Jake loves watches and clocks. He's absolutely obsessed with them. When he meets a new person who either A) has on a watch or B) has on long sleeves so that the possibility of a watch is present he will look at them and exclaim "CLOCK CLOCK!" Of course, if he can reach them, he will simply put their arm in a death grip, but we avoid this situation if possible. If he's riding in a shopping cart I have to give other shoppers a wide berth, or he might "attack" and grab the arms of complete strangers.
He only wants to see each wristwatch one time. I recently realized this when Mamaw, Jake, and I were walking a circular track with Jake in the stroller and Manny in the carrier. We met a nice elderly couple, neighbors and friends of Mamaw, who stopped to talk and obligingly showed Jake their watches. The lady had a really neat "I love Lucy" watch. We departed from them, but met them once again and Mamaw engaged them in another conversation. Jake became restless, and the couple, being the grandparently type, went to show him their watches again in an attempt to console him. Jake adamantly pushed them away. Since then I have noticed that he is completely nonplussed by seeing a persons watch a second time. And yes, he has his own watch. Numerous ones, in fact. He won't wear them. He also freaks a little if I wear a watch for him, which is fine, I hate them.
A friend (thanks Carrie) suggested that I get a pediatricians referral to Siskin in Chattanooga so that I can have a medical diagnosis for Jake, something that I can not get from the school system. I will start working on that tomorrow.
Steve is having a bit of a hard time with this process. I suppose that I've been preparing myself for almost the entire 3 years of Jakes life for this, and Steve is more likely to look on the bright side. Its even hard for me not to see the impending diagnosis of a disability as a "death sentence" however I know that Jake has the capacity to be excited about things and to look forward to events with happiness, so I have so much hope that he'll be a happy dude. I think that I don't put so much importance on how he will "perform" in school or society, just that he will be happy and fulfilled. Maybe that improves my outlook.
I must put my tired self to bed. There's even more work to be done tomorrow
