Milk Makes Me Grow Big and Strong?

The glass was about to touch my lips when I heard, “Mommy, I want milk!”  What a good sentence! And—he asked so nicely. “I like milk.”

I smiled, and prompt forked over the glass.  “Milk is good for you. It will make you big and strong,” I told him. 

“Make me big and strong?”

Tot made it about halfway through the glass of milk (it was a big glass) and he handed it back to me.  “Milk will make me big and strong?” He inquired again.  Now I could see some wheels turning here, he was really thinking about what I had said. “I want to drink more milk.”

I gave the Tot my glass back, and he tried to drink the whole thing down. He began to get frustrated, and yelled, “get in!” at the glass of milk. Once he managed to drink it all, he reached both hands up toward the ceiling trying to reach out for the pull string on the ceiling fan.

“I can’t reach it. I’m not big yet. I need more milk!”

He did drink more milk after that, and tried reaching the ceiling fan a few more times despite my trying to explain to a three-year-old that he was not going to get big IMMEDIATELY.  I guess he was looking for some superhero juice.  I must say it was adorable, but almost turned into a meltdown as he repeatedly tried to “get big and strong” right there and then.

This is a perfect example of the literal immediate thinking that goes on with our ASD Kid.  Although the Tot is only three, and this is fairly typical stuff for his age, ASD kids (and adults) will remain literal thinkers.  We may get better with age (for the most part, or at least a little bit) in that we learn milk will not make a grow RIGHT NOW, and it definitely won’t make us grow up taller at 40. (I know, I’ve tried, I’m five foot nothing—we only grow outward at that point, not upwards.)

A question for my readers:

I usually share important events that are going on in our lives, or try to write about relevant topics, which makes me silent sometimes. I think I will start to share these more of these little moment that I find cute, or interesting.  Maybe more “these are our classic autism moments” kind of posts.  Let me know what you think? Would you like to see more of these “oh, crap, do you know what the Tot did in the supermarket?” kinds of posts?? I love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

Jeannie