K'necting

After nearly a month away (winter break and yada yada), I was able to meet with my Aspie mentee today.   Boy, did I miss him!

Today there was no "get to know you period" like last time, he came out in full force with a proclamation immediately upon seeing me.

"Did you know that the first letter of my name," and here he pauses for dramatic effect as I hold my breath in excited anticipation for the revelation to come, "is a letter from the alphabet?"  I have to admit, the news is less than stunning, but I play along.

"Whoa!"

"Actually, every letter in my name is from the alphabet!"  He looks mighty pleased with himself.

I put my finger to my chin, tapping in thought.  "You know what?  Same here!  And guess what else?  Our names both start with the same letter!  Cool, huh?"

He couldn't care less.  Didn't even dignify my statement with a response.  One thing you have to realize about many Aspies is that they're very interested in their own revelations, and couldn't give a rip about yours.  (Unless your revelation is that you'd like to take them out to ice cream, give them money, etc.)  This makes me smile, however, because this perceived egocentrism is one of their many qualities that I find rather endearing.  But I know not to waste time trying to get him to recognize and respond to my jibber-jabber.  I'll save that for when I have something really important to say.

Instead, we move on to the main event: K'nex.  This boy is a Lego and K'nex junkie, and being that my mentee (hmmm, the kid needs a blog name!  Henceforth I will refer to him as "The Little Polar Bear" or The LPB) is very routine-oriented, I doubt our 45-minutes together will ever veer much from this activity.  That's okay with me.  After all, I'm learning a valuable new skill.  Hey, have you ever tried to build anything out of K'nex? It ain't easy.

We take out the robots we built the last time we hung out.  "They want to watch us build something else."

"Okay," I say.  "Should they stand together to watch?  Are they friends or enemies?"

The LPB looks at me as though I'm an idiot, which of course I am.  "They're friends because we're friends!"

"Ah-hah!"

And apparently, being friends means I have to share my lunch with him.

"Are you going to eat those?" he asks, pointing to my little bag of Pirate's Booty.  They'd been sitting there for a while as I busied myself with the K'nex.

"Would you like some?  I'll share!"

He digs in.  We sit side by side for the rest of our time, building and chatting, tearing down and building again.  I gently probe him for details of his social life.  He asks me nothing except to "pass the Pirate's Booty!" every now and then, or to inform me that I've just put the wrong piece in the wrong spot.  Sometimes, I push back on his social awkwardness just a tad.  I mean, what's the point of having a mentor if they don't teach you anything?  And as we grow closer, I'll push a little more, but for now I want him to know that I accept him hook, line and sinker.

When we're finished, he has no issues returning his tray (like last time).  It's already business as usual.  I smile at him, "Thanks for hanging out!  I'll see you soon!"

He doesn't say good-bye.  But I didn't expect him to.