Our Kids Are Turning Us Autistic

Of course it’s all tongue in cheek, but it’s funny how much my husband and I have changed since having the boys in therapies. What made me think of this post was when I was putting the grocery list together (ok, so I was thinking about putting the list together), and I asked if we need more dish soap. He’s the one who does the dishes, so I honestly don’t keep track of the soap for dishes or dishwasher. Instead of checking and saying, “Yes, we need dish soap,” my husband came into the living room shaking the bottle of dishwasher soap in an attempt to show me. Sound familiar? Me too. My kids do this all the time. Like the kids, this still didn’t tell me if we need dishwasher soap or not. I said, “Ooooookkkkkkk….” Then he stopped shaking the bottle and put a finger on the outside indicating at what level he thinks the soap is currently residing. Again, ooookkkkk. None of this comes out and answers my original question, “Do we need dish soap?” What I thought was a simple yes or no question turned into an entire production. Even funnier still, I’m guilty of doing this right back to him. I just happened to have a fresh example of it today from my husband (sorry, Honey). We weren’t like this before, I promise. There was a time we were adults quite capable of answering a yes or no question asked of us.

It doesn’t end there. The repeating. Before I had kids, I could carry on a conversation, and even ask someone else to do something, and it was done. Maybe one reminder, but that’s it. Now I find myself repeating the same things all day, every day. It’s like Groundhog Day. Like something in the kids’ brains forget what they were told even five minutes prior. Sometimes it’s an even shorter span of time. Really, you haven’t lived until you’ve answered, “Where’s Daddy?” about 50 times in a row when Daddy goes to work every day, 5 days a week. My personal favorite is when I keep getting asked where the neighbors went. You know, because keeping tabs on the four of us isn’t enough work. I must keep a neighborhood schedule as well.

Speaking of scheduling….I’m lost now without it. I used to do just fine without a calendar. Now, I must schedule everything, and I prefer to have each appointment fall at the same day and time, not only because the kids prefer it that way, but it’s easier for me to keep track of everyone. You can say I’ve become a bit rigid since discovering I need to schedule four therapists a week as well as all the other various checkups.

To my other special needs parents, have circumstances made you more like your kids in any ways?