Yesterday afternoon, after my sons' daily speech session, I had to ask the director of the therapy center a few questions.  My boys, Simon (5) and Max (3), were ready to go, but decided to amuse themselves in the hallway.  What started out as reading the signs in hall, quickly turned into a screaming/laughing game of tag.  One by one, therapists emerged from different rooms along the hall to watch.  My boys were interacting...  they were actually playing!

My two youngest sons have autism.  Simon and Max are only 15 months apart, but until recently they did not interact (willingly) with each other.  On Monday, Simon was walking beside his brother as we left preschool and he turned to me and said, "this is my little brother, and I love him."  They started hugging this summer and saying, "hi."  Now, they can play tag. 

After a few minutes of rowdy, and loud play in the halls, the director turned to me and said, with a fake scowl, "no playing in the hallways!  Can you believe your kids are playing in the hallway?" 

We were too mesmerized to stop them.  Each of the therapists who peeked out of their doors to see what was going on had a smile on their face.  Some gave me the thumbs up sign.  They knew how many hours of therapy it takes to get this special sort of interaction that comes so naturally for most children.

Any other time I would have been embarrassed by this out of control behavior.  But just as I encouraged my son, Max, to tell me "no" over and over again, I could stand to hear the screams and dodge my running children in the hall all day long.  It's weird how autism turns your world upside down and inside out.  I like how I now appreciate so many little things I took for granted before.