HARLEYISM

"but Mom, I NEED redbox movie"...no Harley not on a school night....his response: But I only go to school during the day mom!! I DO NOT go to school at night...I NEED redbox"....(and nope, he didn't get Redbox)

Harleyism: You incontempted misspeller!!

Today we had to take Tyler to the dentist for his cleaning and checkup directly after picking up Harley from camp...that means we took Harley with us to the dentists' office. While Tyler was waiting to be called back, I gave Harley a piece of paper and a pencil. He asked me how to spell
"Fo-fousa" (I had no idea what he was saying!!??)...I spelled it by sounding it out and he started to yell at me that I am an incontempt misspeller!! I spelled it as many different ways as I could and he continued to get angrier and angrier to the point that Andrew and I had to do a 2 person hold and drag (yes literally!) him out of the dentists' office to sit in the van until Tyler's appointment was done.

So although everyone ELSE says I'm a great speller (most of the time)...Harley says I'm incontempt (I think he meant incompetent, but I am pretty proud of him for using or trying to use such a big word!!)

By the way, Tyler had no cavities, got his flouride and we were outta there!

Harleyism: How about the forks? and spoons?

I am so sick of Harley watching Qubo ... but he's gotta have the tv on ALL the time, regardless if anyone's watching it!

I'm sure you've seen the commercials for "My Gold Envelope" right? ALL Day (that we were home anyways, it was a busy day!) -- he was saying we need to find things for "My Gold Envelope"...even saw the commercial enough times that he was able to get the phone number written down!! (And that kind of excites me -- he is using "resources") --

Well, I told him we had no gold to send them....

He runs to the silver ware drawer because our silverware "looks" gold...bringing me every fork and saying "how about this?" ...It took me a minute to think of a reason that would be "good enough" for him...and in the meantime, he went and grabbed every spoon! FINALLY! I responded with "How would we eat then?"

Thankfully he decided that wasn't such a good idea to send our silverware to My Gold Envelope....

The next thing I knew he was on a search for golden items....He found a gold crayon, a fake gold chain (made by Lego! :) ), some "Golden" Happy Meal toys...he looked at my camera, picked it up and said "nope, that's silver"...Hahaha

Then we dropped him off at Creative and the receptionist was wearing earrings, a necklace and some bracelets....he says "Do you know My Gold Envelope"? hahaha ROFLMAO!!

Today no mention of My Gold Envelope from Harley...Thankfully...Do you know what it's like to have a child ask the same question over and over again? AND to keep your patience and be creative with your answers? Man no wonder I'm fatigued LOL

Harleyism: I'm ruined! I have no milk license!

Sunday Andrew and I spent the day outside with the boys. We cleaned the shed and garage...got things a little better organized, got more things posted on craigslist..you get the idea...

Harley was pacing and battling his hallucinations in the front yard and started to wander a little too far (remember he has no safety awareness for crossing the street...or even a parking lot--and we've had TWO of our cats run over by a car in the past two years!)...We encouraged him into the backyard....

He was being so quiet...Andrew went to check and found Harley had set up a "yogurt stand". We had spent $10 on yogurt (20 containers of yogurt!) and most of it was out on the patio table in the back yard with a nice sign Harley had made "Yogurt 1 cent".

(By the way, do you see the tip can he has sitting on the table? Had it been me taking the picture you would've gotten one with Harley, his sign and a picture of this old formula can with "tips" written on it!)

After Andrew took a picture he tried to convince Harley that he couldn't keep the yogurt out because it needed to be refrigerated. Harley became agressive and screaming and yelling at the top of his lungs! Neighbors were taking their kids inside (even though none of them can see into our backyard) as we took the yogurt in the house to be put into the refrigerator. Harley pulled a yogurt from Andrew's grasp and squeezed it so hard it popped.

Things continued to escalate until we finally had all the yogurt back into the refrigerator -- and then we LOCKED it!! Harley began punching himself in the head...pulling his ears "off"...scratching his body...gritting his teeth and screaming "You ruined me" "I cannot sell anything when you do that" "You ruined me!!" Over and over again for another 15-20 minutes.

We tried to talk him into selling bottled water out on the front lawn but that wasn't good enough. He wanted to sell yogurt in the back yard. We even explained that no one is going into the back yard, so he won't have any customers (this kid LOVES yard sales and thrift stores!)...We tried buying it from him but he said we're not allowed to be the customer.

Finally, about 35-40 minutes into this episode I explained to him he MUST have a dairy license (we have two police officers who live in the neighborhood). I explained that yogurt is made with milk and you have to have a license to sell things that have milk in them....

Amazingly enough that is what finally worked...

Funny enough he explained to his speech therapist and his behavior therapist that he can't sell yogurt without a milk license. Since neither of them were here when it happened they had NO CLUE what he was referring to.

Although it wasn't fun at the time we were dealing with the behaviors during this episode...it was funny...and I learned to include something about a license in future references....

Remind me...

I'm too tired to make a post now...but someone remind me to post about Harleyism: Yogurt ok? Hehe, a teaser for ya! you'll NEVER guess! hehe

A partial list of Harleyisms

I am slowly going back and adding labels to my posts...In honor of the name of this blog, I've started with Harleyisms...
To see the Harleyisms I have labelled click here -- It is only a partial list but includes the one that "started it all" so far as blogging and why the blog is named the way it is...

Are you sure Santa is dead Harley?

Wow, Harley's almost bigger than Santa!! They had a little holiday party at Creative Perspectives yesterday and he got his picture taken with Santa...Wonder if he still thinks Santa is dead?

Question for y'all...Am I a bad mom for not taking Zachary and Tyler to get pictures with Santa?

In past years, Andrew dressed up as Santa--

so it was easy to get the pictures, but we got rid of our Santa suit this past summer figuring he wouldn't do that as a side job this year with the expected arrival of Andi...Oh well, maybe we'll start it up again in a few years...It'll be nice to have him home on Christmas morning...although the extra money sure was nice!

Alternative Energy Ideas

For those of you who don't know my hubby is an inventor (in his own mind)...Always coming up with ideas....

So here's the newest...Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while have seen the video of Harley pacing...He paces all night from about 8PM to 1AM...creating a little breeze...on cold days you get a chill by his walking past with his arms waving...

So Andrew wants to figure out a way to create a generator that will run off of Harley's pacing..Man could we save on our energy bills :)

Another Harleyism or do you think he knows?

Keep in mind we haven't told the children the test results ok? But if you've known me for any length of time, you know that Harley has quite a sense about these things.

Today he was eating, eating, eating...I was trying to stop him and he yelled at me and said "but I want to eat till I'm fat enough to get a baby like you" ....

Hmm, a random thought from him or do you think he knows?

Harleyism - But there are no buttons!!!

Harley and Tyler are constantly arguing...Tonight I turned to Harley and asked that he please STOP pushing Tyler's buttons...he stopped, looked Tyler over very closely and said "but mom, he doesn't have any buttons -- What buttons?"

I thought it was funny :)

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.

Harleyism - Overheard

I overheard Harley telling Zac today....
"I'm sorry Zac, I can't talk to you right now...I've lost all my baby talking powers..."

Zac loves the pieces out of Harley!! Harley is starting to take 'cues' now (isn't that GREAT?!) and Zac was trying to get his attention...

Zac got his SECOND tooth too! We now have two razor sharp baby teeth on the bottom! -- No more looking like Lil' Abner :)

Out of the mouth of babes...

Last night I was laying on the couch watching Harley pace (as he typically does!)...He suddenly turned to me aghast and said:
"WHAT HAPPENED MOM?" (I had no idea what he was talking about...so I asked what do you mean?) He responded with
"I THINK YOU ATE TOO MUCH DINNER! YOUR BELLY IS BIG!!" He said "It wasn't big yesterday" (remember he has no concept of what yesterday, last week or tomorrow means)

LOL

I thought it was kind of funny...SO I guess my belly does appear to be growing larger, even when laying down...

It's a booby dress...

While walking through Target today, Harley was touching all the bras as he walked by them...Kelly told him to stop touching them...They're not for him! I told him he didn't need "Mickey Mouse Ears" (that's what dad calls them when the boys used to wear them on their heads LOL)...Harley said they are not Mickey Ears...they are Booby Dresses!! Haha

I guess he knows more than I gave him credit for in the 'female' department!!

Extreme Makeover: Harley Edition

When Are They Gonna Come to MY house?? ... and .... Doom and Gloom of Autism Diagnosis

One of Harley's favorite shows is Extreme Makeover Home Edition.  They make the coolest houses and bedrooms. He especially LOVED the Lego room they made a season or two ago...So for the last two weeks while watching the show (can't miss it ya know?) he asked "When are they going to come and make my house and MY room?".... He and I mentioned to Nina, Harley's speech therapist that it was Harley's favorite show (he's learning te meaning of the word favorite).  He was so excited and asked me the question again so she thinks that we should download the application and have him work on it...She thought it was the cutest most original request...So keep your eyes out in the coming months/years...Harley just might do the application (Nina's pretty set on giving it a shot) ... You may see us on TV??!!

 

Which brings me to another thing that came up two Sundays ago watching the show. I mean I appreciate the people that were selected, trying to keep VA history intact and being a veteran and all...BUT...They did mention at the beginning of the show that one of the children were autistic.  Me, being the advocate I am for all children with disabilities was drawn to watching this child and his reactions...I was pretty darned upset...This kid was basically being dragged around and never given any chance to give input...So what if he doesn't speak...there are other ways to figure in his needs and desires...It seemed that with all the antiques and etc. that the parents 'treasured'...they forgot about this very special chlid...It just seemed to me that all the focus was on the antiques and there was rarely any mention of what the children would want...or any input from the parents on what the kids would want (in the case of their non-verbal child)...I was pretty upset by it...Just be glad I didn't blog about it right away, which I had a mind to do!! I just have such a hard time when parents receive a diagnosis like that and don't even attempt to work with the child or figure what it is he needs/wants to overcome his short-comings--they simply accept the diagnosis and the 'expectations' that go along with it...It's heartbreaking!

 

As an example...When Harley was first diagnosed we were told to never expect him to learn to use the toilet.  Granted he didn't actually stop wearing diapers till he was 7 years old, but he IS using the toilet.  (Although not in the 'traditional' method...he sees a need to 'hug' the toilet as he uses it....we won't get into that)...Although lately he has been having a lot of 'accidents'...just forgetting to go to the bathroom!!  We were also told to not expect him to speak...sure he didn't say his first words till he was 6 1/2 years old, but we worked diligently and in teams with therapists and teachers and other parents for many years and it was the sweetest sound when he finally said "mom" for the first time at 7  years old...it melts your heart even more to realize that I heard those words at all, after being told not to expect ANY words from this child!

 

OK, now I'll get off my soapbox about the doom and gloom' around the diagnosis of autism...It is very nice however to look back over the years and realize that all the tears, hard work and rearrangement of schedules and behaviors were worth the effort in what we see vs. what we were told to expect!!

 

I can truly say I have been blessed to have Harley placed in my care and as my teacher in life!!

BUT I can't drive...

Well, Harley you can't drive anyways...You don't have a driver's license...

 

This is our ongoing exchange when it comes time to take meds now...He reads all those wonderful warning labels...

 

Which means whenever I tell him to do something, he also uses the "May cause drowsiness"...For example, he didn't want to wash his hair because he has 'drowsiness'...He really doesn't know what it means...and he's using it as a manipulation tool...Oh the joys of a kid that can read like anyone's business but at the same time doesn't understand most of the words he reads...

He's got a pea brain!

And here, he uses Brain in the correct context...This was a few days ago....

Well, a couple of weeks ago (maybe longer) Harley announced that Zac would not have a brain till he got some teeth...I had no idea that development of the brain was related to teeth breaking through LOL

Then yesterday Zac was giggling and smiling and making cooing sounds...Harley tells me all excitedly that "Zac has a pea brain now!" I asked why he thought that and he told me because he can make sounds besides crying now and can even SMILE!!

It's Raisin BRAIN!!

So feeding Harley breakfast has been fun! He wants Raisin Brain...I said you mean Raisin BRAN and he said "NO!! I want raisin B-R-A-N...brrraaaiiinn!"....I guess the english language is pretty confusing and he's learning how to sound things out now and figures it's an A so it must be the long A sound....

Even girl babies...

Fart! Harley is just amazed at how much little Zachary Farts...He tells me today that babies, big boys and even little girl babies fart!

I know I've been awful about keeping up with my blog....Maybe someday soon I can come back and start updating some of the Harleyisms I've heard in the last few weeks!

In other news, I'll probably start a whole different blog that AAM (all about me!!).