Penguin

The first blog post is called "Penguin."

Why?

Because in the car ride on the way to our first stop on a little (weird) family tacky lights tour this evening, I asked my six-year-old son, Case, how he was doing in the back seat.

He yelled back "Penguin!!"

And so when it came down to what I should name my first blog post, nothing came to mind. No title made sense. Sort of like "penguin."

Raising a six-year-old son with autism is absolutely hilarious. Absolutely exasperating. Absolutely heartbreaking. Absolutely wonderful. Absolutely chaotic.

Example in point -- Tonight. When we're leaving a beautifully lit up holiday home and a total meltdown ensues. Luckily, Case always saves the worst for the largest crowds.

The writhing boy was slung over dad's shoulders, but not before managing to rip off his slip on red Lightning McQueen shoes and launching them across the roped off front yard display which contained approximately eight thousand twinkling polar bears, reindeer, candy canes and some inexplicable rubber duckies. The crowd around us started murmuring, and staring, and laughing.

I immediately thought "OK, I'll come back tomorrow morning and ring their doorbell and recite my usual speech when weird shit happens and retrieve the shoes then."

Luckily, my three-year-old daughter, while a big fat liar, is also an adult sometimes and processed the situation immediately. She darted across the Christmas land mine yard and retrieved the shoes without fanfare.

We did our usual getaway car exit with everyone running down the driveway and flinging themselves into the vehicle while fumbling with keys, coats, phones, seat belts, car seats, baby bottles, pills, you name it. Usually we forget something like a full coffee cup on the car roof, or a purse in the grass. But tonight it was dark so I don't know what we lost. Other than our dignity. And almost some shoes.

This is just a taste of the circus. I'm going to spend some time updating the blog with things I have written in the past, along with things I have been saving for the right time. Thank you for reading this first entry. This story is just the norm. I kind of love it.

-Ashly