Life as we know it

For example and to name but a few he has cart-wheeled out of his cot head first (just for the sheer fun of it), is afraid of neither man nor beast. I caught him trying to feed his uncles rottweiler through a gate once at a kids birthday party. Yes, forget the giant bouncy castle and the cake there is a giant toothed animal to play with instead.

Aside from the obvious autie traits Diddles personality is really starting to shine! It is so great to see his sense of humour sparkle. This afternoon I was calling him for his lunch, usually he hears the mention of food and there is a Diddles shaped hole in the wall that he has run through to get to the kitchen table.

I love to hear him laugh! It is so contagious!

I do think looks-wise they are the absolute spit of one another! Anyone agree?

I am usually abruptly awakened each morning. Around 6:45 (ish) with a thump of a baby bottle in the head which has been hurled from the cot followed by Diddles hopping into the bed beside me saying "Good morning" on repeat until I say "Good morning", and I realise I was dreaming and I am not in the jungle eating "daddy long legs". This time of morning is despite numerous encounters through the night of pacing the landing back and forth to Diddles room. Needless to say there is no room for a snooze button in our house! As much as you would like them to the little darlings are not going to wait for you to wake up. It is almost like someone shouting "GO!!" without giving you a "Ready, Steady" first.

Madman as we like to call him lately seems to have hit the terrible twos' at 18 months! He leaves a trail of destruction behind him where ever he goes. His most recent venture was pulling the first two rows of buttons off my laptop. I stepped out of the room to put something in the dishwasher returned to find him waving at me sweet as pie smile on his face "Hi Mammy" he says. While standing over his art work.

A spectator sport is a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers at its match. There have been many trips to the bank, post office, supermarket and especially restaurants where other peoples stares have the ability to push you over the edge into crazy town. You literally want to turn around to the audience that has assembled and plead your innocence that you are not a bad parent and he is not a bold child. Granted there are so many people who sympathise and that is due to their personal experiences or awareness campaigns or a friend of a friend who had a child with autism. However there are still so many people who are completely oblivious to the concept of Autism. In particular the older generations, you can hear the tuts and sharp comments like "some parents just can not control their kids these days". These are the people who assume children are lunatics due to parents overdosing them with sugar and allowing their televisions to raise their children. It is not like you can start an Autism awareness meeting in the middle of a queue for the post office. "Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."

One particular incident I remember is when I had to run into the supermarket to get pullups for Diddles. I was eight months pregnant at the time and Diddles refused point blank to get into a buggy or trolley. He wanted to walk which was ok but I knew I would have to be quick about it. Well.. as quick as one could be when sporting a big baby bump and an autistic toddler in tow! I got to the shopping aisle found the pull ups and waddled to the check out. Diddles then seen a forklift, heard it beeping and screeched like someone had just broken his big toe! He darted away from me to the front of the shop. I ran after him. It felt like forever before I reached him. When I did, he was lying flat on the floor with his hands covering his ears, humming. No eye contact, if I touched him he screeched. At this point everyone in the shop was staring, it seemed like check outs and everyone had stopped. If anyone has ever just wanted the ground to open up and swallow them this was that moment. I could hear one of the older women at a till saying "God love her, she hasn't a clue".

At this point Diddles was on a waiting list and had not been diagnosed with Autism. Comments made like that really hit home because you are clueless at the beginning. The word Autism to me then, if someone had of asked me to explain it I do not think I could have desribed it as much more than a disability. At 23 years of age I had never encountered it in my lifetime. Now almost two years later I am still only tipping the iceberg when it comes to Autism. Every child is different so you need to go on your own initiative when it comes to parenting them.

Essentials when I go out with Diddles just incase...

Halloween has always been my favourite time of year. Ever since I was a little whippersnapper I thought the night was magic. I loved dressing up and hearing ghost stories and playing games. Are you afraid of the dark? was probably the TV show that kick started my interest in horror/fantasy as well as the Goosebump books by R.L Stine. As I got older I loved horror films right up until I became a Mammy and now I am the definitive Wuss! I have this aversion now to the films I used to really enjoy. I loved to sit in and watch Nightmare on Elm street or the Amityville Horror or the Shining but not now I would be hiding behind the couch or sleeping with the lights on for a week! I know how strange it sounds but it is true, I have to really hype myself up by telling myself it is not real, they are just actors and that is just ketchup! Then someone says it is a true story and que the sleepless nights.

It is funny how your perception changes. Now it is all about showing the kids the magic. You really have to approach Halloween with caution when it comes to kids on the spectrum. Some of them are terrified by masks that other kids wear. They do not always grasp the concept of dressing up and the whole thing can be very confusing and frightening. I know with Diddles there is no way he would wear a mask probably because of the echo he would hear with it on or the feel of it against his skin. We really had to work him up to wear the costume this year. Barry had to play flying games and let him bounce around the place a bit before the costume could go near him! He was Buzz Lightyear and Madman was a crocadile. We had them all dressed up and kids started calling to the door. They then were disgusted because we were giving these strange little monster kids all of their sweets. So we had to get a move on before they might have taken the sweets back from some childs trick or treat bag. We gave them their own little loot bags and ventured out to visit our neighbours in the hope that Diddles would enjoy it and not become anxious with the variety of costumes on the other kids or the echo of fireworks. He was grand, both of them were delighted with themselves. They got the idea after two houses. Ring the bell, wait and get sweets. Not really surprising they became pro trick or treaters after 10 minutes or so. The only thing missing was that neither of them were saying trick or treat. Diddles if he said anything at all was saying "trick or tea" and Madman just kept saying "Cheeeeese" as if posing for a photo! Still they did well! It was a good night for them.

I have mastered pizza bases and bread which is seriously an accomplishment for someone who was not totally sure about boiling an egg a year ago. Honestly ask me about any gadget be it ipod, laptop or fixing an internet connection great but ask me how to cook a meal from scratch and you would get recipe for disaster. Instead of home economics in school I took Technology.

 I'm not bad now but I still have the odd (giant) hiccup aka Blonde moment.

 For example a few weeks ago I was attempting to make chocolate muffins for Lukes lunch for the week. I found the recipe on a gluten free dairy free website. Thought I was following it to a tee. Until I checked on them 10 minutes after putting the baking tray in the oven and I square to bob my oven was covered in this brown ooze. It was on the top, on the sides and the bottom and expanding by the nano second. I had no clue what I had done wrong. The other half came in to see what I was giving out about and started breaking his heart laughing at me. I read the recipe twice over again until I realised I had used BREAD SODA instead of Baking powder. If you ever want to make inedible chocolate ooze I'm your woman!!

Aside from the hysterics of my Kitchen, I have been spending the rest of my time trying to find new games to get Diddles talking. What I love about these games is Madman can join in. They are both learning to take turns and learning a multitude of new words. We have moved on from the Balloon game which I had mentioned in an earlier post, we do return to this about once a week to mix up the routine. However right now we are playing the blanket game. We took down one of the kids duvet covers and lay it out on the floor. Both of the boys jump on it and then we decide that Madman takes the first turn. (He seems to be the most impatient at the tender age of 17 months) He lies in the middle of the Duvet, I grab one end and Barry will grab the other end. We say "ready steady go!" or "on your marks get set go!" or "3,2,1 Blastoff" mix it up every time so we use as much language as possible. Then we swing the duvet from side to side (narrating the whole time everything we are doing). Next we ask "want to go fast or slow?" Now, for Madman he just says GO! but he is taking in everything and loving the game.  Diddles will obviously want to go fast and this is why we give him "fast" as the first option as a big percentage of the language you will hear from Diddles is immediate Echolalia i.e he echos the words you say directly back to you but does not necessarily understand what you have said.

To test his understanding you give him what he asks for and not what you know he wants. This is so he realises the actual meaning of words.It is a long process but he is beginning to get the gist. He watches the game with Madans turn once to be sure its safe and then he gets the confidence to try himself . In some way Madman is his guinea pig. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing yet but its all trial and error!

They remind me of coyote and roadrunner at the moment. Diddles being the roadrunner and Madman being Coyote. Diddles runs back and forth for his usual sensory stimulation and Madman thinks this is a game and follows him back and forth. Madman bless his cotton little socks is just never fast enough to catch Diddles. He thinks his big brother is the king of chasing. They seem to have simultaneus bruises lately, both running and one will fall and then the other. Brotherly love ay!

The games have brought out some spontaneous speech with Diddles. He wakes me up in the morning with "Good Morning", he says "I want some juice please" instead of "Juice please"and Madman is copying everything he's really trying his best. We're making progress slowly but surely! They never cease to amaze me!