Drama Queens

I have previously mentioned a drama workshop we tried. It was a little rough in the beginning, but if we're being honest, what isn't with Liam? The main challenge was that I spent half the time chasing him into the parking lot. During the week, when he asked about going back to drama class, I said, "Only if you stay in the room. When you leave, you are telling me you don't want to be in drama class."

Apparently, he enjoyed the class enough for my threat to work. Last week, he not only stayed in the room, he participated for about 80% of the class. During an exercise, where the kids were asked to address their peers as a group, he got up and did just that, gosh darn it! Then my son--my son--participated in a dance and a singing activity. I do not have any scientific data, but I can tentatively say this shit is working. To get him to mimic movements and follow along has always been a huge hurdle.

What's almost as exciting is that based on Liam's success, the director of the program wants to change the focus to specifically address the needs of kids on the spectrum. My friend Lisa and I are helping her. Lisa brought Landon for the first time on Saturday and he did really well. He was happy and Lisa was pleased. "You've stumbled onto a gold mine," she told me later. We are both so excited about how we can use dramatic play to improve our boys' social skills, spontaneous language and executive function. I always knew drama would be good for Bee, I just couldn't find an appropriate program. It looks like we are helping to create one.

One of Liam's current cringe-worthy behaviors is putting his hands in his pants. He pulled his penis out at drama class, but I think I caught him before anyone noticed. Penis playing does not fall under the category of "quirky behavior that doesn't hurt anyone". It falls under the category of "batshit-crazy-sends-people-running" behavior. I've been trying to keep it low key. I ignored it at first (unless we were in public, where I surreptitiously moved his hands) and then started saying, "You can do that in your own room by yourself."

Many years ago our friend Chris had a wonderful dog named Toby, who was like a big brother to our dog, Sammy. When Toby would lick his balls, like all male dogs tend to do, Chris would say, "You do that on your own time, Toby." That always struck me as so funny. Like Toby was on the clock. Anyway, it came to mind and now I find myself saying it to my son when he puts his hands in his pants.