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| My home made sign |
JD doesn't understand personal space and wants to be involved in everything. He's very affectionate and gregarious but he's also very particular about who he warms up to. I envy his ability to rely on his instincts. If highly stressed or nervous folks are around him- he acts up, gets super hyper and that awful screech is in high gear. If someone is calm and open- he's their best bud. If someone wants to force him to interact, he shuts down and tunes out. So depending on who it is, they can see a totally different side of my boy.
When people come to the house I always worry. All the therapists know what to expect so clearly I don't worry about them. Two weeks ago I applied for life insurance and the nurse came to the house to do a paramedical exam on me-- bloodwork, weight, blood pressure, medical history etc. The girls were having lunch and JD was watching tv. He got hyper at the newness of a stranger in the house. Jumping the couch hyper!
This week we had the plumber and the Direct tv guys over. Both service men were amazing with my kid! The Direct tv guy showed him his work van, and let JD "help". The plumber was perfectly fine with JD climbing all over him while the poor man was hunched over the bath tub pipes. When they left, my boy not only said "Good bye, later" on his own, but he made eye contact. Sure he was hyper, sure he verbally stimmed, sure he did all the stuff you expect from a 3 year old. The girls, were the girls. And I was the baby chaser the entire time the service men were here.
After they leave and the kids are napping, I wonder 2 things:
1. Did these men leave here having gained a greater awareness of ASD?
2. Do they think we're as nuts as I sometimes feel?
I hope they at least learn that autism is a spectrum and JD is not Rain man. I don't know where JD is on the spectrum but I want people to accept him for who he is. Some behaviors can't be helped, some reactions can't be controlled-- and I am incredibly thankful for the folks who come into this house and treat JD as a normal 3 year old boy and don't show pity or fear or anything else negative. I know this won't always be the case, but I find myself feeling that maybe mankind isn't doomed, because there are some genuinely nice people left on this world. And some of them have found their way to my house.
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| JD with his Cars! |
Shortly after lunch Apple is nursing, I'm cuddling JD, and I'm googling. Cems is playing with the Leap Frog Tag Books when I heard her poor tummy make monstrous noises. I figured I'd let her finish before changing her diaper. I hear her tummy again. Then she starts crying. I look down and realize the diaper failed. Diaper Blow Out of Gargantuan proportions! So there's a Poop fest all over her, on the floors, everywhere. Then Apple's tummy makes a familiar noise. Oh Shit!
I've got 2 poopy babies, poop on the floor, some on the couch, all over the book. Hmm, Dilemma! Can't leave the mess and JD alone, Can't leave the girls in the tub alone. I clean most of it with a boxful of baby wipes while holding on to the BOGOs by their dresses. Some days I wish I had arms like a Hindu Goddess. While I dump a fully dressed Apple in the tub, I undress Cems layer by layer, like a poopy onion and rinse her in the sink.
Man that was awfully disgusting. After an hour, the girls are showered and napping, JD is sort of asleep or about asleep, and the sofa cushions are in the washing machine. I start laughing because this is a crazy house! It's a happy crazy house but still kinda crazy busy. Life with Twingles is insane, some days its just easier to laugh than cry. Some days you just have to let the day be how it's going to be. And if service repair men think we're one crazy house- well they're right. It is! But it's fun!!
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| Unusual to be in the same spot |
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