To refresh your memories, my son Sean now 9 has autism. Through the years he was very violent, and volatile. The targets of his rage had at times been animals, and even babies. I tried exposing him little by little to animals with no luck. Somewhere near age 6 he began to show some improvements globally. But even when Sean acted appropriately towards animals...most had the instinct to fear him. It was all very sad.

Meanwhile we had been without animal companionship for many years. We had to not have ferrets in our household for all those years. My husband was very sad and lonely and missed his furbabies. I did a very risky thing ... and bought my husband two ferrets Ping and Pong home. I then posted to you all what happened next. That is what is up on my Christmas Miracle page.

Present:
So what has happened since? Well, we all know that Sean earned his own ferret Rocky after 6 short months of splendid behavior. We all know Rocky was alone in a shelter waiting for this special boy. It,s on my shelter page how that all came down ... all of Sean's stories are on his pages. But what of as of late? Is all all right?

Sean continues to brush Rocky each day. He continues to do his chores of giving all the ferret fresh water, cleaning cage trays, etc.. He sits with Rocky in his arms each morning while he waits for his little bus each day. Rocky gets eye to eye contact, he gets lots of touching and kissing, he gets lots of spontaneous conversation from Sean, and even some imaginative interaction. We are not allowed to "scruff" Rocky for any reason. Everyone must handle Rocky with "kid gloves" as Sean says he is special. And he is right. Rocky definitely acts.....well....delayed mentally. His motor is greatly delayed and on its own schedule. With Rockys past horrible illness as a wee one, this is not surprising. But Sean claims that Rocky is not Autistic. Very astute.. because he is not.

Sean has taken some things he watches in ferrets and generalized it to his world. You ever notice most ferrets are super polite, and share??? Well, they are....and that is what Sean is working on socially right now. That is very difficult for an autistic individual as it is hard to have anyone "touch" their things because it "feels" like to them you are "touching them". And it goes much deeper than that. Once upon a time... Sean would not tolerate anyone looking at Ping, Pong, or Rocky too long....he would scream. Now Sean "shares" them all with his class weekly. That is monumental.

He still snuggles with Ping calling him our mush. He still frolics with Pong. Autistic individuals can have a tendency to be a one person kind of individual. lol.... ex ... they may be very comfortable with Daddy, but not mommy, or not acknowledge a brother kind of thing. So for him to find places in his heart for all our ferrets is special. We later added Laddie for his brother Chet. Laddie make Sean giggle a lot with his thieving. And then of course Scotti got me my little girl Jubilee. Sean really oogles over her. He has learned that they are a family. And he can understand something a bit more than we can....social order. Sean "lives" it ... so he well knows. And it's a bit odd to see this child have more understanding of that than us even. I hope you have enjoyed the updates and little ditties I wrote of Sean and Rocky all year. Mostly what there are now are fleeting moments. Moments of stolen kisses, moments of song, moments of illumination, and many many heartwarming moments of Sean "teaching Rocky" about life. Some of these are humorous as Sean was in the bathroom one day showing...yes showing Rocky how to poop and the why of it all. Some are heartbreaking....... like when Sean learned about God this year ... and how fragile life is. I don't think any of us will forget when he realized that someday... Rocky will die. But that was quickly addressed with the answer of heaven and Rainbow bridge. The news was just too good for Sean to keep to himself.... I found a private moment of him telling Rocky the entire story about Rainbow bridge.

The Future:
He continues to break all the rules of autism with this relationship and the relationships between he and all the ferrets. Now why ... why did no other creature "grab" him, or not fear him? That is the mystery of it all now isn't it.

Santa will have an extra load in his bag this year ... yes in it will be a miniature, bright red, Radio Flyer Wagon filled with ferret toys, and all sorts of goodies. There is an extra stocking....that reads simply "Fuzzies". I don't know what Santa puts in ferret stockings, but I'm sure we will not be disappointed.

We are praying.. to be able to acquire our first real home this winter after the holiday. We are not allowed to stay here with the fuzzies anymore as rules have changed. We have run out of room to boot. So now Sean doesn't just dream of his own room and own bed.....but he dreams of an extra room. A special room with a half door, slides, baby pools filled with rice, ferret tents, and a day bed......where he can lay and cuddle with all these creatures. I'm betting........... that he will allow the ferrets/Rocky into his room for visits and play time to share toys, popsicles, and even his bed. A bed that remains forever made. A bed that he sleeps a top, instead of "in". A bed that has puffalump material animals as he could never stand the offensive touch of fur/fuzz from stuffed animals. Yup...I have a feeling lots of changes are still to come.

P.S. special thanks to all those that have "adopted" Sean and Rocky into all your hearts, thank you Kat for giving me a voice, thank you to Ron C. [FuzzieDad] for inspiring me to write this update.

Have a very Ferrety Christmas,
Wolfy