Completely Normal

Today I had a wonderful reminder of how completely normal Abby is. This morning Abby had a play-date with her teacher's daughter - her teacher's twenty-something, college graduate daughter. Mrs. C had to come in to school for a meeting, and her daughter, Chelsae was so charmed with Abby when they went on a field trip together, that she expressed an interest in hanging out if I ever needed a day off.

The original plan was to send Abby and Chelsae to the park to play while I stayed home and cleaned the house....but....then I thought it would be the perfect time to meet up with a friend for lunch. Oh, and I'd really wanted to run a few errands too. So, as usually happens, the cleaning got pushed to the side. I dropped Abby off at her school so they could play on the playground and brought her bike, in case they wanted to take a walk. Abby was excited, but as I got back in the car and was ready to drive off, I could see the confusion in her face. It was certainly a, "Wait, what's happening here?" kind of a look, but Ms. Chelsae swept in and I drove off knowing that Abby would have a blast.

It was on those errands that I "had" to do that I met a young man and his grandmother. Well, I didn't actually meet them in the formal sense of the word, but they walked in just behind me and checked out in front of me. They were also the couple that I kept running into as I wandered the store. Does that ever happen to you? Where you keep meeting up with the same people on a trip to the store? Anyway, I got to hear their conversations and each time I had to smile. Let me share them with you.

• Upon entering the store Grandma was holding Andrew (yes, I learned his name on "our" shopping trip together). 
• Grandma: Now, Andrew you need to get in the cart - either the front or the back.
• Andrew: No
• Grandma: [letting Andrew wiggle out of her arms] Well, then we won't be able to go look at the shoes....
• Later in the toy aisle Grandma and Andrew were looking at Thomas the Train sets.
• Grandma: That's Percy, you already have Percy at home don't you?
• [Andrew still clutches the Percy train and isn't convinced that Grandma knows what she's talking about]
• While walking past small appliances I heard this behind me:
• Grandma: Yes Andrew, when we get home you can open up your box and play with your trains.
• At the check out, I observed Grandma trying to load her cart with Andrew sitting in the back. The people behind her were through the line and out the door before she accomplished that.
• Finally, while walking to my car I saw Grandma loading the car, while Andrew hopped to the front seat of the car and looked like he was ready to settle in there, instead of having to sit in "his" seat in the back

With each encounter my smile got wider - not because Andrew was a cute little stinker that was giving Grandma a run for her money, but because every time I saw them, their conversations and interactions could have been Abby and me. I felt like I was watching the two of us on a shopping trip. This just drove home the fact that Abby is totally and completely normal - and I thought that was great!

If Abby were a butterfly...

Chalk drawing Abby

Angel Chelsae and Angel Abby (notice the hands on the hips).

Snack-time smiles!