The other day, Mia and I went to visit Halmeoni and Grandpa Ohmer. This visit had extra special significance because CJ's sister Star and her family were in town. We were greeted at the door by Grandpa, cousin Vesper and cousin Aldrin.

Vesper has always been enthusiastic about seeing her cousin Mia. I remember when they first met. We were all meeting for a family reuninion in Maui. Mia was about a year and a half old. Vesper mustve been three or four. We were waiting for our bags in the open air carousels and Vesper enthusiastically handed Mia a small bouquet of flowers she had picked just for cousin Mia. It was a long flight, and Mia was in a particularly grumpy mood as she lay back in her stroller with a scowl. "Hi cousin Mia" Vesper said. "I picked these flowers for you". The sweet gesture was lost on Mia and she kicked at Vespers hand. I'll never forget the look on that sweet girls face, confusion and disappointment.

When you have a child with Autism, you always worry about how they interact with other children. Of course you worry about other kids bullying them, but you don't anticipate how often you feel the need to protect the feelings of other children interacting with them. A lot of kids have pure, sweet lovely intentions. So many times at the playground, I see other little girls asking Mia if she wants to play. It's as if she never even heard the request, she turns and walks away.

Vesper is a genuinely sweet girl. And really wants to have a relationship with her cousin. For the duration of our visit, she asked me over and over if Mia would like a sucker, or Mia would like to play with her stuffed animals. She decided she was going to make a card for Mia. She sat at the kitchen table and put together a greeting card with shiny stickers that made a rainbow. She gave it to us as we walked out the door. Mia looked at that card the entire car ride home. She loved it. I'm glad to know she has cousins that are on her side.