Today I was driving in the car with the boys and Alex was talking talking talking as usual. My mother once told me as a child I spoke so much she thought I just liked to hear my own voice. Now that I have Alex I know exactly what she means. Alex will make noise or talk just to talk. Silence is evil to him.

So Alex’s new thing is to question everything. You know the child you see in the movie or read about that asks “WHY, WHY, WHY?” Every answer is answered with another why… Well that child is my Alex. He puts those movie kids to shame and can keep going FOREVER and has a special way of drawing you into his web of why’s…

So I was thinking about this today as he continued to ask me why and I continued to answer, even though we no longer were even discussing the original topic. When Chase chimes in and starts saying “why” just like Alex. It hit me as funny and odd.

One of the side parts of Chase having autism is he doesn’t not question things the way a typical child would. For him to ask a question is HUGE. Normally he takes things as they are. Thats just how they are we don’t question, or he doesn’t understand how to question. I’m not really sure which. I think it’s more that he doesn’t know how to verbalize his questions because he does have an inquisitive nature about him. Most of those things he questions by doing which often results in a mess or something negative happening but in it’s own way that is questioning the nature of things, checking the cause and effects. Anyway that was a bunny trail. I thought it was interesting how on one hand I want and desire, and strive to get Chase to ask me question. I would LOVE IT if he asked why all the time and truly wanted to know the answers – that would be a HUUUUGE thing a huge milestone but then I have another child who is doing EXACTLY that, asking questions, verbally questioning everything around him, and some days I could pull my hair out or I just randomly answer him without putting much or any thought into the answer other than how to get him stop asking why so I can concentrate…  It struck me as odd how we have such a definite opposite situation going on. I know eventually we will find a happy medium with both boys. I believe that. For now I will try to answer Alex’s why’s more seriously and hope that through that process maybe we will connect more and Chase will learn from Alex’s tenacious question asking style.

So Neil and Aiden got a Wii back in July for their joint birthday. Neil, Aiden, and I have really really enjoyed it. Aiden loves to play Lego Star Wars on it. Just recently Chase has REAAALLY gotten into it. He loves Wii Sports. He is amazing at bowling and LOVES to play golf. But instead of hitting it into the hole he aims for the water or the sand trap. He totally understands it, he’ll pull out his putter to putt the ball into the water when he’s close and everything. Well Alex has always been so high energy that he’s never been too interested in video games until recently. He is really starting to think he is big and identify with Aiden more. So Aiden has been letting him play Lego Star Wars with him. I found them playing this weekend and had to take a picture. They look really cute and SO BIG!!!! And yes Alex is wearing his winter gloves and a white undershirt and that’s it. He got new Star Wars gloves and he has to wear them everywhere!!! With or without clothes!! We make him take them off to eat and bathe and that’s about it!!

Well not too much has been going on to report.

We had a good Thanksgiving. It was interesting but good. Tuesday before Neil and I both got sick. Wednesday I woke up and felt BAD. I went into the doctor and he verified I had strep throat. Which of course meant Neil had strep throat as he gave me the cold in the first place. In addition to strep I had a ear infection. Of course the nice thing is when your throat hurts so bad you don’t even notice the ear pain. The doctor gave me a shot in the office of penicillin which the boys thought was pretty cool. Neil went to the doctor later and they gave him pills to take even though he asked for a shot since it would work faster.

Wednesday night we had our Life Group over and all their families. Neil and I had dosed up on tylenol sore throat and lots of motrin so we did okay. I cooked 2 turkeys and everyone in group brought all the sides and dessert. It was a lot of fun as always and pure chaos with all the kids. There were 36 of us total in our home. Only 15 were adults. So you can only imagine.

Thursday I cooked 2 more turkeys for Neil’s family. Everyone came but Mindy, she had to work and of course we missed her. The food turned out really good. I found gluten free turkeys and cooked the sides with just small alternated to make them gluten/casein free. I did make special stuffing, rolls, and pie for the boys. Chase LOVED the stuffing. For days he’s been asking for it for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. I guess he really misses bread. Overall we had a great time with family and ate way too much.

Neil ended up having Friday off as well so we had a nice long weekend. We had put the tree up early since there are fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. So since we had done that early we were able to relax and heal up from the strep and recover from both Thanksgivings. You can only imagine how many dishes there were…

This week we are back to the normal routine for the most part.

The boys are all doing well. Chase has been doing amazing lately. We moved him up to daily B12 shots and added in a bunch of new stuff. It amazes me he does so well. I am very thankful that he responds so well to his supplements and that we see gains vs. regressions. He is talking a ton lately and has been pretty funny to listen to lately.

Chase’s biggest thing right now is video games. He loves to play his Vsmile video game system and does so well with it. He has a few games for 8 year olds that he does really well on even. Vsmile is completely educational so I don’t feel so bad about him playing it. We do put it away from time to time just to encourage him interacting with others. Chase also LOVES the Wii but we have to watch him as he likes to change our players or delete them. His favorites are to bowl and golf. Chase bowls better than anyone in the house. We have yet to see how well he can score on an entire game though because he will bowl 4 strikes in a row then decide to have fun and throw the ball behind him into the crowd or see if he can get his ball over the wall into the other lanes. When he golfs his favorite way to play is to hit the ball into the water or the rough. He totally understands the came and changing clubs and directions and all of that. He will drive the ball down the field to the water, then as he gets to the edge he will switch to his putter and putt it into the water. Same thing with the sand rough areas…. I guess his fascination with water and sand extends from real life to video games.

Alex is doing well. He is soooo funny. He constantly surprises us and cracks us up. He is definitely going to change the world some day. Hopefully for good! Alex is just so INTENSE. Everything he does he does with intensity and passion. He does NOTHING half way. He is either mad all the way, or happy all the way. He’s got an amazing imagination and loves to talk and tell us stories. Alex is just a lot of fun. Sometimes I think as fun as he is he does need a power down button because he goes until the last second of the day, its exhausting at times. LOL

Aiden is doing well. He is liking school okay. He enjoys doing math. He’s not enjoying reading so much but I think that will come. He enjoys going and being around kids his age and being away from his brothers for a time but he definitely is ready for the weekend when it arrives as well and enjoys his long breaks. He is still friends with Dustin. When they are out of school they are more often than not together. Sometimes I feel like I have a 4th child. Haha! Dustin is a good kid and a great friend for Aiden. They are well matched personality-wise.

Neil and I remain very busy with life, kids, work, etc… We are all looking forward to the holidays!!! Well I have written enough for today. I better run and clean something.