Just For Laughs : Young Or Old

One or two years back, when I asked Son ,"Is Neinei young or old?" His reply was "young". I guess that answer must have made Mum very happy. So at least she does not look like her age! She is definitely more fashionable than any other elderly, perhaps that is also why not many people offer her their seats on the bus or train.

"What about WaiGong?" I asked again.
"Old!" that was his immediate answer.

We had a good laugh. We know that he says truthfully what he sees and he does not know how to tell a lie. Poor Pa! He has to accept the fact that he does look very much older than Mother although their age difference is only two years.

Today, I ask Son the same question. Surprising he says that NeiNei is old. Perhaps now that he is older, his concept of "Grandmother" is "old lady", because to me Mother always looks so good , for her age. I hope she is not too upset with the answer, though!

So I ask him the other question too ,"What about WaiGong?"

"Very very old!" he replied , in his usual truthful tone.

Laugh!! Everyone was so tickled and surprised by his answer, even Pa . I hope he is not too upset with the answer, too!!

His words of truth always never fail to amaze and make us laugh.

But being so direct is also what I fear most when he is with others, who fail to see and understand the lack of social and communication skills of autistic people. I hope he will not offend others and get himself into trouble when he grows older.... because family members can laugh but not others!!

It's Not What I Want But It Works

I did not want to buy my son a psp or nintendo just like some parents , who believe that these are things that get their children 'addicted' and refuse to do other work. But after the disastrous outing, I thought I seriously need to get something to occupy my son when we are out and he could not wait. A nintendo was my last resort.... otherwise I think I will go crazy each time I have to take him out.

Well, it does prove that it works! Now we could have a good meal outside, and I could eat slowly..since he can play his game after he has finished his food.

The nintendo also serves as a reward for any good behaviour. So I guess it is money worth. One thing I did remind him is that Nintendo is mainly for 'taking out to play'. I don't want him to spend too much time playing games since he already has more than an hour computer time everyday.

So nowadays, 'NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT ( the Nintendo)' when I have to take Son out.

Are You Pulling My Legs

Almost everyday Son has to do some work, not that I am a KS parent, but it is more to get him use to doing homework, as we all know how academic-oriented is Singapore's education system.

Today when I gave him some homework , usually a bit of Maths, English, Chinese and science, he made this comment," Are you pulling my legs?" I was quite surprise that he could use idioms! Does he really know the meaning of the phrase? I asked him and he bent down to 'pull my legs'. Then I asked him where he learnt the phrase, and he said from a book.

Don't ever underestimate your special child. Some people say autistic children tend to take words literally and do not understand the real meaning. Wow! Mine can even use idioms.

These days , he has been saying a lot of "what -the ...". I think he must have pick it up from the tv or online games. I think he is at the age of "fun to imitate'. I guess I have to be careful too that he does not pick up any bad words.

A Diastrous Outing

Dad bought a family package to Singapore Garden Festival on Sunday. He said it was a surprise for us. Ya! A big surprise ! You can say that again! I had doubts if he would enjoy such an exhibition.

Sure enough..... the diaster happened right from the beginning when we entered the horrible carpark. It was full and Son always does not like it when we cannot find a parking lot. He had his first meltdown and ended when we decided to get to the convention centre first while dad tried to find a lot.

Second meltdown...... the food court was crazily packed and we could not find a place to sit down. Son was screaming away and I almost wanted to do the same too! Frankly speaking, I cannot stand crowd too. I will feel very pressurise and then my giddiness and breathlessness will come.

We finally got a table when a group of senior citizens left... must have been scared orr by son's scream. By that time , my face had turned long and black. I was grumbling and cursing away and Dad was angry too that no one appreciates his 'thoughtfulness' . Oh come on! Doesn't he know his son? This is definitely the wrong place and the wrong time to come.

So we went into the exhibition hall , hardly see anything, and then Son saw the exit . That's it. A ticket to go in and come out straight. Dad and Daughter stayed in the hall... ah but then ... waste two tickets is better than four. I had a hard time entertaining him for the next hour or two. I was getting tired and it was my turn to have a meltdown. I summoned the two, who apparently were having a good time, to get out of the exhibition at once ! I could feel the fire in my body.... boiling mad was I.

It was a relief for both my son and myself to be home! My dear Dad, can you please give me a better surprise next time? I love surprises..... even though you seldom give me one... but this time it is really a bad one. USE YOUR BRAIN NEXT TIME..... PLEASE (sorry for my rudeness)

Surprise Surprise

I was outside son's school waiting for him to come out. He came out with another boy in the play group. I think he is only about two and Teacher Esther was holding his hand. I was very surprised to see that Son was actually looking at the little boy and was I think trying to hold his hand. He has never been so interested in other people before. He usually stands , sometimes too close , besides a person because he is interested in the object he is holding, like handphone or electronic games.
It is good to see him getting interested in people. It is a good start to a better social and communication skill .
I gave him a thumbs up and encourage him to be more friendly with his friends and try his best to help the younger kids in school.

To Be Or Not To Be

Yesterday , Son came out of school and told me that he snatched his friend's book and tore a page. He rarely shares things that happen in school with me, even if I try so hard to get something out of him. So should I be happy that he is beginning to tell me things that happen in school? But hopefully today he will tell me that he has done something good instead of naughty!
Still, I have to tell him that I am not happy that he has done a wrong deed. On the other hand, I praised him for owning up and encourage him to share with me more about happenings in school.

More Or Less

Today I was teaching Son "more than" maths questions.

I wrote on the whiteboard : " 5 is ____ more than 3 " .
He can't really get what it means, so I drew a diagram to show him that 5 is actually 2 more than 3. He , then, took the marker from me and wrote down on the whiteboard : " 3 is _____ less than 5 " . He told me that the answer to his question is the same as mine.

I was truly amazed for 2 reasons .

First, he has never wrote down a 'sentence' ,so willingly, all by himself before. His penmanship is really not too good so he never like writing, especially long sentences.

Second, he can get the idea that the two statements are actually related. How clever of him, I thought.

Kids, really do amaze their parents at times!