Everyone has a unique personality, likes and dislikes. Weather you are mischievous and brave, quiet and shy or loud that I can hear you from down the block and love to party. We are who we are thanks to our unique personality traits. The same apply for people with autism, they sure do have a rainbow of interesting and unique personality traits. I recently attended the family day hosted by Autism Belize and Therapy abroad, and I loved observing all the kids in their unique glory, wild and free. Some of the kids might have been a little shy at first, but as the day progressed all their beauty just poured out into the day as they ran around, jumped to their hearts content, splashed away in the water and were free to just be.
Our Trip To A&R
Now Mayah’s personality is just OMG out of this world. She is a little of everything all balled up into one. I love all the little parts of crazy that randomly pop out when I’m not expecting it. This just means that Mayah is constantly surprising me, which is really rewarding and sometimes outright exhausting. A couple weeks ago I had to go into the bank and had no one to stay with Mayah so I took her along for the walk. Sadly, the bank was already closed, so we went to A&R instead. Mayah happily changed course knowing it would probably result in a new toy. After walking around for about half hour browsing all the Isles, enjoying the A.C on a very very hot day, it was time to go home. I put my purse around my neck and prepared for a fight.
The Mayah Parade
This was much easier when Mayah was a short little chubby baby, but now at 5 years old, those legs have stretched out and she is so strong. Mayah threw herself on the floor and refused to get up, “NO NO NO NO “, She yelled out loud, Mayah did not want to go home. Well, this momma needed to get home so over my shoulder I draped her and walked home with her kicking and screaming. This girl is soooooo LOUD, people probably thought there was a parade passing through town coz it felt like everyone was on their front porch watching as I marched down the street with my Siren on full blast. As I passed my parents house, I could see my mom on her front porch yelling “what did you do to my baby” and my dad behind her “what happened is she hurt or something”.
Dealing With A Major Meltdown
You would honestly think I beat this child the way she was screaming, but I promise I didn’t. Finally, I got home, put Mayah down and threw myself on the couch. I gave myself 5 minutes to stare at the ceiling just feeling defeated, then got up and started offering all her favorite treats and toys to stop the screaming. She didn’t want any food, drinks or toys as she continued to scream at the top of her lungs. Today’s meltdown was longer than usual, Mayah was starting to hyperventilate and having a hard time breathing because of all the crying. The only thing I could do when she gets like this is lay down in bed with her, turn off the lights and stroke her face and sing a soft song until she calms down. It worked for a while, she caught her breath and laid there with me thinking to herself. Then it’s like she started remembering the incident over in her mind and started crying again. My mom ran over to my house trying to comfort her, nothing worked. I then offered the ultimate get of jail card, I yelled out, “Mayah, put on your swim suit lets go swimming” Instantly this girl transformed, big smiles as she went to pick out her swim suit, duck floaty and sun hat. Crisis was finally over.
Hide And Seek
My experiences with Mayah’s vast number of personalities aren’t all that bad, she is a little goof ball most of the times. Mayah loves singing, dancing and playing games. When your baby is young, playing peekaboo is always like this automatic instinct. It’s almost always a sure way to bring out the giggles. Well Mayah 2.0 isn’t a little baby anymore but we still love playing peekaboo big girl style. This one day I left Mayah playing in her room while I stepped away for a bathroom break. When I came out, I went to her room to check on her, there was no Mayah in the room, I patiently walked around the house looking for Mayah calling her name, but I could not find her. Now I’m stressing out wondering if Mayah finally learned how to unlock the doors and ran away. I’m screaming her name rechecking the entire house under the beds, in the kitchen lockers I even checked if she got stuck in the fridge by chance and nada, I was sure she was in the house since the doors were still all locked so I’m sitting on my bed thinking where she could be, then I heard this little giggle. The one place I didn’t check was in my bedroom closet since there was only like 6 inches of space in there between two big chests of drawers. I saw the closet doors move ever so slightly and a big eye staring at me through a tiny crack. I opened the doors, “peekaboo” I yelled. There she was squeezed in the little space laughing her but off at me because I couldn’t find her.
A Rainbow Without Orange And Green Would Not Be As Pretty
At the family day event this past weekend, I have witnessed how Mayah was able to share, take turns, give hugs, tried to steal cupcakes when no one was looking, protested when she wanted something done her way and at the end of the day (12 am), she politely told her dad and I, turn off the lights time to sleep. So yes, Mayah has many colorful parts to her personality that makes her who she is. A rainbow wouldn’t be the same without green and orange. while they may not individually be my favorite of colors, together with red, yellow, blue, indigo and violet they make something soo beautiful that once painted across the sky, everyone appreciates it. I would not trade an inch of Mayah’s uniqueness. We are enjoying her personality and the surprises along the way as she grows up.
