Giggles

Here's a clip of B cracking up at a video of Cookie Monster on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITxGM8MR1Ek
Aside from how adorable I find it, here is what I see:

1) he looks up twice when I call him (great eye contact progress) - he even smiles. And the light is ON in those big, beautiful eyes
2) the laugh is genuine and he is amused - this is NOT a stim (autism stereotype)
3) he's rocking and twitching his fingers some (these are very definitely autism traits)
4) he is pretty successfully navigating the Ipad which he figured out all on his own (go B!)

This is what I do and have done for the last year... everything is in terms of autism v. "normal"... progress v. developmental need. I can't help it - so much of our recent life has been dedicated to assessing and analyzing his behavior and development.

I hesitated whether to even post this. I know many who read this do not know him personally. And well - in it, he looks like a kid who has autism - the rocking is a dead giveaway. I don't see him that way until I put him out there in the real world and see him through others' eyes. I don't like it. I want to protect him and us from others perceptions. He is so much more than his disorder. So, so much more.

But I am posting. The reason for my blog is to document our journey and I think keeping a video record will be helpful. And he really is super adorable in my humble opinion. Plus, I can't wait to look back in surprise at how far he has come.