John is a train. Got it?

Readers of this blog are undoubtedly well aware that Burrito has a "train thing" going. Recently, he's taken this to new heights. He whistles at people when they're in his way or if he wants to say Hi to them. He makes chugging sounds, and asks if we can see his smoke.

Last weekend, Dodson had the audacity to suggest to him that he did not, in fact, have wheels on his feet. Cue the meltdown! John informed us that he did not want to play with his friends any more. He's getting very self-conscious about these sort of things of late, and when he feels he did something wrong or gets his feelings hurt it's very obvious. We've had to make adjustments in the way we explain things to him, which is hard because we haven't yet found a good way to say "That's not the right thing to do" without having to say that he didn't do the right thing.

It's easier to deal with the hurt feelings thing, if for no other reason than it's far less complicated to be sympathetic and supportive. He's doing much better at expressing his emotions when he's hurt as opposed to throwing something, but it's hard on him. It seems that he's starting to become aware of his feelings, and we think he might be realizing that some of what he does is different.

Amusingly enough, later that same day, the boys were playing inside and decided they wanted to watch a video. John suggested "Best of Gordon." Dodson said - get this - "No, I don't really like train videos." Joyce and Eric suppressed laughter as John then went to his video bin and offered an alternative: "Best of James." A brief intervention rendered a neutral verdict, in the form of Bob the Builder.

Finally, lest you think that Burrito's train obsession is unique, well, we submit this link:

Thomas and Autism