Corking a Volcano

I never knew I would have to keenly pick every word in a communication, or drive a certain direction every time we get in the car, or only go out the garage door when no one is looking so as not to ensue a major meltdown but in our world it seems to be the day to day normalcy.

The diagnoses of our son is only validation for the way we have been living and the activities we participate in everyday to manage his emotional well being. The understanding that our son is incredibly intelligent, he actually does listen to every single word we say whether he interacts or responds, and he knows every single route to his favorite places especially the toy store so the term "back seat driver" rings with certainty in our car but I never knew I would be the one having commands barked out at me from a very insistent 3 year old.

One word can change a whole day, one wrong turn and a car turns into a battlefield, and a missed non verbal communication could lead to a long day of uncomfortableness for our little guy. That last one is very important and I am only now learning to pay much more attention to these non verbal cues than I had before. See our son talks in "echo" mode which means a large majority of his verbal communication is actually the regurgitation of something he has heard, sometimes good and sometimes very bad.

My son has been asking me all week if I am feeling well by saying in a very caring and compassionate way    "are you okay". I always answer kindly and go on with what I am doing.....wrong move Dad! My son was actually telling me that he didn't feel well and the only way he knew how was by saying what everyone asks him if they think something is wrong "are you okay", so what I thought was a sweet little guy worried about my well being was really an uncomfortable little camper that needed me to help him feel better.

Details, details, details........is the only way you cork a Volcano!