I'm On a Roll

Well, after only posting a few times the first two months of 2008, I seem to be on a blogging binge. The reason? Well, there's a lot going on! Also, Hubby went out of town this morning, so instead of going out for lunch and other Saturday family activities, I'm choosing to stay home. While the boys play, I'm getting caught up on "paperwork".

Let's see. This post will be about Autism. Or, a certain little boy I know and love with Autism. Or, two autistic behaviors Hutton performed today that annoyed me.

One: I had to go to the grocery store today with both boys, after dropping Hubby off at the airport. Hutton was upset about not getting home at 11 a.m. to play Madagascar. I'd told him we'd be home at 11 when he asked, "When are we going to play Madagascar?", but realized I had to get gas for the car, and I needed a few things from the grocery store. So, when we were in line at the grocery store, after only five minutes of shopping, which isn't normally a problem, he started melting down. First, there were the tears about going home to play Madagascar, followed quickly by the SCREAMING. Gotta love when your child screams in the grocery store. Especially when your child is 6 years old, and old enough to know better, according to all the dirty looks being thrown your way by everyone in the vicinity. I did the classic recovery technique: I covered Hutton's mouth with my hand while whisper- yelling in his ear, "We DON'T scream in the grocery store! Mommy has to get this done before we go home, and I'm sorry you're frustrated, but this is how the world is. Get over it!" I didn't go so far as to say something about Autism out loud, though if the screaming had continued, I might have. You know, the mumbled sort of explanation, "He has Autism. He can't help it!" The public screaming is my pet-peeve of Autism behaviors, and I'm clearly not cut out for dealing with it, as evidenced by my "fight yelling with more yelling (though of the whispered variety)" technique. Though, of course, screaming could just be a normal way for a boy to get out of doing something he doesn't like -- grocery shopping.

Two: After lunch, Hutton went upstairs while I was still downstairs with Harrison eating lunch. He came down a few minutes later, and sat down next to me. I gave him a hug, and my brain slowly picked up on a signal from my nose: the smell of cat food.

"Hutton, did you eat CAT FOOD?!!" He, of course, said, "No!" as I sniffed his hands and had him open his mouth, revealing the tell-tale aroma of Savory Blends. Sigh. I went over with him that cat food is for CATS and he isn't to eat it or handle it, that it has gluten and other things little boys shouldn't eat, etc. Then, I went over with him again (we'd done it in the car after the grocery store melt-down, as well) the proper behavior in public places: We don't yell in public places. It makes Mommy angry and frustrated. Blah blah blah.

Can I take a nap yet?