Just the other day he was in the bathroom sing-shouting “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.” He butchers both the reindeer names and their order of the appearance in the song: You know Datter and Bitzen and Dancer and Comet! Dishen and Rudoff and Rudoff and Rudoff!This from a kid who can memorize lyrics of most songs nearly perfectly, if you don’t mind the lack of diction.
Archive for September, 2010
triangle man
Posted in autism, behavior, tagged Burger King, Dark Star Orchestra, Grateful Dead, Jingle Bells, music, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, They Might Be Giants, toy, triangle on September 29, 2010 | 2 Comments »
…then comes Jonah in the baby carriage
Posted in autism, Uncategorized, tagged baby, Big Wheel, bike, PlasmaCar, ride-on toys, scooter, stroller, wagon on September 26, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Some of Jonah’s ride-on toys are outgrown Big Wheel type things that we keep around because Andy babysits a toddler once a week. We’ve even got a baby stroller in there, and yesterday, for some reason, this was my 8 1/2 year old’s ride-on toy of choice. He’d never ride in the damn thing when he was stroller-age, which gave me a little flare-up of annoyance at such belated interest, but I was generally game. I figured he’d let me push him up and down the driveway; I could push him fast, make quick turns, and have fun with it. But Jonah insisted on going solo, propelling the stroller with his long big-kid legs.
m m m
Posted in autism, Uncategorized, tagged candy, Catholic Mass, grocery store, Kate Gosselin, M&Ms, miracle, Snooki, vegetables on September 23, 2010 | 2 Comments »
I bought a small package of M&Ms yesterday at the grocery store – one of those impulse buys you make in line while reading front covers of rag-mags featuring things like Snooki’s latest antics and Kate Gosselin’s hot new bikini body. I never take Jonah with me to the grocery store…haven’t done it since he was a baby. Andy brings [...]
thumb: it’s a yummy.
Posted in autism, Wildwood, tagged Jimmy Crack Corn, stimming, thumb sucking, Walk for Wildwood, Wildwood School on September 20, 2010 | 2 Comments »
sucked my thumb myself when I was a kid. I remember how soothing it was, what a wonderful thing to have quite literally at hand…an oral fixation deliciousness with which Freud would’ve had a field day. If I remember correctly, I sucked my thumb until I was 6 or 7, at least at night. I don’t remember if my parents deliberately broke me of the habit or if I just gave it up.
Sometimes I watch Jonah suck his thumb and wonder if I should care whether he sucks it, or for how long. But there is always something more important to care about.
this way and that way and that way and this
Posted in sense of direction, trains, Uncategorized, tagged direction, Rainman, Stewarts, train on September 18, 2010 | 3 Comments »
“Train?” he asks. “That way?!”
“You want to stay here and wait for another train?” I ask. I am very nearly ready to endure whatever tantrum is brewing rather than attempt to further unravel his fickle directional desires. “Stay he-ah?” Jonah echoes. So we stay. I lean back in my seat. I close my eyes. After a minute or two, from the backseat: “That way?!”
I can’t help but laugh. “Jonah,” I ask him, quoting Rainman, “do you want to stay with your brother Charlie or go back to Walbrook?”
“Stay he-ah,” he answers, definitively. Not five minutes later another train comes by, and Jonah is delighted.
Sometimes I think he’s got it all figured out and just likes to mess with my head.
the extreme escalator experience
Posted in autism, escalators, tagged carousel, escalator, guard, New York State museum, repetition, ritual, routine, terrorists on September 15, 2010 | 5 Comments »
One of Jonah’s all-time favorite things to do is ride the escalator. Any escalator, anywhere, anytime. My favorite place to take him for this fun-filled activity is Latham Circle Mall, because it’s so incredibly empty he can’t hurt anything or disrupt the normal flow of mall traffic (because there is none). When I tell you this mall is dead, I mean it is 6 feet under. There are probably 100 storefronts, of which perhaps 7 or 8 are occupied. Lame. Perfect. We almost always have both the up and down portions of the escalator all to ourselves.
put the soap in your butt
Posted in autism, potty training, tagged Another one Bites the Dust, Bugs Bunny, Bye Bye Blackbird, Queen, Schoolhouse Rock, the Beatles, The Superfriends, The Wheels on the Bus, Weird Al Yankovic on September 13, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Putt the soap in your butt, putt the soap in your butt, put the soap… in your butt!
Hey! I’m gonna clean you, too! Put the soap… in your butt!
We sing gems like this to Jonah, he memorizes them, and then he performs them. Loudly. In public. I know, I know. We have no one to blame but ourselves. But how else to explain the necessity of a clean nether-region?
dear god and little baby jason
Posted in autism, echolalia, trains, tagged coin, God, grandma, Jesus, money, moneycoin, park, train on September 12, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Most mornings, Jonah wakes up and loiters near his bedroom doorway, making little noises until Andy or I extend an invitation for him to come in our room. We didn’t teach him this; it’s not like with the potty, where we dangle the ‘black soda carrot’ to elicit a desired behavior. I have no idea [...]
the village
Posted in autism, tagged bath, bubbles, colors, flash cards, the village on September 9, 2010 | 3 Comments »
He loves cards. Any kind. Playing cars, word cards, colors, puzzle pictures, trigonometry equations – you name it. He flips through them, carries them around, clings to them like little miniature security blankets.
the cape cod swat team
Posted in autism, swimming, tagged beach, Cape Cod, Dennisport, hug, ocean, swat, swim, swimming pool on September 6, 2010 | 2 Comments »
We only stay at the Cape for three nights because it is all we can stand. I spent most of the vacation fantasizing of Maria Von Trapp entering stage-left, singing of schnitzel with noodles, eager to care for my cherub so I can crouch on the beach and create pictures from shells, stones, and seaweed – all while gulping coffee, lullaby-ed by the waves, smiling into the sunshine.
