My Son Braydon

by Eileen Barnes
(Endeavor, PA)

My son is beautiful, he has big brown eyes.
He's a tough lil' guy, he hardly ever cries.
He loves Barney, Teletubbies and playing in the rain.
He crawls up the staircase, jumps around, far from tame.
He loves to play in the sand, throw a ball and swim.
He loves me, he's my lil bud, I'm so in love with him.
He loves to dump out blocks and put them back.
He closes his eyes, turns his head, asks the color and stacks.
He swings every chance he gets, closes his eyes and sings.
In the house he spins and laughs when he bumps into things.
Barney on one tv, Teletubbies and music channel on the others.
He doesn't sit very long watching, when it's over, he gets bothered.
He plays with play dough, mixes all the colors but white.
He wore his snowsuit swinging this summer, what a sight!
He's obsessed about balloons, it use to be hard on us in public.
Even parties were ruined, we had to spell it if it was a subject.
He loves his toothbrush, usually has it, we have to hide ours.
He will only use cartoon toothpaste and use it for hours.
He takes multiple matching items and spins them on his Sit and Spin.
If you touch what he has without asking, it angers him.
He asks "Where we going?" repetitively in the car.
We distract him by asking what color things are.
He's very persistent and defiant when overwhelmed.
Some say I baby him, to toughen up, always putting me down.
I knew something was different about him, that helped with the sarcasms.
But it blew me away when they said Autism.
Now with the help of a TSS, I understand him better.
He learns a lot from her and his vocabulary is bigger.
Now people see an improvement, maybe they'll believe.
That there's more to autism than the eye can see.
I know my son, I love my son and I'm proud of my son.
With the knowledge I now have, I hope to teach everyone.
He deserves more credit than some give him.
There's more to my son than his autism.