"Finish already, come out, ok?"
"Finish, come out!"
"Calder, finish - come out!"
"Calder come out!"
"Calder!"
"Calder Kam Chuen!"
The exasperation of a Mom who couldn't get her autistic adolescent to come out of the male toilet. Oh, if only he could be tied to a string that I can pull to get him out of the Gents. It's at times like this that I wish all public pools have unisex toilets.
Calder has taken to doing things wrong and waiting for us to correct him. He puts on his pants back to front, wears his shirt inside out, even attempts to spoon food into his cup. Then he watches our reaction. Are we facing the most primitive form of teenage rebellion?
There's nothing that gets to a Mom than when her 12-year-old empties his bladder entirely into his pants and laughs over it, and does it successively. Makes you want to lie down and not do anything for a long long time.
When I borrow books for Calder, I choose those with uncluttered design, with short text because Calder's habit is to read aloud from beginning to end in one sitting. Calder also likes books with photographs. Found this wonderful educational series on how things are made: Step-by-step Transformations. This morning, without prompting, Calder picks up the one on orange juice and starts reading it with glee. Rare initiative. I rewarded him with an orange.
