Calm After the Storm

Yesterday evening, we had a pretty significant thunderstorm so Andrew, David and I had to spend some time in the basement. When we finally emerged, we were greeted by a spectacular rainbow in the sky. When I say spectacular, it really was the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen, both in the intensity of color and the fact that I could see both ends of the rainbow on the horizon. What made it an even more amazing experience, however, was how much enjoyment both Andrew and David got from seeing it.

Like many kids with autism, it used to be difficult to call David's attention to anything. For a long time, he would not even seem to notice things like the life flight helicopter that would occasionally be landing at the medical center, practically on top of us as we were walking to therapy. So, I was delighted when he not only saw the rainbow, but pointed to it, and kept looking at me to see my reaction—a skill known as joint attention. I grabbed my camera to take some pictures. We couldn't have been outside long when I turned back to David to see if he was ready to go back inside and discovered that he was gone. David, who at one time was not even aware of my reactions, had taken advantage of my momentary distraction to sneak back inside and get what he would call "Coo-hee, coo-hee, coo-hee" or three cookies. Maybe next time my clever boy will choose something other than Oreos—his secret quickly revealed by his chocolaty grin.