Autism in Our Home - Joy

At times, it is difficult to detect joy in our kiddo. Sometimes it is hard to figure out what makes him happy and what keeps him in what appears to be a storm. However, there are things that clearly put Colton into a state of pure bliss. On Saturday, Papa and Grandma took Colton and his cousins, Eden and David Jr., swimming. Can you see his joy in these pictures? He could live in the water. He loves it. He feels so happy when he is swimming, even if he is swimming alone. He will find friends and swim. Just swim.

When Josh's grandma died, her specially made organ came to our home. It is beautiful. It lights up and plays songs all by itself. It can also be played. Colton becomes quite fixated on certain things. The organ is one of those things. He is literally obsessed with it. For this reason, we have been a sign on it that reads, "Do not touch." Colton literally asks every single day, multiple times a day if he can play the organ. The answer has been been "no" except for once. Below is a picture of that once. Dad made the time to sit with Colton at the organ. It lit up, it played beautiful music, it soothed him and brought him peace and our boy was in Heaven in is otherwise chaotic Autistic world. Watching him for those moments brought gratitude to my heart and tears to my eyes.

Colton is generally a very happy kid. He likes to watch movies, play with Legos, play with stuffed animals, play games, and play the xBox/Wii/Playstation. He likes music most of the time. Sometimes it seems to be too much for him. Other times, he asks for the sound to be turned up. Colton likes to run and play with other kids, but generally kids who are younger than him by 5-6 years. Sometimes, though, Colton is just plain done, or is in what we call "another world." He is hard to reset, or to get him to focus. He tends to be far more frustrated during those times. Colton is very, very sensitive to others and how they might feel about him, but he doesn't always seem to understand how they actually feel or communicate with him. He loves when kids are nice to him or ask to be his friend. When joy enters his soul, the heavens open up!