A Harleyism

This is not one of those fun ones....

If you suffocate your little brother he will die!!

Harley does not understand the concept that death is permanent. He's really had no experience with death in his life (although all but one of his grandparents have passed away...he just doesn't seem aware of with die or death means). Lately he has decided that when Tyler annoys him, he will grab a pillow from somewhere and pin him down by his face using the pillow. I LOST it last night...I've removed the pillows from the living room (the decorative ones) so Harley went and grabbed a blanket and proceeded to hold Tyler down.

I tried to explain it to him...I was so upset over the whole incident...I've tried and tried to explain it to him in the past when he's done this but I'm just not reaching him.

Finally I asked him "Harley do you want Tyler to be your brother?" and "do you want him to live here in your house?" When he responded yes to both questions I then tried to explain that when he does that to Tyler, Tyler cannot breathe. If Tyler cannot breathe, his heart cannot beat and he cannot live with us anymore...I think this got through to him because it made him cry and screech for a while, then he came out to tell dad he was sorry for hurting Tyler...Now whether he actually understands what it was all about is another question that we will learn here soon by seeing if he does it again.

All I know is that it scares the living daylights out of me....I cannot leave Harley in a room alone with either of his little brothers....And of course, Tyler is only 2 so he doesn't understand and wants to be like his big brother so now he tries to do the same to Zachary....

Who knew that having an autistic child in your family could bring challenges like this? This is all new to me....But I will survive and get us through it.