There is a creek that AspieBoy likes to go to in the park near Grandma and Grandpa’s house.
A boy playing at a creek evokes strong ‘this is childhood’ archtypes in me. He is growing up so fast… 
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We live in the desert where it doesn’t snow in any appreciable amount. This is his first snowman, just before the hat and carrot nose arrived.
AspieBoy is visiting his maternal Grandparents with AsipeMom in Denver through Tuesday. He is very proud of his stocking hat and those mittens which we bought special for this trip.
I did not drop AspieBoy off at his Day Care this morning, AspieMom did and just sent me this email update:
After seeing the pirate flag this morning, he declared that “Today is Pirate Day.”
I said “Arrrgh”. He corrected me saying it is “ARRRRR, Mommy. Not Arrrgh.”
He wanted me to turn back because he missed the Happy Face on Rainbow and Charleston. I said that sadly, we had to press on and that we’d look for it tomorrow.
I missed the turn at the drum store and drove down to Montclaire (I think that’s the street….the one that ends at PS4Kids). He said quite emphatically that he did not want me to make a U-turn. I’m sorry honey, but I have to.I guess the sprinkler system had been running earlier because “The Secret Path” was covered with ice. He was quite distressed when I told him we’d have to take the regular sidewalk. There was some ice on the sidewalk and he was very nervous about stepping on it. He wanted me to carry him, but I convinced him that he should just hold my hand and walk around it.
Then when we got inside, he told Miss Sarah all about the ice. He was quite cute and quite flirty. He said he didn’t want me to go because he needed me (but he didn’t say it in a whiny way…it was just very flirty and cute). Miss Sarah said “Talk about tugging at your heart strings.”
Then [AspieBoy] showed off for Miss Sarah. “Watch this Miss Sarah”…Then he did a little dance he called the Slippy Dance. He kept flirting with me, not wanting me to go. Finally, Miss Sarah said “[AspieBoy], Do you want to look at the ants?” Then he was off with nary a care about mom.
Heart strings tugged!
What a cute little guy! That just makes me want to quit work and stay home and adore him… (both he and AspieMom, actually). AspieMom would like that, AspieBoy…, less so. “Dad, stop it! You’re touching me!” Later he will lean against me then crawl into my lap, which I guess is him touching me. A completely different thing.
Since it is probably not clear, one of the neighbors has a “Pirates of the Caribbean” Jolly Roger on a makeshift pole in their backyard and “The Secret Path” is a flagstone path through the landscaping that AspieBoy greatly prefers. The ants Miss Sarah was referring to are in one of those ant farms with the blue gel that doubles as their nutrient supply. There are leds in the base that shine up through the gel. Very cool. The Happy Face is a banner with a huge smiley face on an apartment complex exhorting you to “come lease!”
Today Kamran Nazeer replied to my September Trained? Cured? post. He concludes with some really good observations.
Having met people, including my former classmates, whose autism is so much more pronounced than mine, makes me hesitate then before using the tag for myself. It feels like I’m asking for special attention and yet I’m not the one who needs it - they are. It also tends to confuse people. If I am autistic and someone who can’t speak at all is autistic - then what on earth is autism? I want to engage in the enterprise of explaining autism better to people and sometimes I feel that focussing on my own autism, at the expense of that of other people, makes that enterprise more difficult.
What do you think?
Think? Sometimes I wonder if I still think.
I feel like I am very close to being exactly where he is. Of course, I have no former classmates, but like Kamran, I often think I’m not helping or clarifying things, online or elsewhere. My extended silence here is to a large part because I’m not at all sure what I think…
Kamran, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.