Autistic and Artistic

Before we had a diagnosis for Bethany, a friend & I were chatting on the phone. I was telling her about some of Bethany's creative skills and my friend said, "She's artistic." I HEARD, "She's autistic." The idea had been in my head at various points. When we finally had an official diagnosis, I laughed when I thought of my family in New England. They often drop their "R's" in speech, so they only need one word to describe my daughter, since Autistic would mean both! Some ladies on Splitcoast Stampers thought I needed a place to share some of Bethany's artwork. One of the ladies wanted an image of a spider on a leash with a woman walking it. I asked Bethany if she could draw that. Being the dork that I am, when B. asked me, "Does it need to be a girl or a lady?" I said, "Girl, I guess," and wondered how you can tell if a spider is a girl or boy. Then I realized she meant the PERSON! DUH! So, here we have The Lady and the Spider. Why does the spider have 4 eyes? Is this some great scientific fact we learned in homeschool? Um, no. It has 4 eyes, because, as Bethany said, "I felt like drawing it that way." And, in case you wonder, the spider is sad because it's on a leash. Of course.