Come Dine With Me (I'd rather not)

"Mum - Alec's eaten my stickers!"

Bobby has a phobia of stickers actually being stuck on him. If some unsuspecting teacher tries to stick a 'good boy' one on his uniform, he responds as if she's attempted to fix a tarantula on him. But he doesn't mind them decorating the walls by his bed. Not that I asked him to do this, mind you. But still, it's his space. So his complete Skylanders sticker collection is there - in order. That was, until Alec ate one.

I have to say, that considering he's autistic and likes things 'how they are', Bobby is very tolerant of Alec wading through a line of neatly lined up Go-Go figures (watching the 'cinema' = Bobby's DS screen). He also manages to be perturbed rather than overwhelmingly angry when Alec eats his stickers. He seems to have an inbuilt understanding that it's not really Alec's fault and that Alec doesn't mean to be naughty.

Of course, it is a bit Alec's fault. Somewhere in there, he knows damn well that his brother's Skylanders collection is not on the menu chez Elley.

Talk about not fussy. Alec will scoff virtually anything. Lately, it's ice cubes. This is far better than iced biscuits, I reckon. He fills his cheeks with them and seems to enjoy the freezing sensation, not to mention the crunch. A sensory seeker's life is full of fun if you can just find the right stuff to amuse them with.

Alec's been busy helping me in the garden the last few days. Boy, does he love that hose. He's given the plants a drink, the neighbour's conservatory windows a drink, our back door a drink, my clothes a drink and the shed a drink. Oh and himself a drink. If there's a hosepipe ban in the North West, it'll be Alec's fault.

After a draining day in the sunshine on Sunday (all those who say via email 'Enjoy the sunshine!' have obviously never had two autistic kids to entertain in the 30 degree heat), I went to fix the evening meal and found a singing Father Christmas in the saucepan cupboard. Bit surreal. I remembered suddenly that I'd hidden it a few days previously. Alec seems to have chosen the blisteringly hot summer to take a liking to a Santa toy singing 'Jingle Bells' very loudly. Is 'Dashing Through The Snow....' really what you want to hear (a million times) when you're applying suncream?

The most interesting thing Alec's ever eaten, I mused, as I prepared an actual edible meal, was a load of glitter. We'd been making Christmas cards and he had dunked his face in it before I realised. Not only did he look like Mark Bolan, but he was chewing thoughtfully as well.

I was fascinated in a sort of scientific way to see whether what came out the other end looked festive at all, but it didn't.

So stickers, in comparison, are only slightly inconvenient.

Of course, I realise that part of his fascination with different textures is that Alec needs to chew. Sensory feedback - and a lot of it - is really important to him. So I got a number of special needs necklaces for him to chew. He didn't chew them, he preferred the Play Doh.

Half the fun, I think, is that you're not supposed to do it.