[The original post is here. If you haven't read it, go read it first. You definitely won't want to miss The Rest of the Story.]
This was so utterly bizarre that it deserves its own post.
So after the Great Sleeper Escape the other day, we just pitched the sleeper into the laundry not knowing - or wanting to know - what foulness lived in its fabric. When it came time to fold the laundry, we noticed something absolutely astounding. The Great Sleeper Escape turned out to be a complete understatement. You have to see this to believe it.
Note: We confirmed with each other that neither of us did anything to this sleeper except put it in the washer and then the dryer. This is exactly the state it was in after The Escape (minus the bodily excretions, of course).
See it?
Even though it’s completely inside out, it really is still zipped completely up to the top, and yes the snap at the top is STILL SNAPPED!
Back when it happened, we just made the obvious assumption when we picked it up wadded on the floor that he had undone everything and taken it off. The alternative just never occurred to us. Why would it have?
Somehow he escaped from this sleeper without unzipping it or unsnapping it.
I have no idea. I’ve examined it and stared at it and still have no clue how he could have done this.
We’ve learned to not underestimate him, but this beats all I’ve ever seen.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow. Forget preschool, can you see if he can start training to become an acrobat?
One thing I keep meaning to write a post about is his hyper-flexibility. I hear people talk about this being a trait common to some subset of autistic kids. I haven’t looked much into it, though, to see if there’s any real scientific basis to it. It’s sort of like core muscle weakness. I honestly don’t know how that relates to autism, but apparently it does.
Anyway, if I can get pictures of J-Man doing his noodly/pretzely stuff, I’ll post them. It’s amazing. It’s like he has no joints, tendons, or ligaments sometimes.
Some things he can do (and by no means an exhaustive list):
* Perform a downward facing dog (only much more vertical than it’s usually done as his legs are often close to perpendicular to the floor - like he’s folded in half), rest his head on the floor, and reach his arms back and put his hands over his head. Sometimes he watches TV like this, looking through his legs.
* Watch TV on the couch while sticking his big toes in his ears when the volume gets too loud.
* Sit on the floor with his legs straight out in front of him, then fold himself in half, put his face on the floor while still seated, and lick the floor. (thankfully he leaves the last step off usually)
His current OT is very pro-yoga for kids. She was completely bowled over by him.
Related to the whole core muscle thing - even with all this, he’s struggled for a long time to do a sit-up without assistance. Fascinating.