Out of the Ordinary

Can I get off now?

Sometimes when I get excited about something on Zach’s behalf I wait for the first shoe to drop. And that’s where I am now – excited, anxious, and scared I’m going to jinx it.

You see I have been taking Zach to a children’s class at my yoga place for the last month and it has been a really lovely experience . . .so far. I am as nervous writing this as I am every time we go there – I wasn’t sure if he would stay in the room, much less participate. But, as I am loathe to say, and helpless to stop myself, “so far, so good.”

I can be a tad superstitious in these situations – when things are going well in our part of Schmolland, I am looking to get schmutzed. I’m like those athletes who won’t wash their uniform during a winning streak, or those players who don’t shave until after the playoffs. Once, during a family dinner outing, Zach accidentally gobbled up an entire calamari appetizer he had mistaken for chicken nuggets. The next day at school he was so remarkably agreeable and his eye contact so impressive that his teacher called us at home. We fed Zach a lot of calamari after that with never quite the same results.

It was the same way with horseback riding therapy. After the first few weeks it was going so well I was ready to buy Zach a horse farm. It’s not that he didn’t get a lot out of it – he did, but it was not the “door opening” kind of experience I had hoped it would be. That’s the thing about hope – it has fangs. It’s best to let it sniff the back of your hand with a closed fist, before you get too close to it.

The yoga place I go to is beautiful – family-owned and very welcoming (www.elementsyogaspa.com). I am always happy to be there and blessed with bliss when I leave. So, naturally I was hoping for Zach to get a little of that experience as well.

The class, “Sweet Beat and Happy Feet” combines yoga, dance, music and Simon Says. It is geared for kids who are “chronologically” much younger than Zach, but developmentally, it’s exactly his speed. (As that cool tortoise says, slow and steady wins the race) While he loves the poses and getting to wear a jingly scarf around his waist for the dance moves, his favorite part seems to be Simon Says. He will even take a turn leading the class but will only whisper to me what he wishes the other children to do. Tonight he “asked” the other kids to be “Darth Vader.” He started them off with dark-side mask breathing noises which evolved into light saber noises and then he tossed in a few movie lines under his breath. I hope this is just him warming up.

For the Z man, this is pretty unusual behavior – this quiet stuff. Typically, Zach is a very noisy boy with no inside voice who likes to repeat a great many things – we used to lovingly call him “echo-centric.” Equally unusual is how cooperative he is when we get there – helping set up the mats and props for the class (he won’t hang his backpack up for me at home!). Zach has also been completely compliant with any work we do in front of the mirrored walls – which is not so unusual since he is his biggest fan. The drawback there is getting Narcissus to break his gaze when changing activities or poses. With some prompting it was a bit better tonight. And he only used the restroom once during this week’s class (he loves public restrooms!).

When we were finished with class and gathering up our mats and shoes I really tried to get him to talk, say thank you, anything, but he wasn’t going for it. Then on the drive home I asked him if he liked going to the class . . .once . . .twice. . . third time’s a charm . . . I eventually got a grumpy “yeeesss”. Then I said, “What do you think of the teacher? Isn’t Amaris nice?” He looked out the window for a couple of beats and turned to me and said “She’s beautiful.”

For the first time in a while, I was the one who was speechless! I don’t know if this means he likes the class or that he’s got a sweet spot for this wonderful woman who has been kind enough to try drawing him out the last few weeks, but I don’t care. That was the most spontaneous thing I’ve heard him utter in months and I even got some nice eye contact.

So, I am adding this to my gratitude journal for today and hoping for some more gentle time with my little yogi tomorrow – and quietly, carefully, fingers crossed, I am keeping my eye on the tiny creaking of the door – perhaps I will get another glimpse inside . . . . and just for the heck of it, I may celebrate our tiny triumph with a little calamari. Stay tuned . . .