He’s a sensitive boy already

(Bonus points for anyone besides the Webmaster who can finish that quote and name the Monty Python sketch it came from.)

Each of my children are unique in their own way – some of them more than others – but Rerun has already proved that he is very different from his sister and brother in one very important way.

He listens.  And he obeys.  It’s shocking, I tell you.

Ane was strong-willed, but it took a while for her to build up to it.  When she turned a year old, it was if a switch had been flipped on her personality and she went straight to the Terrible Twos, do not pass go, do not collect $200.  For the next two months after her first birthday, she refused to let me put anything in her mouth and insisted on feeding herself.  The girl lived on peanut butter crackers and grilled cheese sandwiches, because she would not eat anything else.  Thankfully, her palate expanded, but she still has a strong will of her own.  Over the years, it has tempered somewhat as she has gained more empathy for her fellow man.  This may or may not include her brother Tad.

Here we break for one of the funniest pictures ever… taken when Ane was about 2 and a half years old…

Tad never seemed to listen to us.  Now, of course, we know why that was, but at a year old he also started his stubborn streak.  He wasn’t quite as strong-willed, but his oblivious attitude toward us was almost as bad.  Now, he hears us, he understands us, but is he really listening? That’s always the question.  And sometimes, we don’t really know.

Enter Rerun, the currently compliant child.

Now, this is not to say that he doesn’t get into mischief.  He wants to play with the iPad so badly and is known to grab at it whenever possible.  (I have a hard and fast rule about anyone who isn’t potty trained using the iPad – they don’t get to.)  If I leave my purse within his reach, he always gets to my wallet, opens it up, and tries to eat my car insurance cards.  I don’t know why they are such a magnet, but that’s what I am always prying out of his chubby little fists.  When we were at the zoo and I put his sunhat on him, he promptly untied it and took it off.  He’s constantly removing his shoes and socks while he’s seated in the car and throws them everywhere.  He likes to pour the milk out of his sippy cup and play with it on the tray of his high chair.  He screams and cries (shades of early temper tantrums) when you remove anything from his grasp that he REALLY wanted.

He’s not perfect.

But when I ask him to give me things, he listens.  When I tell him no, he usually stops.  And when I scold him, he cries.

He’s so different.  He’s sensitive and obedient.  Who knew I could have a kid like that?  After all, my track record hasn’t been good in this area.

When I pointed out to Ane that Rerun was obeying me, she said, “Yeah, but he’s a baby.”

“Which is why it’s so impressive!  You’re seven.  What’s your excuse?”

She didn’t have a good answer for that.

I don’t know how long this will last.  I know that he has the ability for mischief and the capacity for trouble.  He’s my child – he’s got a stubborn streak.  But with what I’ve been seeing as his little personality develops and unfolds before my eyes, is a more compliant and eager-to-please child than I’ve ever had in this house before.

He just might sell me on having another baby someday.  Emphasis on the someday, everyone.  I was out shopping with Auntie at Target last week, and I needed to get more vitamins.  I was wandering up and down the aisle, and finally said, “Where did they stick the prenatals?”

Auntie looked at me, and with a note of panic in her voice, said, “You’re not pregnant, are you??”

“No – they’re for women who are still breastfeeding too, you know,” I told her.

“Oh.”  She slumped in relief.  “Because I just died a little bit inside, thinking of having to buy gifts for another niece or nephew.”

This entry was posted on Monday, June 13th, 2011 at 1:14 am and is filed under Autism Adventures, Children, Family, Mommyhood.
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