Jon Stories, pt 1

A few people have said that the Jonathan entry should be a series. I don’t know if I’ll make it a series, but I do have a couple funny Jon Stories worth sharing.

My parents went out for his annual progress meeting the other day (they were called IEP meetings when he was in school…they have a name now, but I don’t know it off-hand). Overall, Jon is doing well and everyone there loves him. But they did share these three stories that my parents and I got a kick out of…

They’re always working with Jon to become more independent (as much as he can be) in everyday tasks. Over the years, they’ve worked on getting him to bring his dishes to the sink after meals, putting his clothes in the hamper when he changes and putting things away. And the latest – bringing his clothes hamper to the laundry room when it’s full and back to his room when it’s empty. Amazingly, he does it…but as soon as he gets back to his room, he empties his closet of clean clothes into the hamper because hampers are supposed to be full of clothes. In his head, having an empty hamper isn’t right, so he fills it. In the meeting, it was suggested that maybe they put a towel in the hamper that can always be there – so it’s never empty…and then someone suggested a shirt or other article of clothing – because knowing Jon, the hamper should have clothes. Not towels.

As long as he’s lived in his current home, they’ve had issues with him unrolling the toilet paper onto the floor. Who knows why…he never did it at home that I can remember. Given that the staff at his home wont really get in his face and yell at him for it, he’ll probably never stop. Anyway, they’ve realized that there is a pattern to his paper unrolling… He does it when he has snow days or other interruptions to his usual schedule…almost like he’s mad about not being able to do what he’s supposed to do, so that’s his little way of lashing out.

The third one is my favorite… Just inside the front door of his home, there’s a bathroom. Mostly intended for guests and the staff, I assume. There are bathrooms for the residents in both hallways by their bedrooms. For whatever reason, Jon has decided he’d rather use the bathroom in the foyer. When the staff sees him head for that bathroom, they redirect him to the one by his bedroom. I don’t know if he makes a fuss about it or not, but he hasn’t given up. The staff has watched him sneak out the back door, walk around the house and come in the front door so he can get to that front bathroom without being seen.

Just makes you wonder exactly what that kid knows. He doesn’t know today is Monday, but he knows how to outsmart the adults who don’t want him to use the bathroom in the front of the house. There are plenty of other similar stories that have made us all shake our heads over the years…I’ll post them as I think of them.