We are raising some music lovers and I’m proud of that.
Some recent examples show our boys have diverse music tastes.
Beckett is a huge music fan. His goal is to memorize the lyrics from as many songs as possible. A song, Dancing On My Own, came on in my truck the other day by Calum Scott. It’s a mellow tune featuring the vocalist’s impressive range.
I assumed Beckett wouldn’t be into it because it’s slow so I changed the channel. He quickly said he wanted to hear it, saying it’s not really his music but he wants to hear how high Scott can sing. The next day he wanted me to play the song again so he could sing along. When I said what about the lyrics, he said I looked it up last night and memorized them. It turns out he had done just that, prompting internal questions on the irony of memorizing song lyrics in minutes but getting a spelling word wrong after working with it all week.
Later, I saw something I knew he would love. Every once and a while on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show he performs, along with his show’s band, hit songs with artists on classroom instruments. This particular one was Havana by Camila Cabello. This is definitely one of his favorite songs currently. He really liked the You Tube video and immediately wanted to know how he could share it with his teacher, who has clearly played a significant role in sparking his passion for different genres of music.
A recent shower confirms the point. His a Capella song list included Elton John’s “Can You Feel The Love To-night,” Cabello’s “Havana,” Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” an unknown One Direction song and Andy Grammer’s “Good To Be Alive.”
As far as Carson goes, he may not be able to sing yet, but he loves music just the same. When the song “I Can Only Imagine” by MercyMe came on in the truck the other day, he was clearly into it as he hummed along. When it was over, he unbuckled his seat belt and tried to hit the back button on the radio. I told him that’s not how it works with the radio. He then grabbed my phone, searched for the song in my iTunes account and played it again. We drove to Salisbury listening to that song the entire time. I stopped counting after 10 times. It’s a good thing I like it.
A recent passion of Carson’s is geography and he has been utilizing some apps on the iPad. He now knows where every state is and the capital of each.
This week he expanded his knowledge to Europe and dug deeper into the app to find a variety of information about the countries, including its national anthem. Therefore, for the last few days this week, we have been listening to the various countries’ anthems on the way to school. There’s one in particular he likes to play over and over again. It just happens to be Russia’s national anthem.
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Every day seems to mean something these days.
For instance over the last week, according to nationaldaycalendar.com, some of the recognized special days include Common Courtesy Day, Single Parent Day, Goof Off Day, Chocolate Covered Rai-sin Day and Weed Appreciation Day. Today is actually Pencil Day.
While some of these are silly, Monday, April 2, is not jovial in nature. It’s World Autism Awareness Day and people are being encouraged to wear blue as a show of support for those with and affected by Autism.
For many years, I never wanted to refer to Carson as autistic. I feel silly now thinking about that, despite some science actually saying he’s not. His first diagnosis had nothing to do with Autism. However, as we researched his genetic abnormality called Duplication 7, it was comforting to learn he exhibits many of the same characteristics as those on the Autism spectrum.
I think it’s critically important for people to understand the Autism spectrum is vast. If you live it, you are well versed on this fact. There are so many different variables associated with each individual child. Some of the disabilities are more impactful than others. That when terms like high-functioning and low-functioning come into play. I think Carson is in the middle as he struggles mightily with transition, common social graces and sensory processing. He comes across initially as socially awkward and not just because he’s non-verbal. Certain situations stress him more than they should and he often doesn’t have a sense of danger and awareness that keeps his mom awake at night.
Carson’s favorite color is blue, which is fitting because his eyes are a beautiful shade of it. We will proudly wear that color on Monday in support of him and all his friends facing the same struggles each day. We will also wear it in appreciation for all the people in his life, particularly his patient teachers, his bevy of support personnel and his amazing classmates, who show incredible kindness and tolerance to him.
They know it’s okay to be different. They understand just because he doesn’t communicate verbally with them he can still be a friend. He is not ostracized. We don’t take that for granted. Wearing blue is a way to applaud them as well as the special people who overcome their disabilities each day.
