Then There Is The Screaming

You might ask yourself, if you don't have autistic children, "What does she mean?"

I mean there is screaming. There is a lot of screaming.

These pictures are from today, which was a relatively good day all in all, yet even today there was quite a bit of screaming. Before even getting up, Charlie was crying in bed. For no reason. Or - for no reason I understood.Then, after getting dressed both twins piled into my bed together and snuggled tight.

This is a bad sign. I don't know why but it is. Something's off right off the bat.

We went downstairs to eat, and that was when it started. Charlie starts screaming. Sobbing to be exact. He doesn't want to eat. Which is like saying the North Pole is toasty warm - Charlie eats until he'll burst if you let him. While the rest of us eat he goes into the living room and thrashes on the floor and screams.

By lunch time he's hungry and eats, but shortly after lunch it's back to laying on the floor screaming and thrashing.

Why? I don't know. Something hurts, something doesn't hurt, something made a sound something didn't make a sound. Having a severely autistic child is on many ways like having a newborn. You spin the wheel and hope you land on the thing that will make the crying stop. Diaper? Food? Cuddle? Song? Tylenol?

Seriously, you just keep trying stuff. With Charlie - we try FOOD first just because he's an eating machine. And on the day when the eating machine won't eat?

You sigh, and try all the rest.
By bedtime it's snuggle time with his twin and everything is ok. No worries and you'd never know that this child earlier today screamed so loud he freaked the baby out hard. She was hysterical - because she loves him and wants him to stop. She doesn't understand his shrieking.

Come to think of it, neither do I.