It's a dad's place in nature to make their children laugh. We tickle, tease and perform ridiculous routines to try and get kids to laugh. Long before I had any idea that my son would be diagnosed with Autism, I was doing my best to get that ball rolling.
As a baby, Hayden would laugh pretty hard when I popped my head up from under the table to surprise him. As he got older his challenges with communication were getting to be more apparent. There were periods of time between the ages of 2 and 5 when his emotions seemed much more bland. As a toddler most of our time was spent trying to get him to listen or figuring out what appropriate consequences were for misbehavior.
After we learned more about his diagnoses I was so relieved to finally know what we were really dealing with. It became more of a personal quest for me to better connect with Hayden. Realizing that he took everything literally helped me. I never stopped kidding around with him, I just worked extra hard to help explain to him when I was joking and when I was serious. If I made a joke to the kids about something that was silly, I made sure it was extra silly and let him practice figuring out whether I was joking or not. This seems to have helped him develop an ability to get it when others around him are joking.
Now, he absolutely loves to joke around. He reads joke books and practices his jokes on us. He also has a clever mind and comes up with his own jokes all the time. For example, on a recent trip to the mountains, I explained to Hayden that the Aspen trees are called "Quaking aspens" because of the trembling of the leaves in the wind. Immediately he said, "like, shiver me timbers!" Then he doubled over laughing at his own joke. He's gotten pretty good at making me laugh. He especially likes to do things that are just plain silly to make his sisters laugh. I'll have to post some pictures of the outrages costumes he has come up with just to get us to laugh.
I love my Hayden!
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