Standing Words Saturday
Our autism journey

Owen woke early and is ready to rock and roll, or at least stand on things he knows he is not supposed to. I came around the corner to see him standing on the edge of the couch arm, on his tippy toes, nonetheless, holding his tablet, laughing, waiting for me to see him. I thought how much more can you stretch. All I did was get up and walk ten feet to get more coffee, that was enough time for him to attempt his new act of couch hopping. My heart skips a beat, he has a hard enough time on a flight of stairs and here he is standing on the edge of the couch arm. I know he’s a boy, but when he has no fear and doesn’t understand danger at all, this gets my heart racing. Plus, he loves my reactions, I get it, but how, oh how do I not respond. I have a hard time figuring out what words he processes and what words he associates with actions or responses. He gave me his tablet this morning to fix it and then when I was done I said, “here you go”. He immediately turned around and came towards me, and took the outstretched tablet. Before he even took it I wondered if he would respond to my voice or my words. We were walking down a flight of stairs the other day, I always make him count the steps, or at least he hears me counting. This day as we were walking down, he stopped and turned completely around. As he turned back around, to start walking again he lunged forward to walk straight off the steps, skipping one whole step. My words came flying out “watch where you are going, stop”, I was holding his hand and he was now dangling in my grasp. My heart stopped. We recovered and made it down the last of the steps, but I was in shock. Words, what do they mean to my baby and how can I instill the importance of being careful when fear is not a factor. He needs the connection to those words. I need to know he has the connection to those words. Today and every day we are growing Owen, that’s what we do. Life is not always easy, but through love, compassion, and understanding we can move mountains. Make today matter. Smiles to all and donut daze!

