Night Night

A few years ago, if you were to tell me my three year old son would have autism, I would have cried in fear and anger. I probably would not even leave my home for weeks thinking that one day I would have a special needs child.

Back in college, I volunteered with the Special Olympics and met several autistic children at one of the games. One of the children, Eric, was so afflicted with ASD, he could barely walk a straight line without flapping his arms wildly. He did not speak. He was not aware of his surroundings. He refused to sit down. Whenever someone approached him, he would flap his arms crazily at the person to get them to move away. I was so afraid of this child.  I was afraid to touch him thinking his autism would rub off on me. I had no idea how to help them.  I took pity on him. And even more, I pittied his parents. I remember looking at his mother as she tried to hug him or even control his flapping arms and cries and thinking how unhappy she must be to have this kind of a son.

"How could she possibly love this child? How does she survive?"

When Brody was born, I thought that same phrase all parents do when their baby is born..."Not my baby...my baby will be different. No way will anything ever be wrong...he is perfect." The image of Eric's mother was long gone. I even named my son after my reality-TV crush because I just new my baby would be goregous and adored. I found out in a matter of 2 years, my life would change forever, and it would all start with 2 words..."Night Night..."

Those were Brody's first words at age 10 months. Once he uttered those adorable little words, I thought..."There is no way Brody will ever be autistic...he is speaking at age 10 months!" The words kept coming, but at 18 months, they stopped. I never heard "Night Night" again and haven't for 2 years.

After a year of speech therapy at age 2 and half, he was still not saying more than 10 words. Today, he will say a new word, then it will disappear forever...it may come again, it may not. According to experts, this was a surefire sign of autism and on August 12, 2011, Brody was diagnosed with ASD. And I can't say I was surprised.

There are some amazing blogs out there about autism, autism awareness, autism cures, medical blogs, etc. And this is not one of them. This blog is about the daily humor and love from a little guy who just happens to be marching to a different beat. This blog is about a typical kid who loves climbing on bookshelves and wrestling on rugs. This blog is about Brody Bean.