Our weekday morning routine has been pretty much the same for the last few years. I wake up about an hour before the kids and spend that whole time hoping that they will stay asleep as long as possible. This is because I need time to wake up and have my brain up to full power before I have to be on my toes. It's not that they are nearly as challenging as they once were but even at 11 and 9 I still have to help them with parts of the morning activities. For instance I have to pay attention to what Andrew picks out for school. He often is completely unaware of the seasons and will put on shorts in the winter or not bother with socks if there are no clean pairs in his drawer. There have even been times in recent months when he started putting on his coat and boots for school while still in his PJ's. Needless to say it's kind of important for me to be truly awake in the mornings.
So after the kids get up the only important thing they need to do before we leave is get dressed in something that won't get social services called on me. I set my goals so high don't I? Who cares about fashion. Lets' just stay in Moms custody today okay? Then we head off to Grandma and Grandpa's house for breakfast. Even on the days when I'm not working we still usually keep this routine. Kids with Autism tend not to do so well with an abundance of variation in their lives which means that their parents also don't do well with lots of variation. In a nut shell it makes our lives easier to just keep it the same and avoid the trigger being pulled on the entire day. The usual breakfast consists of cereal and a glass of whatever flavour of milk they will possibly drink that day. Currently Camryn wants a different flavour every day which means you actually have to know what she drank yesterday. "Hello!! Brain not fully firing at 8:00am". Andrew never wants anything different. It should always be a combo of chocolate and strawberry flavour. That is until one day after you've poured it and he'll announce that this is no longer the kind he likes. Oh and he needs it in a green cup and Camryn needs hers in a blue one. Please be sure never to mix those up in your morning fogginess. Been there, done that, and it's not pretty. Oh so much crying.....and not just the kids. We have recently worked at getting them to accept.....dare I say....non-blue and non-green glass cups. Small victories!! However this is challenging because glass can shatter and the kids sometimes are preoccupied by being able to see the syrup that sometimes remains at the bottom of the cup. Something they couldn't do with colored plastic ones. They'll just sit their watching it as if suddenly it might do something interesting. Spoiler Alert!! It never does.
Another reason to switch from the colored plastic cups was because they had a tendency to tip over. Okay, well they didn't really have that tendency but my children are busy and don't always know where their limbs are in space. This was leading to a cup being dumped over a little bit too often. At least the glass ones are a bit heavier but it's still in theory could be knocked over by an arm wildly flung across the table. When this occurs my Mom and I jump up to deal with the mess. Camryn is usually a bit anxious and sometimes flaps just a little as the milk finds it's way close to her but otherwise she just sits there watching. While she doesn't always help it's clear that she is fully aware that milk has been dumped. However Andrew who is usually the kid that knocked it over continues to eat his cereal and chat about random stuff as if Grandma and I weren't madly flying around the kitchen gathering paper towels and dish clothes as the milk spreads across the table and ruins just about everything it touches. As it begins to spill off the edge and drip through the cracks in the table the dogs gets involved. All the while Andrew is completely oblivious to the ensuing chaos around him and never makes any attempt to help clean up.
So you can imagine my surprise today when the kids were sitting here eating breakfast. It's the weekend so we were at home. I was running around getting us ready to go out for the morning when I hear the familiar thump of a cereal bowl on the table. I assume your everyday, run of the mill parents would hardly even notice this sound but like a meerkat I stop what I'm doing and stand at attention waiting for anything that indicates danger. I hold my breath for what seems like an eternity. Usually I can hear Camryn's tone change to indicate that she is getting excited but it's not voices I hear. I was downstairs at this point and heard what sounded like the kids running around on the main floor. We have hardwood floors so it sounds roughly like linebackers practicing in our living room. I come upstairs not sure what I will find. There to my amazement is Andrew down on the ground passing paper towels to Camryn as they try to clean up the mess. It turns out that Camryn had tipped her cereal bowl and some milk had sloshed out. Here is the miraculous part. Wait for it.......Andrew not only noticed for the first time but he actually did something about it. At this point I swear I hear harps playing in the background while a choir of angels sings Hallelujah. Of course the kids really have never done this alone before and are actually just kind of smearing milk and cheerios around on the hardwood but they are trying. I will say that I was so excited that I could have actually cried. I'm not fooling myself to think that we will have less spills anytime in the foreseeable future. And I certainly think it could get harder to clean up after the kids "help" but I won't pass on this monumental step forward for Drew. And the very best part....seeing how proud he was when I gave him a high five for helping his sister. I'm sure Camryn would have joined in if her feet hadn't been stuck to the sticky mess on the hardwood floor.
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