When I try to explain what autism is like, 70% of the time, I come up with, "Like your life, only a little bit louder." meaning, like in Spinal Tap, the amp went to 11, which was one more than 10.
My kids are just...more. And that probably makes me sound like some sort of egotistical "beep." as my 7 yr old daughter says, meaning, "bitch." (yes, my 10 yr old son taught her that...wasn't that kind of him?) She only says, "beep," though, for censoring. But I don't mean it that way. Here's the deal: Somehow, my kids are more than others' kids. But I truly don't know how else to explain it. I am not competitive, I don't want to be the worst or the best. But they really are... They are harder, more challenging, more colorful, more off-the-wall and more frustrating than neurotypical kids, I believe. They make me cry, want to pull out my hair, crawl into a hole. And that's often just the first two hours of the day.
But you know what? I wouldn't trade them. They are funny, they make me laugh in great big guffawing waves. They surprise me daily. And...I am never bored...they keep me young.
Don't believe me?
Who else do you know that:
- talks for stuffed animals regularly, including for my son's stuffed raccoon, every night before bed. Of course, each animal has a different voice.
- Regularly makes up silly walks and quotes Python
- enjoys taking goofy pictures more than the real portraits
- has a karaoke machine in her house, and uses it
- makes faces as a general rule (still hoping one day it really will "stick like that")
- bursts into song and/or dance at inopportune times. Haven't I told you, I am the star of my very own musical!
- makes terrible, terrible puns
- quotes movies often, depending upon the circumstances
- makes fart jokes, complete with noises
- races shopping carts
- sings LOUDLY, some random bit of song
- comes up with nonsense words..we have an entire vocabulary of spendomous marattels.
- can burp louder than anyone
- beeps noses, tickles tummies, wet willies
- gleefully embarrasses my teenager (oh wait, most parents do that, never mind)
- makes submarine noises while driving
Why? I like to make my children laugh. Laughing keeps things less stressful, so in a sense, I guess it is a defense mechanism. It is also a whole lot of fun. And really, isn't life too short to take seriously, all the time?
T, who figures we only get one chance, why waste it moping or lamenting what it might have been
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