If they could only stay little....

Thematic Photographic #302  Temporary

This post was kind of prompted by the Thematic Photographic and the theme for the week 'Temporary'.  It is a post I have been thinking about for a little while now anyway.
 Since I have been spending so much time with my adult daughter and my grandsons I have also been pondering on how fast life goes by and how little time we have with these precious souls when they are young and innocent.  Having raised 6 kids with a 16 year gap from first to last; I spent a LOT of years with small children in the house, but looking back on it now, it seems to be such a short time.  Even the 20+ years with teenagers in the house seems a short time.  Now time flies with the grandchildren.  Every year when I come back I see how much my grandsons have grown.  I regret that I have not been able to spend as much time with the other grandkids.
 Everywhere I go and I tell people that I spend my summer with my daughter and help her with her kids; their first reply is usually "Isn't it so nice to spend so much time with your grandchildren?" or something similar.  I have to say that it is also wonderful and a rare privilege to be able to get to know my daughter on a day to day basis as a grown adult. If they live close most grandmas may help with the grandkids but,  I believe it is kind of rare for them to pack up, move and stay for months and this makes for a totally different experience.
I have been confronted head on with both the good and the bad that I did as a parent.  I knew that parenting traits were passed on from generation to generation because when my kids were young and having sworn I would never raise my kids like my parents raised me, I still found myself saying

 "How did my mother get in my mouth?".  Living with Laura and watching her with her boys I get a much different perspective on my parenting, a lot more regrets but also a lot more joy in the kids that I raised and their accomplishments.  I'm kind of surprised with how much as people up here get to know me, they can, if they are smart and observant, get to understand and know Laura better.

There is one rule that none of the kids or grandchildren were not able to obey and that was their Daddy's and Grandpa's admonition to stay little.  Oh why, oh why?  Well the why is because they need to grow into their own person that we only see as they mature.  Those same sweet souls that we started with can if both sides work at it develop into sweet adult relationships.

I now know that I need to cherish these times with my kids and grandchildren because each stage of life is temporary and precious and we only get one chance to enjoy and savor these moments.

Enjoy

them while you can

Johnina

Autistic Grandchilden - http://www.autismspeaks.org/

These picture epitomise the symptoms of autism.  There are a couple behaviors shown in the picture above that are very typical of an autistic child,  First and foremost is the fact that even though they are are playing together; they are also each doing their own separate activies.  There is no social interaction.

When I was growing up and my siblings and I all faced abuse, we still faced it separately.  My phrase for it is 'We were all in it together, separately.'  How much better it would have been growing up if my siblings an I could have talked and worked together, but alas it was not to be.  We still do not discuss it.  It makes for great loneliness, feelings of self questioning and doubt without that social interaction.  While my siblings could have had that interaction, due to the abuse it never happened.  With autism that social interaction is missing; it is part of the autism condition.  How very sad to go through life, to be an insular individual devoid of the comfort of human interaction.

This lack of interaction is again shown in the fact that autistic children lack interaction with their playthings, also.  Instead  of playing with their toys and having them interact; they line them up.  Notice that Wyatt is lining up the crayons while Hayden is coloring.  Hayden has been in therapy and Laura has worked hard in encouraging some kind of interaction, but when Hayden was little he often lined up he toys and heaven forbid you moved them.  It was meltdown time.  Now he can interact with his toys sometimes with great enthusiasum.

There is great hope in the research and therapies now. I believe every person has their own special set of talents and gifts, but autistic children need extra help in coping and developing social skills so that their own personal talents can show and shine. 

For more information on autism please go to http://www.autismspeaks.org/.

If you go through this website to Amazon I have a wish list under my name Johnina Young and under my wish list Autism look for items that help with autism if you would like to learn more or would like to help me help my grandchildren.  Or you can go to the Amazon link or my wish list on my sidebar.  I have checked these books out at the library when they were available so I know most of them to be helpful and informative.

ENJOY

♥♥♥Johnina♥♥♥