Getcha mind outta the gutter! I'm talking about how many times Tyson has made me watch Cars today. He's stuck in a bed, hooked up to oxygen and wires and whatnot, and all the kid wants to do is torture mom...er, I mean watch Cars. This may be the record of how many times I have watch it in one day, but I've seen it so many times before I swear I could sit here and recite the entire thing for you...and do all the facial expressions....and draw all the animation. In fact, Tyson has watched it so many times, he can even tell you when the singer in one of the songs goes, "Uh". It's sick.
I used to be a nanny for a 5 year old little boy with big brown eyes and curly blonde hair who was non-verbal autistic. He watched A Goofy Movie and An Extremely Goofy Movie, the way Ty watches Cars. He would watch them back to back, and every single time, he would watch it as if it were the first time he ever saw it. And with both of these little boys (my almost 5 year old now, and my 5 year old Rocky who I watched over 10 years ago), I love just sitting there and watching them during their movie. The big smiles, the way they anticipate their favorite part, the way they cock their head like the character does. It's like pure innocent joy. It's hard for me to say no to him. And I wish every kid could experience that with such a simple thing.
Now Tyson isn't autistic...or at least his doctors have said that to us several times even though I've asked for testing because he has "autistic tendencies". He has sensory issues and some social issues (but they think that's because of the medical stuff and developmental delay rather than autism). There's a few other things that remind me of Rocky though. The way he holds his hands, the way he walks, the way he tilts his head, he has some ritualistic behaviors.
I'm not worried that my son is autistic. I loved Rocky for everything that he was (and probably still is even though he's 16 now). I've worked with several other autistic children as well back in my preschool teaching days. And I've even considered many times over to go into special education at some point in my life.
The thing is the label. Do I need a doctor to tell me he's "autistic" because of these tendencies? Or do I just take them as part of him and react as I would with any autistic child...like they are normal? Whether autistic or not, a child is a child. And whether autistic or not, each child is special in their own individual way. Tyson is special. And that's all I have to remember.
So bring on Lightnin' McQueen for the 86145th time.
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| Ty and Mommy....Can you guess what we're watching? |
