My A-Ha Moment

I have been spending a lot of time lately, not only with Lucas on his program, but putting materials together for him. His reading and knowledge programs take us from Pyotor Llyich Tchaikovsky, to Western Lowland Gorillas, to the Presidents of the US, major organs of the body and now, famous artists, to name just a few. I am constantly amazed by his hunger for this information, how he enjoys these programs, and beyond that, the longer we are doing it, the quicker he learns....which means I need a lot more material quicker!

I was at the store today while Lucas was at pre-school, and there was a mom there with her "normal" little boy who must have been close to kindergarten age. Within the first few moments I knew the little boy's first, middle and last name, because his mom said it about 5 times. He already had a cast on his left forearm, yet undeterred was trying to climb up a display. After several reminders not to do that, the little boy threw a tantrum and started yelling while he picked up some items that were on the floor and started throwing them about.

After I had completed my shopping, I found myself behind this Mother-son duo at the check out. There were lighted signs over the register to indicate what number isle it was, and the little boy looked up and said "Mom, that's a 5." You seriously would have thought the kid cured cancer, his mother was beside herself with joy telling him what a "genius" he was because he in fact identified the number 5.

I began to get lost in the lists of things I was told to expect from my son who was not "normal," and  if given the choice many would not want. Behavior problems, difficulty following directions, slow learning, and poor memory were just a few. I began to snicker, not because this mom was having a hard time with her little boy, but because my fear (back then) of always looking at other "normal" children and comparing Lucas had become a reality. I do look, and I do compare, and my son is not only keeping up with his well peers, but he is light years beyond them in many ways.

It occurred to me that this little boy's antics were created from a burning desire to learn and do, but his experiences were limited by his mom who was just thrilled to see he'd learned the number 5. How true for us - how absolutely, positively destructive our insecurities are when they hold us back from introducing things our children are starving to know.

As I got Lucas out of the tub a few nights ago, our "forearm connected to the elbow, elbow connected to the arm bone...etc) song morphed into a fascinating game of show me your humerus, where's your tibia, Lucas...show me your metacarpal phalangeal joint. Lucas got them all right..and more, and giggles because the words were funny....and as he sat there acing the content of my first college anatomy course it occurred to me that "keeping up with" hasn't been our goal for a very long time.