And... I said nothing.

Tonight Dominic and I went to Costco to get a few things we had run out of.  Costco is huge and overstimulating and the carts are big enough for him to still fit in the kids seat. Its the last store that he can do that at, and everywhere else we are able to have him push the cart with minimal concern that he'll elope or otherwise get into mischief.

So I've got a full cart, he's done FABULOUSLY for a  kid who's hungry and tired, and we've just checked out.  An older gentlemen looked at Dominic and said "boy, you're too big for that cart. You should be pushing for your mother".  Dominic paid him no attention, and the man looked at me and said "he ignored me". 

My options were to :

A) Say something along the lines of "he has autism and doesn't speak" which isn't entirely true, he does speak just not really conversationally.  Although we were so proud the other night when we went for a celebratory dinner after his perfect day at Alpine, and he spontaneously pointed at the food and said "GOOD" because he really doesn't spontaneously say anything that isn't need based.   On the other hand, perhaps that could've been a good learning experience, because Dominic doesn't look like he has any sort of disability.  You don't look at him and see a chromosomal abnormality, for example.

B)  Scold Dominic for not paying attention and model for him to say something like "sorry" or "yes" both of which he can say.  Seriously, tho, he'd done SO well in the store, and I wasn't about to make him sad which a scolding would do. Plus we have no clue who this guy was and if we'd ever see him again.  And why should I enforce someone else's prejudging of my kid? 

 C) Ignore the man myself and say nothing.


And I said nothing. I don't feel like explaining my kid and I don't particularly enjoy the job of educating the masses when I'm personally also tired and hungry.  Awareness and advocacy can just give me a night off tonight.  I do my best but today wasn't it.

So we came home and had dinner.