Sibling Alliance

This past weekend Sam and Mae conflicts were resolved at my expense. On Saturday, Sam teased Mae by withholding her butterfly fairy wings. After being ordered to return them, I saw the wings were mangled. Mae was still freaking out so I got out of the van and opened her door to see if I could fix them. I then slipped in mud. They both had a good laugh, butterfly wing incident forgotten.

The next day we returned from an overnight visit. Mae was tired and Sam was baiting her. I then slipped in a pile of dog poop. Once again, they had a good laugh and chanted, "Mommy stepped in poop! Mommy stepped in poop!" for what seemed like an eternity.

I might be on to something. I could learn some self-deprecating physical comedy techniques, perhaps I'll have success switching them from an arguement to a treaty. After all, it is pretty damn funny when people fall.

TOP Soccer

On Sunday we brought Mae to her first practice with TOP soccer. A few days ago when I told Sam about it he expressed concern, "What about her autism?" I explained TOP soccer is for kids like Mae.
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The event organizer asked Mae if she was excited to play soccer. I cried happy tears when she threw her arms in the air and exclaimed, "I play with the team!" We loved watching her on the field with the two college-aged mentors assigned to her. She laughed, hummed and connected with the other players. It was fun seeing her so thrilled and independent. All the while she was under the watchful eyes of her brother.

A-Mae-zing

Within the past month, Mae has shown significant progress with self-care. She wants to do it herself and she does it well. Tonight as we got ready for bath, she neatly placed her dirty clothes in the hamper and climbed into the tub on her own. I said, "Mae, I'm so proud of you. You are good at doing things for yourself. You are my a-Mae-zing Mae" She smiled, did a happy wiggle and said, "I'm a lot of things." She's right.