Cades Quirks

People always ask me how we knew that Cade was autistic. I mean, its not completely out of the realm of normal neurological development for a child to be under the age of 3 or even over the age of 3 and not be talking. Cade can seem perfectly neurotypical in one moment and autistic in the next. So how did we know?

 Routines

* Cade co-sleeps with us. Usually my husband lays on one side of the bed, I lay on the other, and Cade is sandwiched between us. Well one night I wanted a backrub and put Cade on the other side of me and he kept shaking his head, crying, and pointing. The minute I moved back to my "spot" he smiled and was fine.

* My husband took my car to work with him one day so he could get the oil changed in it leaving us his vehicle. This led to a 45 minute crying/tantrum in the car because it wasn't "my" car. No amount of consoling helped him. He still gets very upset if we do not take the same car or if his driver that takes him to school has a different color van that day. 

Obsessions

* Cade has several obsessions. I thought how much he liked thomas the train was an obsession. Having to carry them constnatly around the house, playing in back and forth motions for hours. Well thomas has nothin' on the garage door, the carseat, or my car keys. Cade is our reserved garage door opener person. Anytime we leave or come home he has to be the one to open the garage door so the garage door opener pretty much permanently lives in his cup holder. When we get home opening it and closing it once isn't enough he has to do it as many times as possible and no matter how many times we let him do it, it still results in a huge melt down and head banging because we don't want the motor to burn out. This is the same case with my car keys or carseat strap buckles, stroller buckles (or purse buckles, ect) He could sit there for hours and hours buckling and unbuckling the carseat or straps. If we take them away or re-direct him from messing with someones poor stroller at the mall it ends with a huge inconsolable melt down.

Quirks

* Even from infancy cade wouldn't touch a fruit or a vegetable period. I know I know, most kids like veggies or fruit its normal, ect -- but when I mean not one -- I mean not one. We got him to taste a strawberry one time and even eat pineapple when he had a cold once but never again did that happen. The only way I can get him to consume any fruit or veggie is to physically hide it in a smoothie or shake but his ability to spot it is pretty amazing he can taste it the gagging, and heaving starts. The only meat he will eat is hot dogs and processed chicken nuggets which I'm pretty sure has no to little actual meat ingredient in it.

* Cade has super sensitive hearing. He is to the door before I even know that anyone had even pulled in the driveway. He covers his ears in the shopping cart if the store is too loud, and public restrooms are a nightmare because the echo so badly, but at home he tunes out a lot of the middle sounds. If its not super quiet or super loud he's not as responsive. 

Never Complains

* This sounds like a silly "symptom" but even when he was a baby and we were past the horrifying colic stage Cade never complained or would cry for anything if we were out of the house. We could be in the car for 5 hours and not once would he cry or make a peep for a diaper change, bottle, ect. If we were outside you wouldn't know that I had a kid with me he was so quiet taking everything in. Now that he's older he will occasionally make some noise if he sees something really cool or if he sees his sister have something he wants but otherwise he could still go all day without making a peep for anything.

Mommy Insticts

*There are many more little things that I could list that tipped us off that there may be a problem but the main thing was my mommy instict and that is worth its weight in gold. There is nothing more powerful than the knowledge a mother has in her gut for her child. Don't settle for drs who say lets wait and see, or drs who try and belittle that instict. You are that childs' mother and you know best.