My son will run away!!!

My son is labeled a flight risk at school. They keep a close eye on him during class and on the playground, but we also have to keep a close eye on him at home or he may just leave, and not come back.

I remember the first time I took him to the park. We got there and he went in to the playground area and just kind of walked around, he wasn't too sure about any of the stuff he was looking at. Then he wanted to walk down the hill, away from all the playground stuff. Nothing was over there really, just a few trees and a walking path, but nothing to play on. He just wanted to walk, and he did.

It really was kind of comical. A two and a half year old tootling down a hill just walking away, all by himself like he knew exactly where he was going. The problem was he didn't want to come back. He also didn't want to stop. I'm sure if I'd have let him he would have walked to Antarctica, but mom was cooking dinner, so we had to cut his stroll a bit short.

We have always had to deal with stuff like that. Once he was able to walk and get around we had to toddler proof the house like normal parents, but we had to go one step further and make sure he couldn't get out of the house. We still have to make sure he doesn't get out of the house.

At first we just used the door locks and dead bolts because his lack of fine motor control wouldn't let him undo a lock or even turn the handle, but he's gotten better at opening doors over the years, so we have to do a bit more now.

People who come over for the first time must find it almost comical (or scary) to hear the sound of all these locks opening when we open the door and I bet it freaks them out when we lock the door right behind them. Because we have barrel locks on all the doors and we always have to make sure they are set, or he will just leave. He's a crafty little bugger, he will move a chair over to the door, climb up the chair, and undo the barrel locks. To make sure he can't do that all the barrel locks are at the top of the doors.  Eventually he will grow up, and we will have to figure something else out.

We've put these locks on the front and back door, the stock room door, and the laundry room door. Not only do we have to make sure he doesn't leave, we have to make sure he won't get into anything he shouldn't, and most of the chemicals are in the laundry room and stock room.

Sometimes it is exhausting trying to keep him in the house. Especially if it’s raining or snowing outside, because that's when it's most fun right? So he will try to open the door and go where he wants. It's so hard to explain to him that it's time for dinner and he can't go out and play in the rain, and he gets so mad about that, but he can't get that door open, so he throws a fit.

We don't have to worry about this stuff with his little brother, but we have to keep an eye one him all the time. We still put him inside the cart in the store, and if we go to a restaurant we have to make sure we hold his hand, sit in a booth, and sit him next to the wall. Mom and I will have to mesh our legs together under the table to make sure he won't crawl out. If we are at a store that doesn't have carts (which we avoid) one of us will always have hold of his hand, and sometimes he will do everything he can just to let go and run.

I know kids will be kids, and they just want to get up and go, see everything, do everything, and play with everything, but it's different with an autistic child, we have to be hyper vigilant.

As I'm reading over this post it sounds as if we are horrible parents and our oldest son wants to just run away from us because we are so "mean" to him, but that's really not the case at all. Yes we have to lock him in the house, yes we make sure he cannot just run away when we go out, but aside from our extremes, isn't that what "normal" parents do with their kids anyway? 

Loose tooth.

It's been a while since my last post, and that's OK  sometimes I don't have much to say, but a lot has happened since my last post. So here we go...

A few months ago the big guy had his picture taken at school. It's was one of his best school pictures so far. Nice blue background, he had a cool button down shirt, his hair was just right, but the best part... It was his last picture with all his baby teeth. The picture was taken on a Friday, and when he woke up in the morning on Saturday, he had one less tooth.

It was the cutest thing. He came out of his room that morning then came and woke me up. At first I didn't notice anything, then he said something and I noticed it was gone. It was kind of surprising, because we didn't know it was loose. I woke momma up real quick (she was really only snoozing) and we were just amazed. That's when we found the second loose tooth right next to the gaping hole from his missing tooth.

Losing a tooth as a child is a big deal, it always was for me, and I think it's the same for most people. The tooth comes out and we keep it so we can put it under our pillow at night. Then during the night one of our parents will come in and switch the tooth with a dollar while we sleep and claim it was the tooth fairy. It's a sweet childhood memory we can all look back on with nostalgia, but this is all different with an auspie.

First, he never let us know it was loose. I didn't know, and momma didn't ether. I'm sure he knew it was loose, but I don't think it came across his mind to say something, and with his vocabulary now I think he could have said something if he wanted to. I guess he just didn't think it would fall out, or that it was important. Second, we may always have to find out about things after it happens. Things like this may be something he doesn't tell us because "he doesn't know any better", and I hate using that phrase because it seems so demeaning, but he really doesn't.

He tells us other things about his body, when he's hungry and thirsty, he's put himself to bed many times without us knowing, and sometimes before his bedtime, he can tell us when he's cold or hot, but these are all kind of basic things or everyday type things. Other things, important things, he will only tell us if we ask him, like if he feels sick. Most kids will say "momma, I don't feel good" but he doesn't, he will just keep on going, and we really have to keep an eye on him. He can't say if his ear hurts if he has an ear infection, or if he feels hot or cold if he has a fever, or if he's about to puke because his tummy is upset, all of these things we have to watch for. It's not the same as having a "regular" kid, like there really are any "regular" kids.

This also kind of worries me as he gets older, because he will go through puberty, that is a fact (thank god he's not a girl) and I may not have the ability to explain to him what's going on with his body or he may not be able to comprehend what I'm trying to explain. He's going to grow facial hair, and he's seen me shave, and has a toy shaving kit now, but a play razor is different than a real razor, and he may not develop the fine motor control needed to shave and not hurt himself. The only thing I know for sure is I can try to do my best when the time comes.

Oh yeah, and about the tooth, we didn't find it; I'm sure he swallowed it in his sleep and didn't know it. The other tooth, it fell out also and we didn't find that one ether, but he still got a dollar for each, and he really didn't care about "the tooth fairy" story we told him. Matter of fact, he didn't seem to care about the dollars ether, I had to take him back in his room and show him the dollar, and he just said "yay" and ran away to play, I ended up putting the dollar in his piggy bank for him.