Humor In Everything

We parents of children with autism have to become our own types of comedians. I've made a few jokes to non-autism parents and found even more humor in their mixed reactions...it's totally not intentional to make you squirm with one of my off-color remarks, I swear!! So thank you to those of you who are able to chuckle along with me during these times. If I don't make jokes, well, then I've lost even more of myself than I already have.

And so you will understand why I found it really freaking funny that on Monday, hours after writing my post where I inaccurately told you that M had not defecated in his pants in two years and then even knocked on some wood so as to not tempt the gods of poo to swarm down on me. In terms of the inaccuracy of my statement, I had forgotten a particularly awful, in-pants poo last summer when we did a little home test to see if M could tolerate larger amounts of gluten. The answer was a very foamy and stinky, 'hell, no.' In-home experiments aside, however, M had not done that in quite some time. Until, of course, I went and freaking bragged about him not doing it. Why, oh why, did I have to go and do that?

I was lucky to have some me time Monday night where I met a hometown friend also living in the Bay Area for an amazing dinner. When I opened the door after returning home, I was hit with the stench of a thousand poos wafting from my bathroom around the corner. There, the other half was washing M off in the shower as a really disgusting pair of jammy pants lay before me on the floor. (He's never been the best at multitasking, that one) So before I could even get out of my cute sweater and boots that I rarely get to wear anymore, I was in poo-cleanup-mode and off to the laundry room. We got through it. We always do...

And then the next night, we decided on the spur of the moment to join a friend and her son at the local sushi joint. We haven't been doing quite as many dinners out as we once did with M's new found disdain for all things public, but we wanted to give it a go since the boys love sushi. Fortunately, we sat in one of those tables with mats on the floor...or else the other restaurant patrons would have been regaled with a show of gushing pee flowing to the floor from M's chair.
But since he was already on the floor and didn't give two hoots about being soaking wet...and because we'd just ordered our sake and beer...we just shrugged our shoulders and went on with dinner the best we could. We have to get past these sorts of hiccups...we can no longer be slaves to all things M. That sounds harsh and selfish, and trust me it does not apply to all situations and we most certainly always put M's well-being first and foremost; but because he was still happy and not concerned, we had to be the same. We were having a lovely time after all, and dammit, we deserve those too :)

And don't worry...I made sure to get some paper towels and some hand sanitizer to properly clean the tatami mat he sat on. I haven't lost all of my good manners...yet.

Happy New Year to all of you! May 2009 suck it along with most of the rest of the decade. And 2010...I am putting alot of faith in you, so don't let me down now, okay?