Style

To paint you a complete picture you need to know what Turkey wore to school yesterday - a pair of dark blue shorts with little red lobsters embroidered on them and a bright t-shirt yellow shirt.  The shorts were held up by  a belt.  When he got home from school the shirt was speckled with red stains, from the strawberries he had at lunch.

When I got home from work it was time to take him for a, very over due, haircut.  After nursing Monkey he was told to go get his shoes on.  

Husband took Monkey out to the car while I waited for Turkey to get ready, and as Turkey walked down the stairs looking for me to tie his shoes it took all of my strength to not laugh at him.

Not only had he added his clip on tie to the outfit (a fairly common look for him) he had also added his good dress shoes.  So here is is with his lobster shorts, stained yellow t-shirt, and blue diamond checked clip on tie and black shiny dress shoes.  But to top it all off, he has on his black dress socks, pulled up as high as he could get them.  

He was proud of himself.  "I'm fancy" he tells me as I tie his shoes.  Look I have on a tie, and belt and my good shoes.  I agree with him telling him how fancy he looks, and I ask him if he plans on being fancy when he goes to school tomorrow.  His reply "I don't know. Can I wear a tux?"  So I explain to him how he doesn't own a tux and if he wants he can wear his tie; he tells me he'll think about it.  (At last report this morning he opted against the tie).  

I wish I had my camera handy, and I wish we weren't running out the door... I should have snapped a picture.  He was so proud of how he looked, and beamed with pride every time someone commented on his tie.  

In lieu of  an actual picture from yesterday I share with you a photo of him in his tie going to see the Easter Bunny this year, and a picture of him in a tux from the wedding last year.

It's An Aspie Thing

Like all kids Turkey has his quirks, Asperger's related or not.  One his most enduring yet annoying quirks is an Aspie thing.

People with Asperger's take things very literally.  If you tell Turkey you are coming over at 5pm, you better not mean 5:15.  If you tell Turkey he has 5 more minutes of TV till bath time, you better mean 5 minutes, not 4.  To him "a couple of minutes" means exactly that - two minutes.

He does have some flexibility, but only when it comes to something he really loves.  He will forgive you if you say you will be there at 5 and show up at 4:45, and he will forgive you if you let him watch 10 more minutes of TV instead of 5 minutes.  But don't try to be late or "rip him off" (his words not mine), he'll let you know.

He counts time.  I constantly find myself telling him I will give him a back-rub for a "few minutes" before bed, to him this is 3 minutes.  As I am rubbing his back he is counting to himself the minutes "1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3Mississippi, ..." You get the idea.  When I stop early he'll let me know, "Mom you only rubbed my back for 124 seconds, that's only 2 minutes and 4 seconds, you promised 3 minutes." Thanks for the reminder kid.

The timer and clock have become our best friends to transition him from one activity to the next.  Now if only Husband and I would speak more literally in regards to time, we'd be all set.