autism awareness

Duped!

bfontaine74 autism, autism awareness, disability, humor, parenting , ,

Two days in a row I had to clean the back seat in the car. Two days in a row Tristan had an accident in the car after swimming at the lake.  The first day I changed him out of his clothes and he would not use the restroom.  Let me just say, you can NOT make a child go to the bathroom.  You can encourage and prompt, but that is it. This was one of those times.  On the second day, I changed Tristan and forgot to take him to the restroom.  By the third day I announced to my friend, “I am ready for today.  I am going to put him in a diaper after we swim, because I don’t want to clean the car AGAIN!”  On the third day, I changed him out of his swimming trunks and into a diaper.

Now before I go further into this story, let me give some information on autism and sensory issues.  Children/adults with autism have sensory issues.  They process sights, sounds, touch, taste, and smells differently than other people.  Children/adults fall into two categories,  They either avoid sensory or seek sensory.  Tristan seeks out sensory input.  He will rip a book to hear the sound.  He will play with confetti tissue paper to feel the texture.  He will dump soap to watch it drip or spill.  I know this sounds strange, but Tristan likes the feel of a wet diaper.  I don’t know why.  Therefore he is often dumping soap into his diaper or dumping a cup of water in it.  I hope I have given you a quick understanding of sensory issues.

Now I will continue this story

After swimming, Tristan was fine with the plan of wearing a diaper.  On our way home, I stopped at the gas station.  Getting into the hot car suddenly made me thirsty,  So I bought a soda.   I shared a soda with Tristan by pouring some into an empty water bottle.  I finished pumping gas and then drove away.  A few minutes later my friend said, “I should have known this was going to happen.  Tristan poured the pop down his diaper!”  All I can say is I really felt duped!  I thought I had this day all figured out.

Someday when I to get to heaven, I have many questions to ask Tristan!

Enjoy another healthy dose of laughter from our home!