while in Walmart this morning, Avery got a bit overstimulated and starting flapping his hands and pacing while cranking his neck left and right with his eyes wide open. I am used to it and so are my kids , however a group of teenagers walked by and pointed at him, laughing and saying " whoa whats wrong with that ret--d?! ( I hate that word and its a swear in our house)
My heart was heavy as I tried to ignore the teasing.
Then Colin patted me on the hand , saying "I got this mom" and started to walk towards the group (!).
before I could catch my breath, he walked over to the group and said :
"Excuse me, but you had a question. There is nothing WRONG with my brother. He has Autism which is something you should want because we kids on the spectrum don't care what people think of us. He is excited to be shopping , is trying to be polite so not to make mom sad. So boys I have to ask ' What is wrong with you?!"
He did this with a smile and patiently waited for them (a group of 3 boys I am guessing were about 15ish) to answer.
Part of me wanted to pull him away but instead we just stood there awkwardly silent before one of the boys took off his sideways baseball cap , looked at me and said "Sorry mam." before walking away.
WOW! could my mommy heart be bursting any more than it is right now?
I love how my kids are learning to be mini advocates .
and those teenagers learned something from a 9 year old.
<3
