Not your ordinary "Let's Talk About Autism" Post...I promise you that!

Hello, you are all welcome to join me in the story of our walk with Autism for the past almost twelve years! Delve into the future with us as well, it will be an interesting ride.

I will post facts about Autism as I go through this series of stories about me and my Bug (my son's nickname for safety sake), but I am going to focus primarily on our personal story through which the facts I could just regurgitate will be told...in probably the most entertaining way you can imagine. The REAL story-the good, bad, ugly, and absolutely hilarious as told by an Autism Mom who lost her inner-monologue, or "you shouldn't say that out loud" filter during her ten-year high-school teaching career.

I will warn you there are stories on the way that you will laugh yourself out of your chair over; there are also stories that will make your eyes leak whether you want them to or not as your heart aches uncontrollably (if you have a heart, that is...). There are refreshing stories, stories of triumph, and celebrations of the smallest and largest accomplishments. There are confusing moments, and "did that really just come out of my mouth" moments...many, many of them. You will learn probably way too much about our story, but I'm an over-sharer, scientist (entomologist, forensic scientist, horticulturalist), teacher, and Shamanic Practitioner so it's bound to happen somehow.

I guess that's why I became a teacher, after all...always have to offer all possible information toward education on any level. Anyway, I digress...you know, I should count my digressions in each post, this could be interesting (heh, and entertaining for y'all)...that's #1 and now back to the post I promise! I should warn you that I share details and graphically so when possible. I have to go through over 20G of jpegs in order to do this, but that's the plan. When I get to adding pictures I will edit even these early posts and add photos to them.

To be fair I will start at the beginning because there were clues early on that my Bug was somewhat different than others. I honestly didn't think anything of it until he was almost in school because all kids are different and I figured it was just the way things are. I couldn't have been more correct, but so wrong at the same time. Bug is my only child but I have a niece and 6 nephews and had babysat since I was ten years old; I was also a teacher when I had him, so I had a pretty good comparison base as Bug has grown up.

My pregnancy went well, I taught until the Friday before he was born on Sunday. I was very anxious to meet my baby boy, as was my family. Day one was awesome, I got to finally hold my Bug in my arms! He was loud, wrinkly, fuzzy, and gorgeous. I was at peace when he was in my arms…finally here!

On day one I noticed that Bug didn’t like to be swaddled. The nurses argued with me, but after Science was applied and I showed them the proof of the sleeping newborn who was asleep in the nest my crossed legs covered with a blanket made. When I swaddled him he became agitated, grumpy, and just unhappy. When I bounced him in my crossed legs very gently he went right into happy baby mode or slept. Awkward as it was to think my son could not want to be swaddled after being restricted in my womb his whole life thus far, I went with it…happy baby happy Mama, after all. Five years later we would find out that with his (High-Functioning) Autism, my Bug also has Sensory Processing Disorder (herein after SPD), ADHD, and Anxiety issues. The SPD was evident on day one, come to find out after researching and talking to a myriad of Doctors and other professionals in the Autism arena. His doctors agreed that even then he showed signs we all just chalked up to kids being different.

Day one was not the only day Bug’s exceptionalities were evident. Even as early as infancy Bug didn’t like his hands to stay dirty when he was done playing or eating. It felt “bad” to him if he didn’t wash or wipe his hands with a wet-wipe even after playing in messy substances for hours on end right before. He didn’t like socks as an infant, they were only on his feet when it was cold and that in itself was a fight after about three months. Shoes were an absolute joke where Bug was involved for the first year. Thereafter we had to fight him to wear shoes because it was mandatory at daycare (thanks, OSHA…you are effectively clogging up the gene pool with lawyers and stupid people!). He took his shoes off a lot at daycare. They stayed off most of the time at home. He tried for two years (3y/o to 5y/o) to learn to tie his shoes. He can tie his shoes now but the laces don’t last tied long. He prefers my “mom (double) knots” that never seem to get jarred loose. I opt for Velcro closures or he keeps them tied just loose enough to slip his foot in and out without messing with tying them. I gave up the fight long ago on that one. For the first three years I pretty much was raising a nudist. Half the time after he was 6 months old until about five years of age I was lucky to keep a diaper, Pull-Up, or underwear on him. Since he prefers to be in underwear only if we are home but he has a good handle on personal privacy so at least I don’t have to deal with public stripping of clothing any more.

I will continue this saga later, time to get this house in some semblance of order before he comes home to derail my efforts with extreme prejudice. Ciao for now!