John's latest

The other night Ted was getting John ready for bed. John was not wanting to do it by himself and Ted was "talking him through it". Finally, after listening to a lot of detailed instructions John said "Dad, you need an electronic boy who will do what you say."

Today while driving in the truck, I handed John a McDonald's Happy Meal toy that lights up when you put it in water or push on one of its buttons. John of course, knows where the sensors are for the water to light it up so he decided to try it. He said "Mom! This toy lights up with water! I got it wet with my goober and it worked!"

Also, "I don't want to do that" is expressed: "I'm not forward with doing that." Conversely, if he wants to do something it's "I'm forward with doing that."

Emmalee also said a 9 word sentence today (I've had to start counting to see what the longest ones are). It was "I want to go in there and see John." Amazing!

How to tell others

I'm trying to figure out how best to present my son John's condition to the world. I know that it should be in a factual, unapologetic way - but how do I determine who really needs to be told and how do I present it? I don't want everyone looking at him and me with pity in their eyes. I want them to see him as John, not "that poor autistic boy".

A technical description...

Quote regarding an air purifier: "It runs to testicle machines with lots of wires."

I think he meant "technical."

P.S. The reason we were discussing air purifiers is because his is all apart on the counter because it can't seem to purify all the Play-doh that got stuffed into its vent.