Adelle.

Spent time with Adelle today, as is usual for Saturday. Picked her up 7 minutes late which she hates. I gave my explanation before she could chew me out (although she was waiting outside when I got there). Also as usual, she turned the radio to her station and cranked the volume as soon as we pulled away, oh, after she told her mom "see you tomorrow! We're going to Boston!" It's a joke only Adelle and I get.
She waits til she's comfortable to talk and also until there is a commercial. She always asks how my friend Jess is, only because this is the friend she assumes is my best friend. I tell her fine and how I saw Jesi this week and then I ask about Darby, her favorite friend. Then she usually gives me the Around the Horn update for the week but today she did that later. I love the Around the Horn updates because she does it in a cliff hanger way, telling me the boring high lites leading up to the ones that are more exciting for her. And always tells me how Jackie Mac did last.
Today we went to the car wash first. She loves to wash the car. Today I hardly had to give any instructions. When the time ticks down, she runs around the car spraying it randomly with water with a giant smile on her face. Today we got done and I complimented her on how shiny the car was and she said, "Now you can take Scott on a date!" Cracked me up.
Next was the grocery store. Adelle drives the cart around and I shop. Today we also planned her birthday. She wants to go bowling then to dinner at the restaurant of her choice then go to Orange Leaf. She does Not want to shop for new jeans as I suggested. I plan to buy her a list journal I saw in a gift shop along with some list notepads and notebooks.
Adelle helped carry the groceries in and asked Scott to help. Then she got on the ipad and checked her Facebook and the top 40 music lists. I fixed her some pizza and she offered some to Scott. Then she put in the earplugs and danced through the house singing to YouTube at the top of her lungs. Funny.
When it was time to go home, she made herself an ice cream sprite float in a to go cup. On the way home, I had to talk to her about a call I got from her teacher this week. Apparently, Adelle makes index cards about tons of people she knows with all the personal facts about the person on the cards. The kids think its creepy. They've tried every way to explain it to her. My speech started with how well her teacher said she's doing this year. Then I asked if she remembered when we talked about Temple Grandin and how she told me she thinks in charts and grafts. She remembered. I said , "other people don't think that way." I explained that other people also don't remember or memorize facts like she does either. I asked if she saw other people make index cards like that and she said no. Then I said that its important to not do things that are really different than other kids do because it makes her look weird. I said not to do the index cards in regular classes but she could do them in the resource room or at home. Adelle said, "ok." Humm... That was easy. Hope it sticks.
When I dropped her off she said, "Happy Thanksgiving!"
All friends should be this easy to spend time with.