Milestone - Requested Break/Change from Routine!

After four years of the same thing every day, today things changed.

I sit here in awe as I think about that. Wow. I wonder what made today be any different. My son has been in school for the past 4 years. Every day after he gets off the bus and as we walk into the house I ask him the same question.

"How was school today, Buddy?".

Some days he doesn't answer and in the beginning that was the norm. As his language began to develop his answers changed. One word answers were often the norm - and provided some sort of clue into what happened that day. Bus. Gym. Art. Speech. It wasn't uncommon for him to respond and simply tell me the name of his teacher. Or, quite often he'd name one of his friends (usually, Logan). Some days, Echolalia prevailed. He'd respond using my exact inflections "School today Buddy". Still, despite the fact that I often don't get very much of a response to my daily question, I ask it everyday. It has become as much part of his routine as it is my own. One of these days, I just know he is going to come out with a good one. Today may have just been 'that day'. As he got off the bus, I asked him. He looked at me (yay.. eye contact!) smiled and responded, "Don't ask me how was school today, Mom".

I was taken aback. Did something bad happen? The note from his teacher in his daily notebook said "great day" and he got sent home with a ton of worksheets and a weather notebook that he'd put together complete with a family portrait that he had drawn. Clearly, the day went ok - he just wasn't in the mood to talk about it.

I can't believe it, but I am actually happy that my son essentially blew me off. High fives for him because he self-initiated a break in routine and appropriately communicated it. I maintain hope for more good days ahead!