Barret Is Sick

Normally, Barret is the first to get anything. This time, Ted went first, with fever, nausea and a pain in his right side. So, we kept thinking it was his appendix and ran all sorts of tests for 5 days. Then I came down with the pain in the right side, and it spread to my whole body. My doctor said that it was a virus that attacked the lymphatic system, inflaming lymph nodes all over my body, which hurt like "a mofo", making me literally cry out loud when I even had to walk to the bathroom.

So, now Barret has it and I KNOW he's completely miserable. Tylenol only keeps his fever to about 101. All he wants to do is lay on the couch and play with his favorite windshield wiper, a used giant paint stick. (He makes everything into windshield wipers.) Chopsticks, regular sticks, pencils, crayons, toothpicks, straws, remotes, everything. Just waves them in a windshield wiper motion in front of his face for comfort.

He used to put his feet up on the wall and wipe them back and forth, which gave him awesome abs, but we made him stop because he was slowly turning all of the walls black where ever we went. I was tired of explaining, "Oh, he just loves to watch things pass in front of his eyes." People unfamiliar with autism think that you and your child are crazy! Anyway, this is Barret's one remaining autistic behavior out of the 10 stems that he started with before therapy, so we'll take it. He's not biting plugs out of his arms, darting into traffic, squealing at the top of his lungs or banging his head on the wall, so we're pretty happy with wind shield wipers! Nice, quiet, safe wind shield wipers. :)

Now if I could get him to not poop in my computer chair......

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Walk for Autism 2009

My best friend Becky and I are raising money for our entry fees so that we can participate in the Autism Walk on April 4, 2009.

We only need $25 each, so if anyone wants to make a pledge, even a buck or two, you can click on the "Donate" button below. Any extra money will go to help pay for Barret's ABA therapy.

On another note, I think that it is very important for neuro-typical children to learn about autism. Chances are, almost every class will have an autistic child in it. It really turns my stomach when I hear ADULTS talking about how that weird kid that keeps flapping around everywhere should be in Special Ed and not in the normal class with the normal kids.

Educate your child to be tolerant and nice to those who are not as fortunate as they are.

Click here for tips, a WUBZZY Autism Awareness coloring page and some more information about National Autism Awareness Day on April 2.

National Autism Awareness Day