jquery change event doesn't fire if field was previously focus()ed in IE8

Question

I have the following:

 $('document').ready(function () {
        $('.autosubmit').change(function () {
            $(this).closest('form').submit();
        });
        $('#textBox1').focus();
    });

If I don't have the focus() line, then everything works as expected, the data in the textbox with ID "textBox1" changes, focus is lost and the form submits. But, if I include the second line, so that the focus will be set to that field when the page loads, the .change() only fires every other time, sometimes not at all. It's very sporadic and only in IE8 (works fine in Chrome 6).

UPDATE:

All even numbered changes to the field causes the .change to fire. So, first update, no... second update, yes. Third update, no. fourth update, yes.

Is there a work around?