First, a few random thoughts prompted by Kristina's comment on my last post:

--Someone called the police on your husband? How horrifying! I guess that's another good reason to have the Autism Awareness ribbon on your car. Mine is on the refrigerator rather than the van- I need to get it out there so other moms won't stare at me at the playground.

--"Because our kids suffer and struggle and people don't rally round, like they do when you hear about a child with leukemia or some 'rare disease'"

It's really inappropriate for me to start comparing disabilities. But I do feel that ASD kids and their parents face an uphill struggle because Autism is still so misunderstood. When we were going through the long, painful process of having Henry diagnosed, I often thought if my child was blind, the doctors would know right away. We would all know right away. His disability would be easily identified, and everyone would know what to do next. There wouldn't be all this "is he or isn't he?" We would know what our options were.

The same analogy still holds some water for me- if my son was blind, yes, he would have a disability. But no one would assume he wasn't smart. People would know how to relate to him. And I would just tell people when they first asked about him. It would just be part of what he is. It would not diminish what he is.

And I would not be worrying about how to cure him, but rather how to help him make his way in the world.

I don't really know what my point is here. Certainly not that I wish my child was blind! Maybe just that I need to think of his autism in that way, and encourage others to think of it that way too. It means he can't do everything that other kids can, but he can live as just a fulfilled life as anyone else.

And, if my child was blind (or insert many other disabilities here), I probably wouldn't be hell-bent on making him play at the playground, would I? Learn a lesson here, mommy.

Ok, on to a different subject. Here is a picture of my beautiful boys sharing a double stroller at the zoo a couple weeks ago:

Henry makes that dumb face now, almost every time I take his picture. He's saying "CHEEESE".

In all my belly-aching about our weekend (no pun intended), I left out a sweet story. I felt sick to my stomach all day Saturday. Henry was being so nice and kept kind of petting my stomach and saying "you're making my tummy feel better." Then, on Sunday morning, he remembered that I had been feeling sick, and said "I feel better!" When I told him that, yes, I did feel better, he said "you made me feel better. You took me to (pause pause) you were a doctor and helped me feel better!" Can you believe he came up with that himself?? (Pronouns all backwards as usual, but still...)