He is talking more, his words are more clear, he answers questions more completely and more quickly, he is more present, more affectionate, more interactive and even more willful. (In a good way, usually he will pretty much go where you want him to. Now for example, if I say, "Let's go to the car, we are going to the store," he will protest, "No. I want bike," as he is putting on his bike helmet.)
This morning Chandler gave his big brother a huge hug before he left to get on the bus for school.
After the bus pulled away, Webster turned to his dad and said, "I love that cute little guy. He's so cute. He gave me a hug. That is the second time he gave me a hug. The first time was when he got home from school that day. Do you remember that day, Daddy".
Then he told his dad all about the day that Chandler first hugged him two weeks ago.
Yesterday I took the boys shopping and they had a blast. I had bought them Oballs at a previous store to keep them happy as I dragged them all over town shopping. Chandler decided to play fetch with Webster. He sat in the cart and would throw the ball, and Webster would run to get it and give it back to Chandler. This was high comedy to them and they kept it up for a half an hour (thank goodness the Target was pretty empty), varying the game to include aspects of hide and seek and tug of war.
It was really fun for me to seeing them enjoy each other so much and giggle so furiously for so long. The game only stopped when mommy got annoyed because she was tired and was supposed to be home an hour ago and "Webster please watch where you are going and stop running into the elderly".
There are those who argue that dietary intervention, or any of the biomedical interventions that parents claim work on their autistic children, are merely normal development plus placebo effect. "Desperate" parents want the child to get better so badly that they blow normal gains out of proportion.
The placebo effect does not work on six year old brothers though. Webster does not know interventions we are trying, he only knows that his brother is acting more like a brother.
Hugs don't lie.
