"Race Track"

Lately Dylan seems to be hitting a lot more than he ever has when he is frustrated.  It is just little smacks but it makes me nervous what it could turn into when he gets really frustrated, especially with his little sister because she is so little and doesn't quite get whats going on so she tends to push his buttons!  I have noticed lately when this happens, Desi will slowly sneak behind me and lean up against me as if she is hugging me.  I don't know if she is trying to comfort me or looking to me for comfort.  I just hope that one day Dylan and Desi become the best friends they are supposed to be and the best friends that Desi wants to be!

Brielle lately seems to be trying more and more to interact with Dylan.  We have never really sat them down and told them what is exactly going on with Dylan.  We have mentioned he has a thing called Autism and more or less his brain doesn't work like ours and doesn't let him talk, play, communicate etc.  We have also told them if they ever see another person that doesn't talk or if they see similarities that they notice with Dylan to be extra kind and patient with that person because they probably have Autism, like Dylan and we know what comes with it.  I don't know how you really go about telling your other kids that their brother is "different" than others because I want him to be treated the same and be able to do the same things.  I think Brielle is getting to the age where she is noticing and picking up on more and wanting to help.

She will randomly get in his face and say, "Hi DyDy, give 5"(DyDy is what he used to call himself)  The grin on Dylan's face when she does this is awesome!  He seems so excited.  Tonight we had put him down to bed and was about to shut the door.  She ran in and said she wanted to tell Dylan goodnight.  She went over and put her face up to the crib and asked Dylan for a hug, she reached in but never got the hug back.  She walked out and told him goodnight and looked a little bit disappointed.  I told her even though she felt like Dylan didn't care about what she did, that I know it meant something to him.  I told her we just need to keep trying and working with him and one day he may just say, "Brielle remember when you gave me a hug in my crib!"  I just need her to know the little things mean a lot to him.

She said to me, "Those little things that don't mean a lot to us, mean a lot to Dylan because of his Autism.(When she uses the word it catches me off guard, because we don't say it a lot around here, we try to avoid it, I think)  His Brain isn't like ours.  Ours is a straight race track where we are almost to the finish line and his is a curvy track where he is stuck on one of the turns."  Where she got that analysis, I don't know, but she has a good point.  I am so excited she is getting to an age where she is going to be such a good help and support to her little brother!