My fourteen-year-old son, Tate, is six feet and three
inches tall, exactly the length of a twin mattress. For two or three years I
have talked to Tate about getting a bigger bed, bringing it up fairly often.
Each time he became anxious, adamant that he did not need or want to change
beds. Tate has autism and change is hard for him. About two weeks ago, I could
tell he was possibly warming up to the idea so I pushed harder. I wanted to let
him decide, and this week he has declared he is ready. Today, I went up to
clean his room, in preparation for the moving of furniture this weekend. We will be moving a queen sized bed into Tate's room Saturday.
Cleaning Tate’s room is always an adventure. He has
things placed exactly where he likes them, and he does not like others entering
“his space” either. I often clean Tate's room while he is at school but it’s
July and the kids are all home most of the time. I try to respect Tate’s wishes for the
most part, even his eccentricities, knowing he cannot really help having them. But,
at the same time, even a kid with autism needs to conform sometimes too. A reasonably clean room
is one of those aggravating things my son just has to accept for me to remain
sane myself. Tate is not quite capable of keeping his room clean himself, although he is making progress. His eyes do not seem to be able to see a mess in quite the same way my eyes do. Siblings often pitch in to help with the work and it goes quickly. Sometimes Tate's siblings are better at motivating him than I am too.
There are four large plastic tubs in Tate’s room and a
couple of baskets. They contain toys he never touches: some that were his
brother’s favorites, some that he got for Christmas, a few that never even came
out of the packaging, all gathering dust. When I suggest getting rid of anything,
Tate is usually resistant. There have been a few things that are far too
babyish for him that I have been able to convince him to let go. Today I snuck
a few things out that I was sure he wouldn’t miss. I vacuumed and dusted and
carried out trash. I rearranged some things on shelves and made more room to
display some of Tate’s artwork from school. He endured it all quite well, only
becoming upset with me when I took some things downstairs to wash. Some of the
anxieties and rigidities that Tate has lived with for so long seem to be
loosening their grip on him a bit. He is maturing.
The last time we made drastic changes to Tate’s room,
he was about eight years old. He was sharing a room with his brother Levi and
we’d gotten them matching loft beds. The boys loved them. But we had not put
enough thought into it, as Tate was still wetting the bed occasionally. With
the added time and effort it took to come down from a loft bed, the accidents
got much worse and Levi and I seldom got an uninterrupted night’s sleep. So,
after trying many tricks and training programs, and making no progress with
staying dry at night, it was back to the furniture store. We came home with a
captain’s bed that matched the loft beds and we switched Tate’s out, giving
Sydney the loft bed. For at least two years he could hardly stand to go into
his sister’s room because HIS bed was there and it reminded him of how he’d
been “cheated.” He has been in that twin-sized captain’s bed ever since and has
not wanted to make any changes. His brother moved into another room a long time
ago, giving Tate the opportunity to use the other loft bed but it no longer interested
him. And autism reinforced for me once again how uncompromising it can be.
While cleaning Tate’s room I came across things that
brought back precious memories, like Tate’s pet rock named Rocky. I had not
seen Rocky in years. (See link below to read about Rocky.) I uncovered enough lip balm to last us
all for years to come, and many typewritten lists. Tate loves lists. There were
lists of movies, lists of movie personalities and lists of gifts Tate wants to
receive. And, among those lists, I found something very precious that blew me
away. It was a story Tate had typed out. It made me smile because it was so
much fun to read. It made me cringe because the spelling was atrocious. It left
me excited because it was something he did on his own, without help. It caused
me to choke up because it was imaginative, and autism makes creativity and
imagination harder for people with autism, so writing a story is not something
that comes easy for him. I edited it just a bit so it is easier to read but
changed none of the wording. I’m thinking he stole the first line from Snoopy
perhaps but the tragic and abrupt ending is all his own. Read and enjoy.
It was a dark night. A man who
is someone who can turn people into animals. Batman, Robin, R. L. Stine, C-3PO,
and R2-D2, team up to stop him. They go to Kansas to find the Smith brothers a.k.a.
Tate and Levi and their sister Sydney. They find out the only way to stop him
is for the three related kids to go with them. Then they run into Casper the
friendly ghost (who also goes with them) and Casper’s cousin Spooky who goes
with them as well. And when they got there, the villain, as you all know, has
released all the villains from Tate’s DVD’s. And when R. L. Stine told Batman
to go to the bat cave, Robin went with him. Spooky gave Casper the way to stop
the man. Tate went to look for a way to stop him. The man’s plan to take over
the world is almost finished. He turned Tate into a dog. Ten minutes later, he
turned back to normal. Levi opened all the DVDs and the villains got back into the DVDs and the villains were never
seen again. Tate has the power to turn into animals whenever he sees the name
of an animal now and Tate pushed the man to his death. The end.
Who knew that cleaning a bedroom could inspire a blog
post? If you liked this one then you might like: When a Rock is Not a Stone and Typewriters and Texts
