Connecting the dots.

At the end of summer, we were at a pizza party hosted by a family from my mom's group at church. They have an amazing home with a beautiful backyard - playground, sport court, multiple Little Tikes toys, and a sandbox. M2 was in heaven, she played with her friends and enjoyed the kid friendly yard. The only negative to the yard was that it was not fenced in; P5 kept running up the hill around the side of the house and into the front circular driveway. There were many cars parked in the large driveway, and he gleefully went from car to car running his fingers along the raised letters on the license plates. Mr.P and I took turns watching him, and chasing after him each time he ran to the front of the house. Trying to direct him back to the party was met with an epic tantrum. Every 20 minutes or so, whoever was on duty would find the other parent and "tag out" so that they could have a chance to socialize with friends. In hindsight it was one of those moments where it was blatantly obvious how different P5 is from many of our friends kids.

A few months ago he developed an intense interest in the alphabet. It began with him pointing to large letters in books, posters, signs, license plates, and pointing intently until we told him what letter it was. Within weeks he was saying the letters himself, and soon after he knew both the letter names and the sounds. We were so proud of him, especially for a kid who had less than 10 words in his vocabulary. At the meeting where I was told he fell on the spectrum, the evaluator told me that his intensity and ability to recite the alphabet showed that he is definitely very bright, though it is a skill that is not age appropriate. A child under 2 should not be able to distinguish the letters and sounds like that.

There are other things we noticed that now make sense for a kid on the spectrum. P5 has fits of rage - I'm not talking a tantrum where he throws himself to the ground and cries. No, his tantrums look more like a kid who runs across the room screaming at the top of his lungs waving his arms in the air, and then picks up objects small and large to throw. Sometimes it's the dollhouse people or Noah's Ark animals, sometimes it's the toddler rocking chair in the living room. His fits of rage can last for up to 45 minutes. He gets upset over big and small things - such as his sister taking a toy from him or me putting the remote control on the mantle so he can't reach it.

He can be affectionate but only on his terms. If I ask him for a hug or kiss and he is in the mood, he will come to me and oblige my request, but if I pick him up and try to hug or kiss him he will punch or kick me. When we call P5's name, it can take up to 10 times for him to react and turn his attention. When he is playing he will often flip out if you try to redirect him to another activity. He has no interest in interacting with other children (though sometimes he will interact with his sister, but only when it's on his terms). His language skills are so behind that we have yet to have any kind of meaningful conversation with him - I often feel like I am talking to an infant when I talk to him. I have no idea what he is hearing or what he understands. On top of all this he is a runner. Taking him anywhere he either needs a 1 on 1 caregiver following him, or he needs to be contained in the stroller or shopping cart.

P5 touching the license plate on our rental car over Thanksgiving break.