Choices had to be made

I decided to discontinue writing to what had been my "main" blog because it simply ceased to serve a purpose for me anymore.  My life has changed dramatically since I started blogging and I find that I have much more meaningful writing to do about parenting a child on the spectrum than merely blathering on about whatever else I have going on.  So I hope to write far more in this forum and share more deeply what this parenting experience has meant for me, changed for me, changed in me.  This is where I need to be right now.  Hope you go along for the ride.

No eyes averted

One thing that is so difficult for children on the spectrum to manage is eye contact.  It is one of the first signs that a child may have an ASD...the constant aversion to making full and appropriate eye contact with another person, even a parent.  There are many days where I don't get a lot of eye contact from Elenore, even if I ask her for it.  I accept this because I think maybe the intensity of eye contact is just too much for her.  Cameras are especially problematic because it is essentially one big eye bearing down on her demanding her attention.  She just doesn't often know what to do with it.  But lately, since camp started really, she has been approaching others with a very open face and a willing smile.  Her social cues are much more functional than they ever have been.  Here, she grabbed a silly set of 4th of July deelyboppers and stuck them right on her darling brunette head.  I had to get it on camera...and she rested her hand comfortably on the counter and said, "oh, smile!"

I think the result is perfection.