The Holidays and Rangers’ Fan Fest in Pictures, Learning Not to Assume, and a Story by Ryan

It has been quiet a while since we have published a post. It was not intentional, but life happens. We had a great holiday season that included Randy and Grace’s birthdays. Uncle Dan came to visit and stay with us for a week. Here are some of the memories we captured in pictures.

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In late January, we attended the Rangers’ Fan Fest event at Globe Life Park. We loved it! Ryan got to meet and get an autograph from Isiah Kiner-Falefa and he was over the moon! We shared this video on Facebook and Instagram when it happened.

You can see from Ryan’s happiness at the end of the interaction that it meant a lot to him. Isiah was extremely kind and patient and was truly interested in hearing what Ryan had to say. It goes without saying that he is now Ryan’s favorite baseball player. We can’t wait until the Rangers’ season starts!

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I had a really eye opening moment two weeks ago with Ryan and I told him that I had to write about it. Ryan and I had finished the Ranger’s Apprentice series and had recently moved on to the spinoff series The Brotherband Chronicles. He had received some of the Brotherband Chronicles for Christmas and he also received two prequel books from the Ranger’s Apprentice series.

As most of you know, Ryan absolutely loves reading. I read aloud to him a lot because even though Ryan can read, it is hard for him to sit and track and turn the pages in the book. We are working on this, but he is not there yet. Anyway, we were on the fourth book of the series of seven of the Brotherband Chronicles and Ryan asked if we could go to Barnes and Noble. I of course agreed as I love Barnes and Noble and love finding new books and Ryan had some gift cards from Christmas.

We walked around the store and found two books for Grace and then we went to where the rest of the series of the Brotherband Chronicles books were and I picked up books five and six. We were getting ready to leave and I asked Ryan if he wanted to look anywhere else or get anything else and he spelled: REALLY HARD TO SAY THIS MOM BUT I AM NOT REALLY INTO BROTHERBAND.

I paused and picked my jaw up off of the floor.

I replied, “Okay. No problem. I am so sorry that I did not realize this.”

Ryan spelled: ARE YOU MAD, MOM? I AM SORRY.

“No, I am not mad. I am just shocked. I had no idea. I thought that you loved the series. I am so glad that you said something.”

I put the books back and we picked up two other new books to us in the fantasy genre. I could not stop thinking about this the entire time in the checkout line and the way home. How could I have not realized that Ryan did not like the books? I should have realized that a clue was his wanting to leave the room more frequently while we were reading. This has been a clue in the past. I think that because I was enjoying the books so much, I assumed that he was.

Once we got home, I talked to him about this.

“Ryan, I am so glad that you said something. I am sorry that I did not realize it.”

THANKS FOR NOT BEING MAD AT ME ABOUT BROTHERBAND. IT WAS REALLY BORING TO ME.

I took the dagger out of my heart, swallowed, and then continued, “Ryan are there other things that maybe myself and others are assuming that you like that we are off base on? I can think of a lot of things that people just assume you love or are your favorites. Can we go over them and you can give your honest opinion?

He agreed so I started writing a list of things that people (including myself) think that he likes and asked his feedback. Here is the list and what he had to say:

Chipotle–STILL LOVE IT BUT DON’T GET IT ALWAYS

Sweet Tea–I AM SO OVER IT

Books–LOVE THEM BUT I PREFER FANTASY THAT IS FUNNY TOO

Snickers bars (for a long time he loved them and then stopped eating them right before Halloween but still sometimes grabs for it in the checkout lane)–CAN’T STAND THEM.

White Rice–LOVE IT. NOT SICK OF IT YET.

Harry Potter–IT IS GREAT BUT I DON’T NEED ANY MORE STUFF.

Mickey Mouse–I STILL LOVE MICKEY BUT I CAN GET DISNEYED OUT THOUGH.

Chick Fil A–REALLY DEPENDS ON THE DAY.

REALLY GOOD TO TALK ABOUT THIS. JUST BECAUSE I SEEM TO LIKE SOMETHING DOES NOT MEAN I WANT IT ALWAYS.

“Ryan, I think the hard part is that people want to please you and do things that they think you like to do and get things that they think you like. What about choices? Do you think that you can be accurate with choices if I am not there?”

NO. LIKE NOT PICKING THE RIGHT ONE DRIVES ME INTO A FRENZY. REALLY BECAUSE I CAN’T TELL YOU VERBALLY WE CAN COME TO THE TABLE TO TALK EACH DAY. I NEED THE TABLE FOR FOCUS.

“Sure, of course we can do that.”

I wanted to share this story because I am always learning with Ryan. I think that it is often true that parents and friends of children with autism often assume that because they like something that they will always like it. I had absolutely no idea that Ryan did not like the Brotherband series. We had already read almost 4 books of over 400 pages each! And I am his mom!

Later, Ryan spelled: MOM, YOU CAN ALWAYS READ BROTHERBAND ON YOUR OWN.

**Insert crying emoji here.**

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Here is a story that Ryan wrote with Adriana that was too good not to share,

EATING A CAN OF TUNA IN THE KITCHEN, GEOFFERY ATE BY HIMSELF.  HE DIDN’T IN THE SLIGHTEST MIND EATING ALONE.  THERE WERE SOME DAYS THAT HE LOVED THE COMPANY OF HIS FAMILY.  OTHER DAYS, HE ENJOYED THE SILENCE.  HE NEVER GOT TO FEAST IN THE MORNING BECAUSE HE SEEMED TO HAVE THE MOST TO DO IN THE MORNING BREAKFAST HOURS.  THE TIME TO EAT HIS FEAST WAS IN THE EVENINGS.  

STOIC AND RESTED, THE TIME TO EAT CAME.  IT MOSTLY SEEMED THE BEEF TACOS GOT THE ATTENTION TONIGHT.  HE SAT DOWN TO EAT.  THE SMELL SHATTERED HIS NOSTRILS.  THE TACOS MADE HIM HUNGRY.  THE BEEF MADE HIS STOMACH INFLAMED.  THE TACOS MADE HIM SICK.

THE REASON THEY WERE SPOILED TONIGHT WAS THAT THE BEEF HAD BEEN SITTING OUT TOO LONG.  THE TACOS CAUSED HIS STOMACH TO TWIST AND TURN. GEOFFERY MADE THE DECISION TO TRUST SPOILED MEAT AND HE FACED THE DIRE CONSEQUENCES.  

THE NEXT DAY, HE STITCHED HIMSELF SOME NEW CLOTHES BECAUSE HE GOT HIS OTHERS COVERED IN THROW UP.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS TO NEVER TRUST SPOILED BEEF.

THE END.

**THE STORY WAS THE GROSSEST STORY I’VE EVER WRITTEN.**