"There He Is!", originally uploaded by cheryl.
One of the things you will notice about kids with autism is that much of their life is about love and hate. There is no middle ground. Something is either good or bad. It can occasionally be tolerated, even if it's bad, but things will never just be okay. It will simply be something bad that has to be tolerated until they can get to something good. Trust me on this, I know.
My twins are no different. They are persistent when they want something. They are compulsive in the way they play with certain toys, ALWAYS doing it the same way. They are obsessive about things they like.
Take Xander, he LOVES balloons. The highlight of his weekend with Daddy was this helium-filled yellow balloon in this photo. It stayed with him all afternoon. If someone dared to touch it, he screamed bloody murder. It was HIS balloon. All his.
He walked around with it all day. He would let it float up, dance a minute, then pull it back down with a big giggle. He would hold onto it while he watched television. He would take it into his room when he played on his bed. He would let it float up beside him while he climbed on the desk to play computer games. It was always within reach.
And everywhere he went that day, he would point up to the balloon and say "There He Is!" and want you to say it back to him.
It's what we do with balloons. Whether it's one just blown up at home with air to bounce around, whether it's a helium-filled one like this one tied to a string, or whether it's one he sees in a store or even in a book.
Have you read Goodnight Moon lately? You know, that red balloon. We can't make it through any page that doesn't have that balloon. Because once Xander sees the balloon isn't on the page, he's scrambling to turn to the next page that has the balloon. And guess what he tells you.
"There he is!" And he wants you to say it right back.
Because that means all is right in the world, as long as that balloon is there and someone says "There he is!"
Balloons are definitely one of the good things, at least as far as Xander is concerned.