S's question

"Mummy, what do birds know?"
"Uh, they ah (how am I going to get this wrong?) know how to build nests, how to find worms and juicy berries, and they know how to fly!"
"No, I don't mean that!"
"Oh. What do you mean?"
"I mean can you tell them to do things?"
"Not really, birds don't think like people do ... well, some birds you can teach a little bit, but not very much."
"What about gorillas?"
"Yes, you can teach gorillas some things. You can even teach them to point to pictures on a board so that they can tell you what they are thinking, but they can't do this as much as people can".

This seemed to satisfy him. So many of his questions range between being bizarrely metaphysical and just plain bizarre. I really don't know what to make of them. Does it support or negate the ASD hypothesis?

While I am here, yesterday, the kinder orientation, went better than expected. Once S prepares himself to do something, he really does just get on and do it. He accepted being there, and he seems to have enjoyed it. Was delighted to see me, but it quickly became a melt-down that lasted all the way to school, where I added another over-tired, fragile boy to my party. They were so tired that even the tantrums were a little muted, but they did trigger in me a mild panic about returning to the fraught days of P's kinder transitions. It felt so familiar, even though the actors have shuffled a bit. I can barely stop wishing that the visit to the psychologist would happen. The only thing that distracts me is the sheer number of appointments at the moment; meetings with teachers, therapies, extended family obligations (frail elderly parents, to be precise, which is especially draining for Q of late). I hardly know how to juggle it all. But this morning at least, S and I are going to have a picnic at a children's farm a short drive away. I should have already mentioned that once the stress and worry of the drop-off had passed, I dissolved into tears for all the usual reasons; my little boy was away from me for most of the day, and I missed him! I really missed him, and surprised myself a bit because there is so much difficulty involved in looking after him, I have been so desperate for a break. So today will be special for us, and so far the signs of it going well are present.