Saturday, March 21, 2009

Something He Might be Good At

Asperger's, autism, crowds, outings, siblings, social events, special needs, sports, bowling
image by Peter de Wit - some rights reserved

The kids were invited to a birthday party today - a bowling party. We figured they'd have fun, but they truly exceeded all expectations.

Gus and MM ended up on a lane with 4 other kids. One little boy is a natural athlete: he plays baseball and almost has his black belt in karate - the kid is not even 8 yet. He doesn't typically play with Gus, and often makes derisive faces at him. Even when they first started playing, Gus was hopping up and down, so excited every time he knocked down some pins. HE was equally excited and cheering for anyone else who knocked down some pins. That earned him a couple of "weird" looks from the other boys playing.

That was until he pulled into the lead.

Yes, you read that right. Gus, the boy with poor coordination and low muscle tone, especially in his arms and hands, was beating Super Athlete for a frame or two! Go Gus! After that, Super Athlete wasn't exactly nice to him, but I could see a little glimmer of respect replace the condescension.

Gus came in 2nd place with a score of 78 - not bad for a kid who has only bowled one other time. And MM, bless her heart, came in a close third. She has patented a move she calls the "run slide." Picture bowling meets Flashdance. A couple more games, and my kids will be able to take on the president.

It was a fun party and an exhausting afternoon. Catch ya tomorrow!

4 comments:

  1. Andrea - Sweet, sweet story. . . especially with bowling being all over the news these days. J. Nines was the Wii bowling champ in our house. . . until she got bored with winning. She's moved on.

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  2. Wonderful things happen and sometimes there are no words to describe the feelings how great that day was and I'm wishing you many more.

    dorothy from grammology
    grammology.com

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  3. Fun!!! Alex loves bowling and its definitely something he can compete with typical peers and hold his own. Of course he gets a lot of practice since he plays on the challenger league here!!! Its fun to watch the kids at bowling in those ridiculous shoes!

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  4. Koe: That's awesome that she got tired of winning! I was tempted to make a joke about bowling and the president, but I decided it probably wouldn't go over well. :-)

    Dorothy: Thanks so much! I was quite excited for him and it's making me long for the start of the soccer season!

    HKM: We considered putting Gus in a similar league once soccer ended and just never got around to it. I'm kicking myself now - I see he would have really enjoyed it. I'll know better for next year!

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Welcome - thanks for sharing your insights!