Sour Cream

She Says:
Tonight at dinner our daughter Ella was singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." And just to tease her, we kept changing the ending. She'd say "life is but a dream" and Eric would tease her by singing it "life is but a scream" and I said "but an ice cream."

All of a sudden Dylan chimed in with "but a sour cream."

Eric and I's jaws hit the floor. WHAT? He can rhyme? And not just on the computer, but our son with autism can rhyme verbally and in context of what the whole family is talking about.

I'm still amazed. Not only did Dylan join in our conversation, but he did it creatively. Life doesn't get much better than this. I'll never look at sour cream the same way!

Hearing Loss

He Says:

My hearing has been normal for most of my life. No real issues, just standard hearing. Then at age two my son started screaming. This is not a flop-on-the-floor-no-candy at-the-check-out-isle scream. Screams from horror films are also lightweight.

This scream startles people. It provokes the oddest responses. The strangest response is also the most common. People scream back at my son. And they try to copy Dylan's scream.

After a standard hunting trip, my ear started ringing. My ear nose and throat doctor happens to be my sons primary teacher. He knows Dylan's scream.

Here is what has happened. My ear received a repetitive injury that weakend my ear. Then all it took is a couple of shots to knock out my hearing.

Since I don't do anything with tools, or even listen to the radio loudly, there is only one source that could have weakened my hearing: my autistic son's scream. Moral of the story--wear ear protection. And be willing to give up things that you never thought you'd have to give up for your kids.