Irene

[Guest guest]

Hahahha, lol!!!

Irene, I loved 's response after Christmas dinner!!!!! Would he please

come to my home this year on Christmas night to say the same thing to my

relatives, lol?!!!

Thank you and for making my day brighter.

Hugs to Everyone and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Mom to , 7 yrs. old DS/PDD-NOS

Colon Cancer Survivor, 3/19/10

To:

From: irediamant@...

Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:43:20 -0800

Subject: Re: Happy Thanksgiving and other horror stories...

Hello all,

During the Christmas season, 9 years ago, my parents invited about 15 people in

addition to our immediate family. After dinner and then coffee, while everyone

sat around talking, my brother, , shouted, " go home! " Some laughed,

while others ignored it or were too wrapped up in conversation to hear

it. figured they had overstayed their visit and someone had to tell

them to go home. is a guy of few words, but we can always count on him

for unfiltered honesty.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Irene

sister to , mosaic DS, ASD, 40+

________________________________

To: Down Syndrome Autism Support Group on Yahoo < >

Sent: Wed, November 17, 2010 4:08:48 PM

Subject: Happy Thanksgiving and other horror stories...

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone on the list.

After 21 years of marriage, my wife and I are having Thanksgiving at home,

by ourselves. Had been going to the extended family yearly. Our little guy had

been small enough that we could " manage " him in the strange environment. Since

the grandparents live 4 hours away, we would drive up and stay overnight. Of

course, wife and I took shifts watching after our son, affectionately nick-named

" boy wonder " . He never sleeps at their house, not even with pharmaceutical

assistance. He prefers to stay up, watching TV, and giggling at all hours.

Last year was a special year. We had been in the " throwing stage " for a

good year and warned the grandparents to put away anything fragile or " hand

sized " that " boy wonder " might throw. All went pretty well the first day. At

about 3 am I was awoken by a shriek from my wife and a large crash. Turns out

the " fridge DJ " from Walmart that my son could sit for hours playing with became

the next " throw toy " . It made contact with my parents brand new, 3 week old,

super-wide, high definition, expensive, flat screen TV. It hit almost perfect

center, got to give the little guy credit. He has pretty good aim. He realized

he did wrong and was pretty upset himself when he saw the cracks spread out over

Barney's picture on the TV. It looked like a spider had weaved a nasty web

across the picture. That incident cost us $2500. Home-owners insurance did not

cover it. My wife and I look back now and laugh. At that time we were ready to

cry.

Now the grandparents are pouting that we won't come up. We simply don't

want to buy another TV or a window for them. They of course, don't want to come

down to visit us. It's hard not having family understand what we live through.

But then again, I remember the good old days of not having a child with autism,

and how naive I was then. My wife and I are really OK with it at this point,

but just venting. Everyone here understands.

In the spirit of the holidays, we are interested in other HUMOROUS stories

others may have to share regarding their children and Thanksgiving or

Christmas. I can't wait to get our tree up next week. sits and

watches it for long stretches. He is fascinated by the twinkling lights. It is

a pleasant memory of the holidays for us.

Shane Avery

father of , age 10