When Mom Forgets

I took the boys on a drive, out to Wakefield, one of our regular haunts. After being assured that there were no turkeys loose today, we were handed these new little booklets for kids to fill out, and they can earn a badge. Very nice little books, too. The first few pages are geared to the 5-8 crowd. Joey just turned 6, and loves to read. Fabulous.

So we wandered out, sauntering in our usual way, then we got up to the house site where the benches are, and I called Joey over to look at the new book.

Did I mention that sometimes I forget that Joey is disabled?

To me, Joey is just... Joey. And he's a smart kid on top of it. Reads like a dream. Interested in the world, in his way. He likes living things and taking walks and that kind of thing. And he's a cutie-pie, with very kissable cheeks and a big grin. That's my boy.

But there are some things Joey simply cannot do. One is to wander out to a place he doesn't see very often, stop at a point where he doesn't usually stop, and focus joint attention upon a book. On top of that, he was being asked questions about the book, which was giving him new information, and being asked to write the answers down.

Oh dear. No no no. This will not do. That child would have rather pulled out his own fingernails than sit with me and look at that book, or read a word from the page, and let me know in no uncertain terms.

Good side: he's communicating. And he remembered that George Washington was president.
Bad side: Well, after the meltdown over stopping at the benches, and the second meltdown over the book, we had a meltdown at the car because the sheep weren't out.

But basically, it was because Mom is an idiot.