Viper Report post Posted May 13, 2006 I know that when I tell you this you wont find it weird but people with all NT kids would. Last night I said to my husband "Ben has gone to sleep early tonight", it was 10.30. If I had said that to anyone else about a 5 year old child they would be astounded. Shortly afterwards I noticed something yucky looking on Bens head. As we have a large African Grey parrot I thought he had thrown poo out of his cage and it had landed on Ben (he was asleep on the sofa) I turned on the light to find it was a melted Malteeser . Apparently my DD's had been throwing them at each other earlier. i went to bed at 2 AM (normal time for me) and had to move my AS DD from her sisters bed (sister was staying out) I got in bed to find something sticky on my pillow (Behave) . It was sticky in two ways, in that it had a stick and it was sticky, yup it was a lolly pop. After pulling it off I tried to go to sleep but Hubby hadn't taken his Melatonin so he was thrashing about the bed as he does in his sleep. I couldn't sleep so I grabbed my pillow and quilt and took the second shift in my DD's bed. This evening I was busy in the kitchen and when I had finished I went to eat my tea and found half a cucumber on the lounge floor, I don't know why. Right now, Ben is upstairs in a suitcase being dragged around the bedrooms. My daughters friends think our house is weird, they call Ben the naked gun cos he's always naked and carrying a toy gun. I would think this is all pretty normal to most of you and it is just every day occurrences but I just wondered how other people see our lives. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flora Report post Posted May 13, 2006 If I hadn't had 4 glasses of wine then I would respond with a blog from here. Viper, it all sounds so much more interesting than your bog standered NT house hold. There's a particular friend of mine who I 'blog' down the phone to every now and again, she's got a really sharp SOH and giving her accounts of some of the weirder aspects of our life helps me see how hillarious things can be instead of stressing. Thanks for sharing, it made me smile. Lauren Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
littlenemo Report post Posted May 13, 2006 (edited) As you know, Normal is not universal, but a local phenomenon. This post has taken half an hour to write as it is currently competing with part of Com's nightly ritual - an hour-long lecture on tonight's magic the gathering tactic and all the statistics of every card involved and how they inter-react and an equally long breakdown of his winning opponent's tactics and cards and what would need to be in a deck to beat it and if I don't listen to every word and make the right noises at the right places then it's one step closer to meltdown... the 12-2am slot used to be my quiet time, but since the street filled up with students, 2.15 and it's like chucking-out time at the pub. Just what's needed to help you get to sleep. And it sounds as if you're training Ben for saving money on the holiday flights this year! enjoy nemo Edited May 13, 2006 by littlenemo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Canopus Report post Posted May 13, 2006 As you know, Normal is not universal, but a local phenomenon. I have been saying this for years. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brook Report post Posted May 13, 2006 Viper, That really made me giggle, especially the bit about the cucumber on the floor In my house you just hear an awful lot of noise, the tele blarring with the sound of a gamecube game, normally Zelda, the portable dvd player blarring, my ASD son thinks it hilarious to press a button that keeps repeating the previous three seconds, he has a flump dvd that he watches over and over and stops it at a particular bit that drives me potty!!! Then you get alot of unanswerable questions: "do space suits have needles in them?" "can we go to the moon?" "can dad make me a pineapple so I can live in it like spongebob" "can you chop one of my fingers off because I only want four" "would you like to live in a house like the flumps?" There are many more, but you get the gist, and these are repeated throughout the day. Also if the tv is on, my son will shout out every two seconds "did you see that mum?" I have to answer "yes" even if I didn't see it as we would have one almighty scream up if I say "no" and he starts shouting to rewind the stupid tele. And if you lift up the cushions on the settee, you do so at your own risk, I have found a squashed milky way, the heads off toy figures, sooooo many crisps that added together would make a multi pack, a fork, super noodles, chocolate wrappers, and lots lots more, my kids are just soooo tidy, NOT!! Visitors dont stay too long, cant think why just as well, because I like my family and house just the way it is. Thanks for the giggle Viper Brook Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Viper Report post Posted May 13, 2006 Brook, noise is one thing our house has plenty of.The television on in one corner, computer in another and on of any number of game consoles in another. Then we have the parrots talking, squawking and generally making an awful din and the dog barking at anything that dears to step foot on our street. (he's only little but sits on the window sill like a cat.) The noise level seems to hit a peak, with the TV being turned up to compete with the PC, the PC being turned up to compete with the PS and the parrots merrily joining in. Then I lose it and shout at everyone to turn it down. We have the usual "I only turned it up cos she turned hers up" and so on until I give up and go outside. Under the sofa cushions? Well, we try not to go there. It's when you find things that you don't recognise any more that it gets worrying. We have to look sometimes cos Ben takes them all off and makes a runway up the living room and plays stepping stones. At those times I have to hoover under there because we have to sit on it. Move Bens cushions and all hell breaks loose. The next time I buy a suite I will get one that hasn't got a gap underneath. You won't believe what I find under there. Questions. Why can't ants be as big as me then I wont squash them? Will there be a Doctor Who where he has to fight giant ants? Can I have a new dog, cos this one doesn't like me? (if he got off it the dog might change it's mind) And what he said to a lady we know who had cancer of the eyeball and had it removed (the eye) Are you an alien now you have only got one eye? It sure is an interesting life we lead. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Suze Report post Posted May 14, 2006 ..............excellent ..................we have a dog that loves socks and knickers..........preferably worn ones...........she grabs them then runs off and you can,t catch her for love nor money.We have 2 staircases in the house so it ends up a race between dog and kids..........they chase her and stand at the bottom of one of the staircases and try to retreive the sock/pants.............now all my kids socks and pants have lovely teeth sized holes in them. .In our house it,s stray bits of toast and half empty squeezey yogurts you have to avoid...........ever stood on ..or sat on a half sucked out squeezey yogurt tube...........the last one shot right up the wall and on to the ceiling...........talking of ceilings ..........look on ours and there,s splats of blue paint.........ketchup.........and dents from an unsuccessful rocket launch..............you enter my asd sons bedroom at your peril........avoiding...sand gravel, wet bath towels and clothes.........he also keeps a nice collection of empty cups at the side of his bed............seven at the last count..............no one shuts the door round here either and we,ve had...........believe it or not...........swallows.........a robin..........wood pigeon..........an owl..(baby one came down the chimney)..........a frog........in the house............and bless im my youngest just loves creepy crawlies............he has no fear......(like his mother).........and he keeps bringing his new pets in the house.........I,ve found earth worms.....(too many to count sadly all dead)...ladybirds....beetles...dead house flies.....all in his little home he,s made them in his bedroom...(this consists of a dish filled with grass)... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sallya Report post Posted May 14, 2006 I love threads like this..... this mornining my little girl got up at 5.30...try telling people that's a lay-in for her......I find collections of things as well....like rolled up balls of cellotape or tin foil...or lego stuffed in socks.....stones.....I dread cleaning up under the beds...found a broken egg once..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss Report post Posted May 14, 2006 I dread entering our youngest 5 year olds daughters room She HOARDS everything Anything she finds of interest.....tassles from cushions, bits from outside, anything from the bin that looks interesting, leaves/twigs/grass etc from garden, food she's managed to sneek away with, bowls, sellotape, bluetak (normally placed on carpet and ground in), any toys shes managed to take from our older two's room without them knowing and remodel (which usually involves removing legs or heads)..oh the list is endless. We do sometimes wonder if we've entered the Twilight Zone, and find our selves answering bizarre questions and joining in with weird and wonderful rituals Debs x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justamom Report post Posted May 14, 2006 I dread entering our youngest 5 year olds daughters room She HOARDS everything :Debs x I am surprised that i dont have an infestation of rats in Keegans bedroom, i have just spent the best part of this morning cleaning under the bed and its gross!!!! You crunch something the minute you step in the room... Viper, your house sounds so lovely very much like ours and you know what most of the kids in the neigbourhood love coming over to our house because they can be themselves here and there are no pretences... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Viper Report post Posted May 14, 2006 Justamom, we seem to get all the kids in our house too. At any one time we can have half a dozen on the trampoline, 2 or 3 in the consevetry (play room and several adult/teenagers littering the stairs/lounge. Having 4 kids we seem to attract a cross section of age groups from 18 to 5 although we don't see many 5 year olds mostly between 18 and 11. And you know what, none of them even seem to notice Ben is naked any more, it's like it's just the norm in the house of viper. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss Report post Posted May 14, 2006 Viper, Our 12 year sons friends are SLOWLY getting used to our 5 year old daughter answering the door to them with her knickers round her ankles and her skirt above her waist Our downstairs loo is right next to front door and it doesn't matter what shes in the middle of doing in there, if someone knocks, she hops off and answers Debs x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cmuir Report post Posted May 14, 2006 Hi I can relate to everything you've mentioned. I was filling out the dreaded DLA form about 10 weeks ago now (incidentally, we got it approved first time which I'm really pleased about). It was strange because there were lots of things that I would have said my son had no problem with such as sleeping/needing help during the night etc. If I hadn't had the help of a fantastic person who works for Special Needs Information Point, we wouldn't have had DLA approved. She pointed out that because the only way I can get my son to sleep is to stay with him until he falls asleep, get up through the night every night when he cries, etc, needs to be comforted, needs to be persuaded that having a bath at 2.30am isn't a good time, etc that all that constituted needing help at night. Maybe I was just being plain thick ? I guess that I kinda think everything about our life is 'normal' because that's what we live with every day. Anyhow, one comment she did make when helping me fill out the form and after I showed her reports about my son, was that somehow I've managed to make life 'normal'. The point being, that my son running around with no clothes on (sensory issues), shouting screaming, his obsessions, etc although they aren't normal, I've (like a lot of other people on this forum!) have had to make life as normal as possible. Hope that doesn't sound like I'm making myself out to be some kind of superwoman (I'd love to be but Im not!) ? just wanted to say that I know what you mean about other people thinking we're weird. Caroline. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Report post Posted May 15, 2006 Our 12 year sons friends are SLOWLY getting used to our 5 year old daughter answering the door to them with her knickers round her ankles and her skirt above her waist Our downstairs loo is right next to front door and it doesn't matter what shes in the middle of doing in there, if someone knocks, she hops off and answers Debs x OMG I am reading this thread eating a sandwich at work & now I've got to call the helpdesk - just how DO you remove crumbs from the keyboard? That's why I love forums like this so much - on here we are all "normal". I decided this weekend to adopt a different approach to people who react to The Boy's behaviour when we are out. If anyone stared or commented I just said "he's autistic, so he might find some of your behaviour a bit odd". On the whole this was fairly well received! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheNeil Report post Posted May 15, 2006 "would you like to live in a house like the flumps?" But I ask questions like that now...and I'm 31 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lotty Report post Posted May 15, 2006 i am 31, and i think we are the flumps(i have the video) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrs phasmid Report post Posted May 15, 2006 "And what he said to a lady we know who had cancer of the eyeball and had it removed (the eye) Are you an alien now you have only got one eye?" thank god we've got a downstairs loo i nearly wet myself. phas jr walked upto a woman in the street a little while ago, who was about the size of giant haystacks(the wrestler for those too young) who was wearing flresh coloured leggings, looked her up and down and said "HAVE YOU GOT NO FRIENDS to come out dressed like that" exit on red faced mum and a lecture on keeping things in our heads AND guess who (me) never uses that expression when any of the kids are around now Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrs phasmid Report post Posted May 15, 2006 by the way viper this is so our house parrots, dogs,kids, friends,mess et al are you sure we're not related Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Viper Report post Posted May 15, 2006 Mrs Phas, if we are related, you would be the first person who owned up to it. My family have been denying my existence for years now. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
littlenemo Report post Posted May 15, 2006 "he's autistic, so he might find some of your behaviour a bit odd". brilliant! Mind if I borrow it? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Elouise Report post Posted May 15, 2006 Thank you.....this made me laugh...... Esp on the day I have solved the disappearing new packs of toilet rolls mystery...lets just say Sams bed was slowly being nudged away from the wall when I found what he had been using for the latest bridge construction..... I am still trying to work out HOW I failed to notice he had over 100 brand new toilet rolls stashed between the wall and his bed. and the half a cucumber...well its because you have kids who are ASD of course... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
forbsay Report post Posted May 15, 2006 My little boy is fascinated by waterfalls. He made his own in the bathroom - em one football goalpost stuck to the tap on the sink and the water was flowing into a bucket into the bath.................. We frequently have a plastic crocodile attached to the tap as a waterfall as well............. Forbsay x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Report post Posted May 16, 2006 (edited) brilliant! Mind if I borrow it? Course you can mate! I did find it worked quite well, it made people stop and think a bit more I found. Forbsay - at least he got the water flowing into the bath! The Boy also loves water - last weekend he was quite happily playing in the sink whilst I changed the beds (I do get domestic sometimes). After about 5 mins I popped my head around the door to check up on him (suspiciously quiet). He'd been filling a jug with water and pouring it on the floor. The bathroom is fully tiled and there's a little step down into it, so there was about 2" of water (that's just over 4cms for the metric minded amongst you ) swilling about on the floor Luckily the tiling had been done well, so no leaks downstairs thank goodness. It did take 4 towels to mop it up tho! The thing is I couldn't really be cross, cos his little face was so happy & he HAD rolled up his trousers for paddling blessim Plus, hubby thought I'd gone mad and cleaned the floor when he came home too Edited May 16, 2006 by Jill Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
