This morning the monkey woke up at 5:45. He slept all night! Didn’t wake up once. We love these nights where he had a full night sleep, and so did we.

The first thing he did was go to the garage. He came back asking us to go with him. We said no. We cannot give him a car ride. The school bus is coming soon. He needs to get ready to go to school. The monkey was getting so upset. We kept telling him the bus is coming soon, he needs to get ready to go to school. No car ride this morning.

He started getting more and more upset. I knew this will be a long morning. We may not make it on time for when the bus arrives.

He finally went to his room, and got dressed. He brought me his toothbrush and cloth to wash his face. Good. He is getting ready.

After that, he looked at me in the eyes and clapped his hands (his sign for the word ‘more’).

Then it clicked. I asked him: Do you want your iPad? Is it in the car? And he clapped his hands. That’s what he was trying to tell us.

I went to the garage and the car was locked, the iPad inside. He had gotten a car ride last night and left the iPad inside the car. He tried to get the iPad himself but since it was locked, he was asking for help. He didn’t want a ride.

We felt terrible. He was trying to tell us one thing and we thought he wanted something else. My husband sat down with him and apologized to the monkey. But that’s how this works. With nonverbal, it is a guessing game. I can understand how he can get so frustrated when we don’t understand what he is trying to communicate with us. Specially when his iPad is his communication device.

But we keep trying. We keep guessing. And the monkey will keep assisting us in understanding him. ❤️❤️❤️