The Awesomeness That Is My Son

Dylan - Welsh in origin; God of the Seas. Born of the Goddess Arianrhod, he was forsaken by her, but accepted by his Uncle Math. As he was baptized, he immediately took to the water. Turning into a sea creature, he swam as well as any fish. They then called him Dylan, Son of the Wave.  - via Wikipedia

If you know my son, I named him properly. Anything that has to do with water brings him out of his shell. Last night it was pouring rain here, and was happier than a tornado in a trailer park. (Yes, Cars reference. I have children.) He would run back and forth from the living room to his bedroom to watch the rain fall from the sky. Taking a bath has never been a fight. He would stay in there all day if I let him. Swimming? You have to drag him out of the pool. He has never shown any fear of the water since he was born. The only time he showed fear was when we took him to the beach for the first time. My fiancee took him to the water and we let him stay there until he was tired. He eventually came back up to us when we had to leave.

Why is my son awesome? Other than his love of everything that is water, he's autistic. You may ask why I would say that, and here's why. He has managed to overcome so many things in his short life so far. People told me that he may never speak. Well now he does. It's not a normal conversation, but I can talk to him and he responds most of the time. Is it ideal? No. However it's better than nothing. Taking him out in public used to be a nightmare. It was usually a roll of the dice whether he would behave or not. Now it's fine. Potty training? That was awful, I will not lie about it. My fiancee stepped in and helped, and now he's potty trained. He's still a picky eater (that's my fault. Genetics). He still prefers to keep to himself sometimes, but that's ok. Sometimes I want to keep to myself. He plays with his sister, and they have a close relationship. It's more of a "I love to hate you," but that's typical for siblings. (Unless you know about the relationship I have with my sister. Not something to base any type of relationship on. We agree to disagree on a nuclear level).

I have been thinking about this lately, as his birthday is coming up. I never imagined him reaching the ripe age of 9, let alone him surpassing everyone's expectations of him. I know he could rule the world if he really wanted to, but I think he would rather play Spider-man and watch Transformers all day. (At least for the moment). Some people have doubted his abilities and my own in raising him, to which I politely say this: Go 'eff yourself. I have been called the most awful names in the past. I have been told that I was just a bad parent and that's why he is the way he is. I have been told that I am too self-absorbed to do what I needed to do for my son. There are quite a few more, but let's try and keep the mood positive shall we?

Dylan is awesome despite what society may think about his ways of going about. He is a bright child who is affectionate, caring, and has an enormous love of pasta. I wouldn't change him for the world.

October 2011