Oh Peter, You're So Pretty

I can’t wait until Peter is 13 and has a group of his friends at our house; I also can’t wait to meet his first serious girlfriend. Why? Well, so I can bust out with “Oh, Peter do you remember when you were 1 ½ and you <insert embarrassing behavior or action. > You were so adorable.” (Of course I’ll say this while pinching his cheek.) It will be hilarious to embarrass my son (hey, my parents did it, your parents did it, and you’ll do it to your kids, too!) And Peter has given me some rather good ammunition these past two weeks. I can already hear him wretchedly moaning, “Moooooooommmmm!”

One morning two weeks ago, I put my hairbrush on the bathroom counter after brushing my hair. A couple of minutes later when I went to pick it up, it was gone. Now this is nothing new—Peter loves to clear off my bathroom counter by taking everything I touch and putting it in either the bathtub, trashcan, or hallway. But this time I turned around and Peter was behind me trying to brush his hair with my brush. A few minutes later I found him with my eyelash curler; he would shut one of his eyes and press the closed curler against his eyelid; I guess he thought his ridiculously long eyelashes needed a bit of curl. (It should be against the laws of nature for a boy to have longer eyelashes than his mother!) Now, Peter brushing his hair and curling his eyelashes probably don’t seem like a big deal, but they are actually very exciting developments. They are the first time Peter has spontaneously imitated a task-oriented action not dealing with food. Toddlers on the Autism Spectrum often don’t mimic everyday activities. So, GO PETER!

(Unfortunately, every time I tried taking his picture, Peter would lower the eyelash curler so he could see the camera with both eyes)

Well, Peter has repeated his beautifying routine several times while picking up a new favorite activity: he loves to empty out my makeup bag. He then lines all the products up on the floor, and then transports them individually into his room (he seems to be particularly fond of the MAC eye shadow). I don’t know who enjoys this new play sequence more, Peter or me (it’s great fun to watch Ryan roll his eyes when he sees Peter do this). Now while the makeup sorting and eyelash curler are embarrassing, I think Peter did something last Friday that will cause his cheeks to turn permanently red when he’s older. As I was putting on my bra Friday, Peter started shaking his shoulders and bending his knees. I couldn't figure out what he was doing until I realized that that is what I do! I never paid attention before, but when I put on my bra I twist my shoulders and slightly bounce my knees (basically a mild shimmy). Yes, Peter imitated my putting on my bra. And he did it again yesterday. Maybe it’s time Peter starts watching Ryan get ready in the mornings (5:00 am wakeup call for Peter!).