Jubilation

There have been countless times I have thought about writing this post.  Each time, I find myself giggling but never organized enough to actually figure out how to do it justice.  Simply put, I want to write about how hysterical my son is, how much he makes us laugh.  Although my son can be very literal and rigid with certain aspects of language and behavior, for example, he is surprisingly creative.  His imagination is mind-boggling and, when I'm tired and need to be focused on the present moment, his tireless discussion of his fantasy world can be a bit annoying.  Despite those frustrating moments, I love his mind and often sit in awe of what he dreams up.  I simply can't discuss his humor and creativity in a manner that does it justice but I will give some examples which I hope you find entertaining.

One thing my son loves to do is to play with my phone.  I have a Sprint Instinct which is similar to the iPhone.  My son loves the touch screen and routinely changes my settings, my speed dial contacts and, oh, so much more.  Probably one of the funniest things he has done on my phone is create entirely new contacts.  Currently, he has added 30 contacts to my phone.  Here are some examples (just as he has typed them in):  Aby & Aby & Aby, Amsy Cosmos, Dilid, Dindin, Eabe, Ersmuse, Goly G Dog, Greg (au) - this is Greg in Australia, Halloween Jimmy, Jimmy Christmas, Littlemisss Lee, Qawerty, Sad Eric, Sellorn Elmo, and Digy Pooppy.  When I first discovered these, I could not help but crack up but then I discovered that that was just the beginning.  He also provided phone numbers and emails addresses for each of these contacts.  For instance, Dindin not only has a phone number he made up but my son gave him a British email address:  AriSog@svro.co.uk.  Not only did this make me laugh out loud, it mades my hair stand on end.  I haven't erased the contacts despite how annoying they can be when I'm looking for a real one.  Some of the ones he has added are actual names, and I find myself wondering if he put it in or if I know someone by that name but am just forgetting.  The only clue I have then is the phone number he entered since they're usually along the lines of 555-155-5151 or 111-222-3333.

Some of what my husband and I find funny isn't intended as humor but is quite humorous to those who tend to dwell in the here and now.  For instance, my son's imaginary world is experiencing severe overpopulation.  Talk about the "J" curve, I'm not sure where he finds room for all the sisters, friends, cousins, babies, parents, etc. that he lists off regularly.  Of course, there are a few that are always around such as "Holland" who lives underground.  She is ever present, it seems.  It took me a while to figure out where he came up with the name Holland but I discovered it was from a world puzzle we have that has children from various countries surrounding the planet in a circular fashion.  His Holland is the boy (that my son thinks is a girl) who represents the country of Holland. 

Amusingly Holland is related to everyone in some form or other with the exception of my son's twin brothers.  My son has decided he's the only one who is a brother to Holland.  Go figure.  Holland also speaks many languages, can build all sorts of things such as trains, cars and planes and has found a way to live underground.  If I explain to my son that, for instance, he needs to go to college and learn how to build a real train (after his insistence that we are going to build a real train that day), he'll explain to me in response that Holland knows how to build them so, therefore, we can build one with her today.  How can I argue with that?  Sometimes I want to take Holland aside and tell her to quit lying to my son about what she can and cannot do.

I also I can't forget to tell you about Coffee Car (pronounced Cafe' with Spanish accent).  Coffee Car is our lovely, almost always filthy, minivan.  My son loves Coffee Car.  He named her Coffee since the interior is brown (originally tan, it has been enhanced with various darker brown spots due to various spills and mishaps).  My son celebrates Coffee's birthday on a very frequent basis.  You would think that cars only celebrate their birthdays once a year but, apparently, Coffee celebrates hers as often as she can.  From making cards for her to creating a birthday banner, my son goes all out to make her day very special.  If a piece of machinery could love a child, I would have to believe that Coffee Car would be smitten.

I wish I could remember every instance where he has made us laugh.  He is such an amazing kid and his enthusiasm, energy and smile just fills me up.  As much as autism has its sad points, there is something so rich, pure and magical about him that is also a part of autism as well.  I never think of "curing" my son because so much good comes with the "bad" that I would hate for that to go.  His autistic symptoms are intertwined with all aspects of who my son is, and I feel that he is beautiful.  My biggest hope is that his bright spirit can shine through those behaviors that might make life difficult so that everyone can celebrate him, enjoy him and, most of all, laugh a deep belly laugh with my darling son.