Where I'm thinking too much again. I think.

"And when you call out his name, does he immediately respond by turning his head, or make eye contact?" This was the innocent little question our maternal health nurse threw into the mix at Riley's one-year check up last month. But because I am familiar with Autism and it's signs (thanks to my cousin - hey R! Not that you're reading, but your sister is :) ) she wasn't going to slip that one by me. "Since when do you do this screening for Autism so early?" I asked her. She snorted slightly, secretly pleased, I think, to be outed. "Fairly recently" she admitted. And to answer her, I said yes, yes, Riley does that fine. Which he does. Sometimes. Rarely. It depends. For example, now at the park, he makes an immediate beeline for the duck pond and NO amount of calling, shouting etc on my part will stop him. I have to physically restrain him from slipping down the rocks which form a perimeter around the water. I pick him up and take him away but as soon as I place him back on the ground, he runs back. Some days it's cute. I say something pat like, "Oh, it's his Piscean nature. He just loves the water so much" (which he does). Other days I throw up my hands and go, "Why do I even bother bringing him down here." I guess he's just being a typical BOY. BOY BOY BOY, people have been saying to me in big, bold proclamations. And that may be. At home, he usually responds just fine and his ignoring me in public is just something I'm going to have to get used to because it's going to be happening for the next, oh, twenty or so years. What I'm wondering is - who has boys that are just BOYS (big font)?? Hell, girls too. I won't discriminate. I'm not making light of serious, legitimate symptoms here either. It's just today, when there's so much ADHD and a variety of other such conditions (and a slight hysteria) I guess I just think too much about it. I think.