(Barb, my boy is an old soul too, as is my younger sister)
Sheyne, what is it that makes you say that about your son? Can you be more specific (don't mean to pry though). Is this the one with Autism?
~ j U d E
Yeah, I only have the one child and he's Autistic. The reasons I have for thinking this are firstly, his intuition. He seems to understand people better than I do. I have learnt my lesson, if my son avoids someone or takes a dislike to them, I pay very close attention. It has emerged that everybody he hasn't liked - even as a baby! - turned out to be lousy people, liars, cheats, black hearts etc. And i have checked and doubly checked the occasions for co-incidence or other factors... nope, he's always been on the money. He talks about people as though they are colours: if he talks about somebody as blue, pink, gold, green, orange, purple or yellow.. I'm usually safe. If he describes them as red, I'm wary (they're usually just excited or anxious at the time) but he's talked about the aforementioned lousy people as being black, grey or no colour at all.
This is a child who cannot answer "are you hungry, William?" cause he doesn't know what that means!!
Other reasons are: apparent memory of places we've never been. eg.. we took him to Canberra to visit a friend, he directed us to a place we'd never been before, as though he'd been there recently. He also doesn't "get" kids of his own age, preferring the company of adults - in his words - they're more interesting. In all fairness, the inability to relate to kids his own age COULD be partly due to his autism, but he just finds it easier to be around adults. Children bore him senseless (this makes me nervous, I gotta tell you)..
But like Barb, its to do with his eyes. As an adult or parent who's been around kids a lot, you can tell by looking through their eyes which ones of them are young at heart and which of them have been here before. My boy has been here before, he gets far more than even I know. I often feel like I learn more from my child than he does from me, which is a humbling thought actually.
Hope this answers your question.. it was a hard one to answer, I'll be honest.
Beautifully put, Sheyne. And my son Will is autistic, too. Albeit very mildly so. He's been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, which is considered to be on the "autism spectrum." He is gifted musically and symbolically. But until he was four, he couldn't answer simple yes or no questions, either. He didn't speak a word until he was almost 3 (and I can't tell you all how wonderful it was to finally hear his voice). He can pick up and hold an adult's full-sized acoustic guitar at four like a veteran and pick the strings with a pick so that a melody comes out. We bought him a Yamaha keyboard last year. He sits at it and makes melodies on it. It's a shame I can't read or write music, or I'd try to capture them. I do have a few on videotape.
As Sheyne said, though, really - it's in the eyes. As I said before, the second I looked at him in the hospital after he was born, his eyes locked onto mine. He seemed to really look at me - to really see me and everything else he looked at. Newborns aren't typically able to do that. He seemed - connected. So imagine my shock a couple years later when the experts were saying he was autistic. But they said at the time, "He doesn't meet all the criteria. For example, he's extremely social and connected to the outside world. Usually in autism just the opposite is the case." Will has always looked intently at everyone he meets - in the store, walking down the street, etc. It's almost unnerving how direct his look is. But his eyes have such a smiling look to them that he immediately disarms people. I've never seen so many elderly people smile as when I would take him to the grocery store as a baby and he would look at everyone with those knowing eyes and smile so broadly.
Looking at Jake, even though I've only ever seen him in pictures (moving or otherwise), I swear I can see that same connectedness. It's not a matter of knowing him. Of course I don't. But I believe I can read people just by looking in their eyes. Not to sound like an asshole, but I've never been wrong. Kind of like Sheyne's William, I'm an extremely good judge of character. Yes, I've given people the benefit of the doubt longer than I should have in some cases in the past, but I always knew their potential for good or bad. The author of Never Cry Wolf (can't think of his name right now) says on the first page that he believes one need only look directly and intently into the eyes of any dog or human being for five seconds to know exactly what they're about. I believe that, too. Of course that doesn't mean you can know all or even very much at all - but you can know basically whether they're a good witch or a bad witch. You know?
And Sheyne, how fascinating that your son can apparently see auras! I have a friend who claims to be able to see colors emanating from people, but I'm inclined to think she's full of shite. However, when a child says he can - that's some pretty compelling proof that that ability does exist for some extremely gifted (or are they cursed?) individuals.
