WORRIED!

Jonathon has had an unexpected life lesson this week. His Daddy-Tim went for a doctor's appointment and ended up being admitted to the hospital with internal bleeding. I was worried how Jonathon would react since I had told him I was taking Daddy-Tim to the doctor and then we'd be home! Deciding how to handle these unexpected situations with Jonathon can be tricky. Life is going to happen whether our kids with autism understand it or not, so keeping "hard" life experiences from them is not going to help them in the long run. The truth is always best.

Tim and I talked about it and decided to have my sister bring Jonathon up to the hospital so he could see for himself where his Daddy-Tim was, what he looked like, that there are people who are trying to help his Daddy-Tim, etc... I think it's important for our kids to see the processes behind life events. Even if we, ourselves, don't know what the outcome may be.

Sometimes words aren't needed to know how a person is feeling. The initial look on Jonathon's face was one of deep concern. I could tell he was very scared his Daddy-Tim was going to die. We have had a number of deaths in our extended family over the last two years. Daddy-Tim getting sick was to close for comfort for Jonathon.

How did Jonathon deal with his concern? Every hospital staff who came in Daddy-Tim's general area (General area being the entire sixth floor of the hospital!) was accosted with "ARE YOU FIXING MY DADDY-TIM?" When the answer was "no, he's not my patient" or "I'm not but somebody is" Jonathon response was "WHY NOT?!" Followed by a less than pleased facial expression! He even decided to advocate for Daddy-Tim's roommate's care on the other side of the curtain!

When Jonathon got home from the hospital he made a postcard for his Daddy-Tim. It was a bit large for a postcard... 8x11! His message... "Daddy-Tim Im sending you a postcard Im so worried."
What progress! For Jonathon to be able to not only verbalize his feelings but to write about them as well... that's HUGE!

ps... Tim is out of the hospital and on the mend!