The last few days have been nothing short of universe-changing, earth-shattering and monumental in a very Dr. Who saves the earth with nothing but a sonic screwdriver and a stick of bubble gum kind of way. If this were an epic fantasy, I would proclaim in my best bard’s voice that Our Brave Hero has officially mounted his trusty steed and is now riding with purpose toward the Citadel of Silence to do battle with the dread and all silencing Aut-ism, armed with the one weapon that can defeat such a dread foe.

Our Hero carries with him not a screwdriver which also happens to be sonic. He carries with him something far more versatile and devastating to the Lord of Silence and misunderstanding. The one weapon which can place the dread lord safely into a prison from which he can never hope to escape. He carries his voice.

He’s started talking.

The words are as yet few, but he’s begun mimicking us, the television and anyone else who speaks around him. He’s noticing facial expressions and cuing in on them and he’s doing his level best to make the people around him smile (at least when he’s not just being 2-1/2 and being mischievous.) Our hero has mastered the concept of words, and one of the first that he used was one that melted the heart of this knight in his not-so-shiny-armor.

He said Daddy, then smiled and pointed right at me.

I know that he knows what he said. he repeated it gleefully for over an hour, sometimes dragging his mother, the Good Queen through the house just so that he could point and say Daddy where she could see it. He very much enjoys pleasing the Queen, so for him it was a bit of an adventure.

He happily tries to count to three with us, mimics the sound of Sesame street characters or dora the Explorer when they say the alphabet or count, and has taken to saying “yeah”, “yep” and “uh-huh”. (He is Texan, after all.) He has also begun signing words that he has difficulty with, like “more”, in places where it is appropriate and working hard to complete the tasks his therapists set for him. It’s like someone opened the flood-gates and now there’s no stopping him. Pretty soon I’ll be asking him to stop talking for a little bit so that I can concentrate, but in his case I’m going to say that’s a good thing.

This is shaping up to be one heck of a week!

For now I’m going to take advantage of a bit of momentary silence and try to get a few things straightened up, secure in the knowledge that Our Hero will emerge victorious in the end. He’ll get through this and emerge stronger for it and we will be stronger for the journey.

Peace, I’m out.

My sister is famous for passing along inspirational emails.  Once in a great while, she sends something that is just too perfect not to share.  This is not only one of those messages, but it has a lot to do with the very next post I’ve been writing, so I thought I’d share it with you.

Hope you enjoy:

“Puppy Size”

This is one of the neatest stories you will ever hear. You will know
precisely what this little girl is talking about at the end

‘Danielle keeps repeating it over and over again. We’ve been back to
this animal shelter at least five times. It has been weeks now since
we started all of this,’ the mother told the volunteer.

‘What is it she keeps asking for?’ the volunteer asked.

‘Puppy size!’ replied the mother.

‘Well, we have plenty of puppies, if that’s what she’s looking for.’

‘I know…we have seen most of them,’ the mom said in frustration…

Just then Danielle came walking into the office

‘Well, did you find one?’ asked her mom. ‘No, not this time,’
Danielle said with sadness in her voice. ‘Can we come back on the
weekend?’

The two women looked at each other, shook their heads and laughed.

‘You never know when we will get more dogs. Unfortunately, there’s
always a supply,’ the volunteer said.

Danielle took her mother by the hand and headed to the door. ‘Don’t
worry, I’ll find one this weekend,’ she said.

Over the next few days both mom and dad had long conversations with her.

They both felt she was being too particular. ‘It’s this weekend or
we’re not looking anymore,’ Dad finally said in frustration.

‘We don’t want to hear anything more about puppy size either,’ Mom added.

Sure enough, they were the first ones in the shelter on Saturday
morning. By now Danielle knew her way around, so she ran right for the
section that housed the smaller dogs.

Tired of the routine, mom sat in the small waiting room at the end of
the first row of cages. There was an observation window so you could
see the animals during times when visitors weren’t permitted.

Danielle walked slowly from cage to cage, kneeling periodically to
take a closer look. One by one the dogs were brought out and she held
each one.

One by one she said, ‘Sorry, you’ re not the one.’

It was the last cage on this last day in search of the perfect pup.

The volunteer opened the cage door and Danielle fully picked up
the dog and held it closely. This time she took a little longer.

‘Mom, that’s it! I found the right puppy! He’s the one! I know it!’
She screamed with joy. ‘It’s the puppy size!’

‘But it’s the same size as all the other puppies you held over the
last few weeks,’ Mom said.

‘No not size… The sighs. When I held him in my arms, he sighed,’ she
said.

‘Don’t you remember? ?When I asked you one day what love is,
you told me love depends on the sighs of your heart? The more
you love, the bigger the sigh!’

The two women looked at each other for a moment. Mom didn’t know
whether to laugh or cry. As she stooped down to hug the child, she did
a little of both.

‘Mom, every time you hold me, I sigh. When you and Daddy come home
from work and hug each other, you both sigh. I knew I would find the
right puppy if it sighed when I held it in my arms,’ she said.

Then holding the puppy up close to her face she said, ‘Mom, he loves
me. I heard the sighs of his heart!’

Now if that’s not the sweetest thing you’ve ever heard, I really don’t know what is!

Thanks for sharing, Sis!