Pump It Up

See the kid at the bottom trying to escape the picture??
Yep, that's Chase, never wanting to sit still for a picture, but this was the best birthday party he and I have ever been to.

Do you know what it's like to take a child with autism to a "typical" child's b-day party??
It's not fun. Since all the other kids there are "normal"...Chase looks extremely abnormal.
But when you go to a b-day party for a fellow classmate who has autism, there's nothing abnormal about it.
It was like a breath of fresh air, being at that b-day party. Chase wasn't the only one who chose to stay on only one blowup slide the whole 2 hours when you're in a room with more than one. I honestly feel like I can't find the words to adequately describe how it felt....in a way, it was surreal, to be in a room with upwards of 25 autistic kids having the time of their lives, without being laughed at, or feeling left out.
No one really "played" with anyone else per say, but they did take turns, cooperate and enjoy themselves to the 100 degree. Everyone embraced who everyone was.

I grabbed on for dear life to that feeling of pure acceptance and escape from the reality of my child who has to live everyday in a non-autistic world. Nothing Chase did that night, or any other child that was there for that matter, was unusual or strange. For the first time in a long time, I didn't have to worry about looks I got from other parents if my child was doing something strange, like"stimming".

I found this on a website (can't remember where) that describes stimming in a great way.
"The term "stimming" is short for self-stimulatory behavior, sometimes also called "stereotypic" behavior. In a person with autism, stimming usually refers to specific behaviors such as flapping their hands, rocking, spinning, or repetition of words or phrases.

Stimming is almost always a symptom of autism, but it's important to note that stimming is also a part of most people's behavior patterns. If you've ever tapped your pencil, bitten your nails, twirled your hair, or paced, you've engaged in stimming.
The biggest differences between autistic and typical stimming are the choice of stim and the quantity of stim. While it's at least moderately acceptable to bite one's nails, for example, it's considered unacceptable to wander around flapping one's hands. There's really no good reason why flapping should be less acceptable than nail biting (it's certainly more hygienic!). But in our world, the hand flappers receive negative attention while the nail biters are tolerated."

I try to stop Chase from stimming if I see it start, but sometimes I don't notice him doing it because I'm so used to it. Chase is a hand flapper, ( I wonder how he hasn't flown away yet)and a jumper. He likes to jump all the time, whether on a trampoline or not. I wish I knew where he gets his energy! But doesn't all parents wonder that of their young children?!!