Tom and I were at the pool tonight cooling off from the 108 degree weather. I young boy (5 years old) was there with his parents. He asked me if I was with Tom. Told him I was. He then said "Does he have a disease?". I told him yes. "I wondered cause he just stares at stuff for like 10 minutes". I told him that was part of the disease. "Does he puke after he stares?" I told him no that he doesn't puke. "I sure would cause it really freaks me out when he stares".
It amazed me that a child of that age could recognize something like that.
The child was just unusually willing to verbalize his perceptions. I'm not surprised that a kid of 5 would observe that there's something fundamentally "off" about the behavior of someone with AD, but many would just react with wariness and not say anything. It is interesting though that he pegged it to being caused by a disease and was assertive enough to ask you.
I thought it was very interesting, innocent and astute of the little guy to notice and even say something to me. Some kids would have gone up to Tom and said "Why do you stare at things all the time". He is a great little boy.
A little off topic from this but today some boys came by and asked if they could mow my lawn for $10. It's been really hot here so I told them sure go for it. After a bit I recognized the one boy as one who used to go on walks with my husband a couple of years ago. He asked how he was since he doesn't walk anywhere by himself anymore. I explained he had a brain disease and didn't really talk anymore. This boy looked all concerned and said "really, he was so funny". I miss that funny man too.
The little guy who talked to me yesterday was at the pool again today. I had messaged his Mom about our conversation. She came up to me and gave me a big hug and just cried and cried. She said that Griff had asked about Tom awhile back and she told him that he had a disease. He wants to grow up and swim just like Tom does. I love little children and really miss my job working with them at the elementary school.