A post for Reuben

Life with a child whose world revolves around a different axis than a "typical" child brings with it challenges that are hard to articulate, but at the same time makes relatively simple accomplishments major reasons for celebration.

Take last week, when Matt was busy one day laying 17 rolls of sod left over from the new house next door. Reuben had been having a rougher afternoon inside involving lots of shrieking, banging himself in the jaw, and asking for (but not really wanting) a nap. He has so very few activities that capture his interest, so I made a last-ditch effort to help him find a way to play by bringing him down to Daddy's office with some match box cars (almost every window in our house has a few match box cars lined up on the sill!) so he could watch Daddy out the window.

Not more than a few minutes later he was up in the kitchen by me telling me via his own made-up sign that he uses for "outside" that he wanted to go out. He actually sat down and put on his own shoes to get ready to go! I helped him get out the door, and as I grabbed my own shoes to help him go find Daddy, he had already gone into the garage to look for his little shovel. We walked around and found Daddy filling the wheelbarrow with compost from our compost pile to spread on top of the not-so-great soil left over from excavating around the addition.

Oh, what a happy boy! Trowel in hand, he "helped" daddy fill up that wheelbarrow, and then walked back to the opposite side of the yard to dump and spread it. Matt told me later that he worked steadily the whole time, not necessarily putting dirt where Matt wanted it, and sometimes even shoveling up what Matt had already spread, but for him to stick with a task for that duration of time, and not even one of his go-to tasks, was amazing to see.

Reuben brain thrives on cycles - simple, repeated circuits. This ended up being perfect. Fill the barrow, wheel it across the yard, dump it, spread it, repeat.

Getting to ride back to the compost pile in the wheelbarrow doesn't hurt, either!

Reuben happily worked out there with Daddy for around two hours.

Matt commented that sod on the outside is like putting in the trim on the inside of a construction project! It really makes that little area outside of his office window look finished. And to get to do this work with Reuben made for a very nice day.

I suppose it's also worth mentioning that Reuben is my only child who is not afraid to pick up worms. ;) Even Daddy doesn't really prefer to touch worms, given the choice, but Reuben isn't phased at all by it, and when he's out in the dirt, will happily pick up every one he finds.

This isn't the best photo, but if you know what you're looking for, there's the worm!

This was a few weeks ago while we were digging potatoes. He's giving that worm quite the stretch, there, but as far as we know, the worm made it.