before they went in my room and I haven't worn them since then." "Ok, but your clothes will take on some smells if they're left bunched up in a room." "Oh."

Chef went outside. When I walked into the front entrance - whoa. Ok, the pants definitely smell. I left a voicemail for his resource teacher warning him.

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