A Conversation

This may LOOK like a plate of french fries, but it's so much more than that.

For a very long time now I have been asking God (sometimes through tears) to help Elias speak -- I have longed to have a simple conversation with him. His main mode of communication for the past two years has been (1) taking our hand and dragging us to whatever he wants, (2) us guessing what he wants and when we hit the right one, he will repeat what we say. I often know pretty quickly what he wants, so that eliminates quite a bit of guesswork and frustration on both of our parts.

Typically, our routine is as follows: I pick him up from preschool around noon and we drive home, eat lunch, and relax / play at home until it's time for the afternoon rush, which consists of picking up his siblings, getting them to swim practice, home for dinner, etc. While we are driving home from preschool, I will keep up a one-sided conversation, which normally sounds something like "Hi sweet boy! I'm hungry! We are going to go home and eat lunch. Mommy will make you a quesadilla for lunch, does that sound good? It's a beautiful day outside today [it truly has been a magnificent fall here in Chicago] -- the sun is shining and the trees are turning colors! It's 51 degrees outside [I point to our temperature gauge in the car], look 5 - 1, 51!"

So this is how the conversation went today:

Me: I'm hungry buddy -- let's go home and eat lunch. Do you want me to make you a quesadilla?

E: No! [this is said with an inflection on the "O" and making the word last for 2 syllables]

Me: How about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

E: No! [same intonation]

Me: How about chips with cheese?

E: No! [same intonation]

Me: What do you want?

E: [thinks for a moment] Cafwize.

Me: ?????

So, while we have had conversations that have sounded somewhat similar, like me asking him if he wants something and he says no, this is the first one that has gone on this long. I knew that he was telling me what he wanted with "cafwize" and I wracked my brain trying to figure out what he was saying. I finally said it quietly to myself and realized "French fries!! You want french fries for lunch?" No response in the backseat, but there wasn't a "No!" so I was pretty sure I figured it out. Thankfully I had just bought a bag of frozen french fries that morning so I went home and made him some and allowed him to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

Cafwize are yummy.

Now, had this been Ben or Caroline, I would have told them that they need to pick something healthy for lunch. But another mom with a non-speaking child in Elias's class said recently that if her daughter told her to put her head in the toilet, she would just because she would be so thrilled that she had said something intentionally. That's exactly how I feel about Elias. If he exerted the considerable effort to tell me what he wanted, I am going to give him what it is within reason. And in my book, french fries for lunch are definitely within reason (along with the 4 clementines he grabbed from the fruit bowl) :)

God answers prayer, y'all!