The Amazement of Life through Miles Child

Today, I was working with my Superintendent's wife, Becky, on converting some video of their daughter's wedding onto a DVD. A rather easy thing for me was quite a relief to them. Through this process, I remembered that Becky had a history of working with children in the autism spectrum and special needs. As we discussed special needs children, Miles, modern research and how folks perceive autism, I was again amazed at what Miles has done for Carrie, Zen and I. As challenging as it can be (an understatement at times), Carrie and I realize and acknowledge on a regular basis what an amazement Miles is. Through his perception of the world, joy, daily evolutions, fixations, habits, quirks, coolness and so on, I have gained an amazing view into a world I never knew. It's a world constructed of wonder, love and pure amazement that something as cool as Miles exists .. and he is our boy. Carrie and I feel that to the elemental fiber of our cells, soul and collective heart. He opens chambers of understanding and fascination that I never knew were remotely possible. This is the flipside to how parents describe what it's like raising a child with special needs. Usually, we are approached by a variety of folks that ask, 'How do you do it?'. Our responses likely don't capture the magic of what we get to experience in this life of ours because we have a beautiful boy like Miles to enrich every breath we take. I want to make sure that was voiced, known and resonates through this blog and our continued dissemination of our journey with Miles. We love him madly. Finally, I felt hugely compelled to write this missive after getting several books from Becky on a woman named Temple Grandin who wrote several books on Autism from an adult's perspective. She is a fully functioning autistic woman who has a Ph.D from the University of Illinois and is viewed as an expert on animal sciences in America. It's uniquely cool what can come out of a conversation, what can come out of love and what can come out of the gift of a boy like Miles on each step we create in this hugely interesting life.

New Pals for Miles

Now that Miles and Zen have started Summer School, they both wait out front for the bus to arrive. During this time, Miles hops on his bike and excitedly races up and down the sidewalk as a group of neighborhood kids, also waiting for the bus, oggle over him and push him around on his bike. He completely loves this and is a hit with the kids. Again, it's those small moments when you see your child bristling with happiness as the world seems to fit into order. Then, Miles gets the ultimate joy of seeing his yellow school bus pull up as he gets strapped in for another journey down the long, long road .. a video with Miles, Zen and friends shows the excitement - Enjoy.

The Cool of Miles Learning Something New

Nothing gets Carrie and I more excited that to see Miles doing something new. Most recently, he has gotten the grasp of riding his tricicyle and it's so nice to see. Further, Miles loves to ride it around quite a bit, as well. A little video below shows Milo in action. Enjoy ..

A Look at Miles' First Year at Grace Early Childhood

The Miles Update via Grace Early Childhood

Carrie and I met with Miles' room teacher and speech therapist to get a progress report on how he's done during his first full ride in pre-school. Overall, we were both blown away. His behavior and thirst for learning is very impressive. They said he has the ability to follow directions well, can stay put in one place for up to 15 minutes, tries to say his name in circle time, loves to sing, does well following directions and is overall a joy to each staff member that works with him. Not only is this a great releif to Carrie and I, we are both completely proud of the little guy. From climbing aboard a bus with unbridled delight everyday to bringing home the work he makes everyday, it's beyond cool and nice to see how he's evolving. Things are going well enough that Grace is going to update his IEP with new goals. You know, after these meetings I always leave wanting to do more for him and that is a good thing. A reality check with youngling like Miles is always welcome. Good job little Milo boy -

Miles Horsing Around

Merry-Go-Round Metaphor

As is usually the case, Miles will get himself stuck on something in a voracious web of obsession. Lately, it has been doing the sign for horse becasue his grandma took him to the carousel at Independence Center to ride the horse there. So, it's been 'gi-gi' and hitting his head with the horse symbol to recreate the joy. Well, last weekend Carrie and I got him to the zoo to ride the carousel and temporarily took care of that itch. I have a video below illustrating the joy he feels from riding the horse on the merry-go-round .. enjoy.