A River in Egypt - Denial

Let's see, how many ways can you think of to come up with excuses as to why your son doesn't talk, won't make eye contact, and spends hours, (like 3 hours or more at a time) rolling a ball down a tilted box?

My wife started to worry about him way before I did. She's smart, even if she does bite every now and again. . .

We got the usual comments,

"Einstein didn't talk until he was [insert some absurd number here]!"

"Children who are really smart develop slower."

"Don't worry, all kids are different!"

"He's such a quiet child."

Both of us were new at parenting, but being a new parent had a side effect. I couldn't answer a simple question: "Is this normal compared to other children?"

I don't mean the stimming, I knew that wasn't right, but again, I was desperately paddling upstream on that river in Egypt, but the speech and lack of interaction with anyone was starting to penetrate the foot-thick armor surrounding my senses.

I kinda remembered what I was like growing up, and being the oldest, I remember a little of what younger siblings were like, but not clear memories. More like the flashes you get when visiting an elementary school after not being in one for years.

Looking back, I can see that his behavior wasn't normal, and the warning signs were all there, but hindsight is always 20/20.

We were also right in the middle of a major change in our lives, moving a thousand miles for a change in my career. While not an excuse, (nothing is) I know it was a distraction for both of us.