Autism Dad Blogs

I'd been thinking about posting about autism dad blogs and asking people to list the ones they know of. Sunday Stillwell, who blogs at Adventures in Extreme Parenthood, beat me to it. Thanks for getting the ball rolling, Sunday. And since you have way more followers than I do, I'm hoping the word will spread far and wide. Everyone else, go read her blog (it's one of my favorites) and post links to any autism dad blogs you know of. And while you're at it, could you post the link to her blog, and ask your readers to post any autism dad blogs they may know of in the comments?

Some autism dad blogs I follow:
http://www.stuartduncan.name/
http://www.adventuresinaspergers.com/
http://blogginglily.blogspot.com/
http://anotherautismdad.blogspot.com/
http://www.bothhandsandaflashlight.com/
http://happytrbl.blogspot.com/
http://lebelinoz.blogspot.com/
http://lous-land.blogspot.com/
http://otscomic.blogspot.com/
http://bigdaddyautism.com/

How Was School Today?

Like Big Daddy Autism, I have a hard time finding out what my son did in school. He rarely volunteers information, and when he does, it's unreliable. If I ask what he did at school, I may or may not get an answer. If I get an answer, it may or may not have anything to do with school. If it has anything to do with school, it may or may not have anything to do with reality.

He has recently learned to lie, but his lies are usually so absurd no one would believe them. On the rare occasions he hits on a believable story, given his record, we are still skeptical. But once in a while he tells the truth, just to mix things up a bit. And he does some strange things sometimes, which he may or may not realize are strange and may or may not tell us about.

Here is an example of a conversation we had about an event I'm pretty sure never occurred:
PB: What did you do in school today?
GL: I went to the gym.
PB: What did you do in gym?
GL: My teacher made me do push-ups and sit-ups until I threw up.
PB: How many did you do?
GL: Four.

Literally

All day yesterday, GL had been whining that he needed an "adventure". An "adventure" is when someone gets in the car with him, drives at least the minimum distance he thinks necessary, and buys him a snack. If either the drive or the snack don't meet his satisfaction, the "adventure" doesn't count. And as soon as anyone agrees to a particular snack, he starts negotiating upward.

MB was planning to go grocery shopping and, while GL would count that as an adventure, (provided the snack meets with his approval) taking him along is usually more adventure than MB wants to deal with. I had to be elsewhere, so I couldn't watch the boys. MB decided she could handle bringing GL if BB would help by getting items off the shelf and into the cart while she pushed the cart, read the list, and tried to contain GL. In the car, on the way to the store, MB reviewed her expectations with the boys: "We are going grocery shopping. BB, I want you to get things off the shelf as I read them from the list. GL, I want you to hold on to the cart. And you're going to have to move."

"But-but-but," said GL, "I don't want to move! I like our house!"

Griffin would have been proud.

One Incredible Dad

That's what Mama Bear said to call this post.

The cake is peanut butter ice cream sandwiches covered in whipped cream and chocolate syrup, and decorated with fondant. Brother Bear came up with the idea, and Mama Bear executed it. No, she is not a professional, but it looks pretty good, wouldn't you say? And she cooked steaks for dinner.

I also got cards from the boys, and a copy of Big Daddy's Tales From the Lighter Side of Raising a Kid With Autism, by one of my favorite bloggers, Big Daddy Autism. He blogs about life with his son, who is about the same age as ours and who, like our son, has autism. I'd say I have one incredible family.

Another Weapon in the War on Sagging Pants

Some days, I think Griffin and Goldilocks might be twins. Big Daddy Autism commented, "Griffin's is usually bunched up and sticking out over his belt line. We let it go since we are just so happy he dresses himself (mostly) and he wears his shirts so long and untucked that nobody can see it." Goldilocks does the same thing: Pants low, underwear high, long shirt covering his underwear. I see only three problems here:

1. He wears his pants so low, he walks on them, leaving very few pairs to pass down to Brother Bear.
2. His underwear do show every time he reaches, stretches, bends or,
3. puts his hands in his pants. He habitually shoves both hands in up to the elbows.

I don't watch a lot of television, or I would have heard the song Pants On the Ground before today. This afternoon, every time I saw his tightey whiteys, I chanted a line or two, and he jerked his hands out and hiked up his jeans. Again, it doesn't seem to bother him to grab himself in public, but he doesn't want anyone to notice. Unless someone says something, he thinks no one sees him.

Teens and Underwear

Big Daddy Autism posted recently about his autistic son's discovery about teens and underwear. Maybe Griff can convince Goldilocks of this. He doesn't change his until someone forces him, no matter how long he's been wearing them. GL has apparently been observing other teenagers lately, because he has been wearing his pants low enough to show his underpants. But he usually has his hand in them at the time. Now he was never embarrassed about walking around with his hand in his pants, and no reason could convince him to remove his hand from his pants, and he is not embarrassed about showing his underwear. But he is embarrassed when he learns that someone has noticed his underwear is showing. So far, "I see London, I see France..." works to get him to hide his unders. He's in such a hurry to cover them, he usually pulls his hand out, too.

My Turn

Now I'm guest blogging over at Bigdaddyautism.com.

Guest Blogger Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I'll be hosting my first guest blogger, the famous Big Daddy Autism! With all the stress and struggle associated with autism, it's always refreshing to read a blog by someone who lives with it every day and hasn't lost his sense of humor. As his subtitle says, "Tales from the lighter side of raising a kid with autism. Now with 87% more humor!" and his blog does not disappoint.