Snippets of the Child's Mind

The Little Man says things like, "up up high Dada living room!" which means he wants to watch "Baa Sheep" (Wallace and Gromet, not to be confused with "Dada Sheep" which is Shaun The Sheep) with Dada in the living room (since the Wallace and Gromet VHS's are on top of the TV stand).

Or things like "bubbles outside now!" and "beach go" - he points to a post card of Florida and wants to go. Aside from "go" I think the only other verb he has is "watch TV."

He knows "this way" and "that way" and "mine truck."

It's interesting because he will say "hi/bye" to people on command (like a robot) but doesn't look at the person when he does it. He'll maybe wave in their general direction. Despite the perceived lack of emotion or disconnect, I know he does still *feel* something. The only way I can understand this is through Hubby, who we're almost 100% sure is also Asperger's and early in our relationship, I'd ask him how he felt about something and he said he honestly didn't know. I couldn't fathom it at the time, but over time, I've come to accept/understand it a bit better. I used to think it was a cop-out, but I've seen him shut down (and work with him to avoid that now) and I know he feels deeply about things at times.

Hubby doesn't avoid eye contact, but makes it intently - maybe to over-compensate - but it was one of the things that initially drew me in. Never had I been with someone who seemed so intently interested in what I had to say. I understand now it was his only way of actually paying attention to what I had to say. I know now if he isn't looking at me, whatever I say is not heard. It's only over time I understood that he's not ignoring me, he just operates differently.

Anyway, all this to say, with language, we're gaining some insight into our child's mind and what he picks up. He's still not speaking an appropriate age level, but we're learning more about what he thinks about. It's also interesting how he's a lot like Hubby, but also a lot like me and we'll see how this plays out as he grows up. Seeing him and his reactions has made me remember a lot of quirks about myself (and wonder if I don't have Asperger's also sometimes!) - I hated having any part of my head touched, I still don't like making eye contact with people, I'm not 100% sure I'm in touch with my own emotions half the time - I know I can be very cold.

In other news, I took The Little Man to the pool party at the Natatorium and let him go in a bouncy castle for the first time. This was like heaven for him. He bounced a bit, but spent most of his time free-falling face first into the mat. The attendant looked at him a little weird and seemed concerned at first, but he would stand up with a giant smile and do it again. It was horrible when we had to leave and he cried the whole way home. I need to turn my living room into a giant bouncy castle.