The power of "no"

Ask parents of most 2 and 3 year olds and they will likely have strong feelings about the word "no". At those ages, either the parents or the child (or both) are probably uttering this word almost constantly.

For me, there are a couple other words that bother me more. One is "autistic". I hate that word. You will never hear me use it. I realize it's just semantics but I view B as "having autism". It's one characteristic amongst many that make up him as a person. When he is called "autistic", it sounds like an all-encompassing label as if that defines him. I don't know if any other parents feel that way or if it even makes any sense but that's how I feel.

The other word I can't stand is "typical" and I know that I have been guilty of using that one. It's often a way of discriminating between a special needs child and one who is neurologically typical. But there is nothing "typical" about either one of my kids (or any child for that matter).

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now and back to the topic at hand. I think B is figuring out the meaning behind no. He used it very appropriately to communicate today. I kept asking him if he needed to use the potty and he would say "no". This is totally new for him. I wanted to test it, not really believing that he knew what he was saying. We went for 4 hours between potty times when our normal schedule is 2.5 and at 4 hours, he willingly went. He also used it to refuse his lunch when it was ready, to say he didn't want to go to bed, and a couple of other times today. If he really is figuring out how to tell us what he doesn't want, this could be a huge breakthrough. AND if he actually knows when he does and doesn't have to go potty, this too would be a monumental change. We shall see.

Couple more updates: he took a bath with the help of a swimsuit. For now, that is working - at least it eliminates the screaming. Hopefully we can lose the swimsuit soon.

He "read" that Thomas book during my parent training on Friday so at least now our 2 supervisors have seen it and know I'm not crazy. I bought a couple more books this weekend that are similar so we'll see if it is just that book or if something is happening here.

Just another boring day in the life...