What Do I Say?

I don't know if it is okay for me to complain about the situation with Timothy. I am not complaining about Timothy. I wouldn't change a thing when it concerns Timothy. I love him with all of my being. But sometimes the situation that we are in can be really hard.

People come up to us. Strangers are all of the time stopping us to look at Benjamin and talk to Timothy. And I think that is awesome. They think that my children are cute. What parent wouldn't want that?

But the thing is, they try talking to Timothy. Timothy doesn't talk. Hardly at all. So when people come up and say, "What's your name?" or "How old are you?" they don't get an answer. He just looks at them or looks away. And then they are standing there with no response.

Most of the time, I say "His name is Timothy" or "He's 4 years old!" gleefully. And if they keep trying to talk to him, I'll say "He's just a shy boy". Which is the truth, Timothy is very shy. And a lot of times, people will back off at that point. But sometimes they don't. And it can be very uncomfortable.

And I am not upset that people stop to talk to my children. I am fine with that. But I don't know how to handle the situation sometimes.

Timothy has not been diagnosed with autism yet. He may not even have autism. We are waiting for the developmental specialist to set the appointment. But even if he does get diagnosed with autism, do I tell people "He has autism" if he does not respond? Do parents of autistic children tell other people that in certain situations?

I am really confused on how to handle those types of circumstances. And I hope that I am not the only person who has ever felt this way. I am going to read other parents stories and how they handled things. I have a wonderful friend on facebook who is mother of autistic children (Shout out to Alicia) She has really helped with any questions that I have.

I just feel like I am the parent. I should be the strong one. I should know how to handle this stuff. But sometimes I don't. And it can be really hard. And I hate that I am even making it into anything because this isn't about me. It is about Timothy. I think doing some research on other parent's testimonials will help though. And blogging about it is helping too.

-Ashli