One Step Forward..Two Steps Back

Occasionally, I may get a little too comfortable with Kalisha's growth and improvement in so many areas of her life. Before I become too ecstatic, God has a way of reminding me she has areas that will probably never change (and I'm totally okay with that). I just forget, sometimes.
She used to be VERY stuck in certain routines; quite normal for an individual with autism. For a long time now, I have either become accustomed to her routines or told myself she didn't get stuck anymore. Right.......
Every morning, Kalisha eats a bowl of Raisin Bran with 1/4 cup of some 'sweet' cereal on top. She always has it in one of our green or yellow bowls. I think it is the size of the bowl, not the color, that she is addicted to.

This morning we had to leave for an appointment. Mercy me, we had no milk. Definitely an oversight on my part. She suggested I go to the grocery and get some before we left home. I said there wasn't time, but if she would like, I would scramble some eggs for her. Nope. Okay, how about toast? Nope; trying to not eat bread. Okay, how about this? You take your cereal in the car, when I get gas, I will buy some milk and you can eat on the way. Okay. Whew..solved that. Not quite..

I placed a plastic container with a lid on the counter and told her to put her cereal in it. Nope. Had to be the bowl.

By now, I'm thinking I could have been to the store and back, with the milk. She insisted on that da__ __ green bowl. I gave in because I really didn't care. I was just trying to make it easier for her.

She poured her cereal in the bowl, grabbed a spoon, and got in the car.

 

I stopped for gas, bought 1/2 gallon of milk, she poured some on her cereal and happily munched and drained the milk. She put her empty bowl in our car wastebasket until we got home and all was well with the world.

 

The point of this little tale is this: If, for some unknown reason, you would have asked me yesterday if Kalisha would be okay with eating her cereal out of a plastic container in the car, I would have said, "Of course she will be. She doesn't care as long as she gets to eat her Raisin Bran mixed with a bit of sweet cereal."

 

When we visit my sister, she doesn't take her 'bowl' along; she doesn't care.

What happened this morning? I don't have a clue but it reminds me that things happen in her world that I will never understand and she doesn't understand them, either.