In autism land, life is pretty much like the movie Groundhog Day. Not much changes. You do get a little change here and there. When your child is so predictable, the slightest change is pretty significant. Bobby is now in the process of changing his long standing rules of his life on a a weekly basis. These little things are huge because they have been a part of the obsessive compulsive nature of his personality.
Probably the biggest, most notable difference with Bobby.......he isn't spending hours outside everyday. My nature loving child who used to sit under the trees and play in the dirt for hours upon hours everyday will now walk outside, walk around for a few minutes and then go back into the house. Every year he has played in piles of dried leaves for hours and hours each autumn. This year he sat in a leaf pile for about a minute and a half.
Leaf play from years past.
The exception to the being outside rule, he wants to ride in the Rhino all day long. He is asking Bob to take him for rides continually, only stopping to ask be to take him to the mall, Target or Giant Eagle. His love of nature has been replaced by his love of retail!! I tell him all of the time that he is an 80's Valley girl!!
Rhino rides and pushing the buggy....Bobby's favorites!!
From the time that Bobby could undress himself, keeping clothes on him has been a struggle. He had always preferred to be in just his diaper and then underwear. Thankfully this has only ever been an issue at home, he has kept his clothes on in public and most importantly at school. The older he got and the less cute it was for him to be running around the house in his underwear, I discovered that he would keep on athletic, elastic waistband shorts at home, however no shirt was allowed. For years as soon as he walked through the door, he has stripped off all of his clothes, underwear included, and put on a pair of shorts.
Imagine my surprise when, out of the blue, he started wearing a shirt around the house. However, he has a favorite!! I'm going to be one of those people who is on facebook posting a picture asking anyone if they have this shirt for my son with autism!!!! LOL!!!!
This shirt is his favorite!! The shorts in this picture are his favorite too. He will go through the drawer and look for these, it doesn't matter that he has the same exact shorts in two other colors, he likes the green ones paired with this grey shirt. He also has this shirt in two other colors, the orange one is an acceptable substitution, but they are the only two that he ever picks out.
Guess what he does with these shirts when he takes them off?????? He hangs them up in the closet!! This is all him. I have never had him hang anything up before!! The first time I discovered this, I was doing laundry and looking to make sure that both of these shirts were in the wash. I searched all over the house and the closet was the last place I ever expected to find them!! He wants to make sure he knows where to find them!!
As if wearing a shirt at home wasn't exciting enough, he is also wearing shoes!!!!!! What?? It's like I don't even know this kid!! It started this summer. In the past, the only time he has shoes on in the summer was when he was away from home, he NEVER wore them at home.
Shoeless Bobby
Shoes have always been an issue for Bobby because he has an extra wide foot, even in his super skinny days......just look at how wide those toes are!! I have to order extra wide shoes athletic shoes for him to wear to school and he has always had Crocs for the rest of the time. This summer I found extra wide New Balance slides (flip flop looking shoe) and ordered them instead of a new pair of Crocs for the pool and running around. Well, Bobby loves them.
Checking out the tire dept at Walmart wearing his favorite shoes!!
He wears them around the house much of the time now. Funny enough, now that it is cooler, he was switched to wearing his Crocs around the house!! He finally gave in and started wearing a pair of slippers that match the style of his New Balance. He hasn't been outside without shoes on this past summer almost at all. He has even taking to sleeping in his shoes!!! Numerous times over the past couple of months, I have gone in to check on Bobby and he is fast asleep fully dressed including shoes. Who is this kid???????
Puberty wise, other than body changes, the most notable change so far is moodiness. Many evenings lately, Bobby has gotten weepy close to bedtime. This is not a new behavior, but it is much more frequent. I have to take him upstairs, get him to lay down, put on YouTube tv and watch Adele videos. I know, right!!??!! Rolling In The Deep, Rumor Has It and Someone Like You are the three songs that he listens to and calms down with, then he begins to ask for other videos, mostly kid videos, but that Adele, she is his miracle worker!!
There are small things that used to a must for Bobby that have changed. For instance, the sun roof cover had to be open when he was in the my car. The vent didn't have to be open for air, just the cover so he could see through it. The instant he got into the car, he slide the cover open, Bob always shut it when he was in the car without Bobby. It has never bothered me either way, I honestly never notice it. However, I looked up one day a month or so ago and realized that Bobby hadn't opened it in a couple of weeks. It hasn't been opened since.
Bob put a new stereo in my car so that I would have hands-free bluetooth for my phone. Since the switch over, Bobby has to eject and insert his CD of choice into the player twice before he can listen to it.....a total obsessive compulsive issue.
Yes, puberty has officially entered our house. Bob and I are preparing for a bumpy ride!!!
