I am 6 years old now

Hi, my name is Jacob, J-A-C-O-B! I am six years old and my birthday was this week. I had a great party! When I got home from school there were bubbles on the front porch blowing from a bubble machine. I was so excited to see it. When I came into the house there were balloons, my second favorite thing to bubbles. They were yellow and orange, two of my favorite colors. My cake was decorated with the characters from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. I don't like cake or to blow out candles but I do like the people. I got to play with them after my momma washed them. After we played with the bubbles some more other people came over, mostly family. i opened presents and I got  a new goofy and a Daniel tiger goes potty with a potty. My mom is really pushing me to go potty on the toilet but I am scared of it still. I also got my own shirt and shorts that feel just like my daddy's shirt that I love to wear. I really enjoyed seeing everyone and having fun with everyone.

Thank you for reading the first of the rest of my child's life posts. My son is 6 as it states above but he was diagnosed as a non-verbal, eloper on the Autism spectrum. I have decided to write this blog for two reasons really. First to let other parents out there that they are not ALONE. There are approximately 1 in every 60 kids on the Autism spectrum and that means that there are 2 in every 120 parents dealing with an Autistic child. 

There is nothing "wrong" with my child. He isn't hitting milestones that other children his age are. He is highly intelligent, has incredible sense of time and is a very caring child. He does not hold conversations with people and he runs away on impulse, butt naked most of the time.  This leads me to the second reason for me writing this blog. 

The second reason I am writing this blog is for the real fear and knowledge that ever day and every year my child is alive is a blessing to me and my family. No, he doesn't have a terminal illness but being an eloper with very little, to no ability to communicate with the outside world, has caused our family stress and unknown that people with small children may experience maybe once or twice in the entire parenting process. He will just take off, like a teenager sneaking out, very quite and precise and wind up in the middle of traffic a few blocks from the house before anyone realizes he is even gone. We have had CPS at the house on more than a few occasions. I am just so very grateful and blessed that he has not been picked up by a "bad" person or hit by a car or five. 

I appreciate the help and support I have received from different agencies and people in the community to more forward so I guess this will be my way of giving back.