Emma’s sense of humor, much like everything else about her, is… quirky. As a baby, Emma squealed with excitement when we popped out from behind things and yelled, “Boo!” As Emma grew older she continued to delight in anything resembling silliness. We were filled with hope when, during one of Emma’s many early intervention therapy sessions, she offered some play-doh to the therapist, only to pull it away just as the therapist reached for it. Emma howled with laughter as the confused therapist realized Emma was playing a joke with her.
Afterward the therapist made a point of telling us how Emma’s sense of humor suggested tremendous potential, how she was expressing a desire to interact, how unusual this was for a child with autism to want to initiate in such a creative way. Emma continues to display her silliness and creativity in surprising ways.
Emma with what’s left of her cokie (this use to be a crib blanket filled with down).
When I came into her bedroom and saw her I said, “Em! What are you doing with cokie?!”
To which she laughed, “Stick cokie up your nose.”
“That’s so gross, Em!”
“No not going to stick cokie up your nose, stick cokie in your ears,” she replied, still laughing.
“Ew!”
“That’s funny,” she then said.
It reminded me of when we took Nic out to eat at a Japanese restaurant. “Look Mommy!” He said as he unwrapped his chopsticks and stuck each into a corner of his mouth. “I’m a walrus,” he managed to say.
My grandmother was known for, after a few drinks, rolling a napkin up, and placing it above her upper lip pretended it was a mustache – so maybe it’s genetic and not a display of extreme intelligence after all. Not that she wasn’t extremely intelligent, she was…
For more on Emma’s journey through a childhood of autism, go to: www.EmmasHopeBook.com
Emma's Hope Book 