Whitterer on Autism

Hosted by “Tracy” at “Mother May I,” but the photo-picture below will whizz you right there with one click.

20 months ago I had jaw surgery which disrupted our family life quite considerably. Recently, I nipped back to the surgeon to finish off a little unfinished business, a replacement implant and a bone graft, the cause of a great deal more moaning from me.

Once home again, I examine the x-ray closely, just to check that the new dental implant really has been embedded in my jaw, pop a couple of pills, tie an ice-pack around my head and hide the black and white sheet under a pile of other papers. I head off for the easy option, computer time and supervising the creation of new Spores. Their enthusiasm for the new game is a delight and also allows me to have some valuable recovery time. The principle of the game is to design a creature that is best able to survive and reproduce or alternatively, the basics of evolution and Darwinism.

My youngest son talks incessantly as he creates, “dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.” It's an off shoot from the whirl of Halloween, a holiday that has previously been off the radar but has now been enthusiastically embraced by one and all.

The two headed Spore he has made roars jocularly. “What are you going to name it dear?”
“Er…….Mummy…..kins……osaurus.”
“Oh……that's……nice.”
“It is being jus like you!” he beams. I peer at the screen and the lurid coloured, short clawed, long tailed creature.
“Oh……?”
“It is be having… …she is be having……two necks.”
“Yes, two necks and two heads, funny shaped heads with big……fangs.”
“Yes…..jus like you!”
“But I don't have two heads dear.”
“Hmmmmm………I know……but …….you are having “two necks…unner……under your skin.” How come you are having two necks…………and one head?” This is far too an existential conversation for my tiny brain in my one addled cranium to compute, especially under the influence of Vicodin. My daughter joins us to admire his Spore Creature. “Ooo, I get it! It's just like yur x-ray mom!”

Not for the first time, I am speechless, either due to jaw ache, head ache or both.