My son wrapped his legs around my waist

This may not sound all that exciting to most parents who pick up their child and their child immediately hugs the parent with their legs. Let me explain.

In August of 2017 I started to notice my almost two year old son wasn’t hearing sounds as well as he should. I would call his name and he wouldn’t respond. I would walked up to him from behind and clap very loudly and he wouldn’t flinch. He wasn’t talking. I took him to a pediatric hearing doctor and the tests they performed showed he was indeed partially deaf. Cut to several tests later, all with the same results, an Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test was performed. The test involves sedating the child to measure how many sound waves are making their way to the brain. Well, my son passed with flying colors. He could hear just fine. He was just good at ignoring the world around him. 

A month later, he needed hernia repair surgery and the nurse taking care of him had assumed I had my son diagnosed with autism. I went along because something had started to click in my head. She commiserated with me because her son was autistic too. I went home and her words kept eating at my thoughts. He still wasn’t talking. He had poor social skills. His nickname was “squiggles” because he was squirmy and wiggly every time he was picked up. In fact when he wasn’t being squiggly he would just be still and not affectionate at all.

Nine months and seven different doctors (all in agreement) he had his diagnosis. Moderate autism. My son’s autistic. He’s receiving therapy and he’s gaining words. He’s a sweet boy. He even hugged me once. Then the other day I picked him up and he wrapped his legs around my waist and held on. I stopped. I wasn’t ready to put him in the car. He still lives in his own world. When he gets excited he jumps up and down and flaps his arms. He’s incredibly rigid in everything he does. I took a moment to let him just cling to me. I took the rare moment of a child needing his mother. It was a moment of bliss and then he became himself again. He let go. I’m not sure if or when it will happen again but I’m glad it happened at all.