Sticky (#365)
The gooey, icky, sticky, melting rubber marshmallow slimey sensation of a fistful of, well, goo, with soft spikes—-
That’s the sensation I suspect Charlie likes to fell in his hands, and the inside out ball surely provides this.
And all the more if the favored ball has been mushed around in Charlie’s nervous, fidgeting fingers for long enough that it has acquired a dirt patina and looks kind of like it was once alive.
Woe to us.
The inside out ball (“white ball!” says Charlie though it is hardly white and smooshed nearly flat with dirt and bits of this and that) is missing.
I showed Charlie two new “in-reserve” balls. He fiddled with the green one, and put it back.
Once upon a time Jim’s mother might have called on St. Anthony, “patron saint of lost things.”
But she is still sick. Is in the hospital.
She had the right attitude about catastrophe, small or (as she perceived it) large:
“Oh no that’s TERRIBLE!!!!!!! What will we do????”
I guess we’re on our own now.
And more than the log of coins (cemented with spilt soda) I found in Jim’s briefcase the other day—or the tacky-metallic surface of my laptop which is missing the 5 key and getting a bit grimey on the surface—the lost ball could really be a sticky situation to get un-out of.
Fortuantely Charlie just told me “suit on. Swimsuit!”—-and a good dip in the pool might be just the thing to wash away the stickies stuck-on-us.
Autism Asperger’s Children Science Health Parenting Education Mercury mothering
We Go With Him by kristina chew 
You know, the first thing I thought of when reading this was that TV commercial that used to be on for a car model (can’t remember). The mom is running over a teddy bear with the car and smashing it between the car seats to make it look warn again (replaced lost teddy bear).
Maybe you need to do that to a new “white ball”. Roll it around on some clothes, fuzzy stuff, dirt, jump on it, drive over it. He might not notice 🙂
However, they do notice. They know all too well. Might be worth a shot though.
Aren’t those balls great. I used to buy them for my ADHD kids in my classes. I can’t tell you how many of those I went through when I was teaching, because soon the neurotypical kids caught on and found them soothing as well!
I should buy them by the case. And it does seem, the dirtier, the better!
I hope it turns up, just like Crookshanks eventually became visible in the undergrowth of the garden next door.
We are always loosing Duncan’s stuff too, but whatever it is, it almost always is found again a few days later.
I like those. I hope the white one turns up soon, or he can make do with another soon. It’s no fun to lose the treasured one.
We found it! Not that it is white anymore.
So today, I ordered seven more balls for Charlie….