We've all heard the phrase, squeaky wheel gets the grease. In the Lost and Tired family, we have a version of this called he who cries the loudest, gets the attention. With 3 boys on the #Autism spectrum, there always seems to be something going on and somebody either crying or screaming about something.  I'm not saying that this happens simply because of the #Autism. Typically it's related to sensory issues or perhaps anxiety.  These things are just common amongst people on the #Autism spectrum. Anyway,  as a matter of survival or self-preservation, we gravitate towards the one that is the loudest.  I realize how bad that sounds but there is some logic to this.  Typically, in my family, we are very sensitive to loud noise.  So it stands to…

Here is the disclaimer.  Hopefully, this will help to avoid some of the hate mail. Please keep in mind that I'm referring to the impact #Autism has on my kids. I'm not referring to my kids themselves. My poor little Emmett John is in a fever flare again.  We noticed yesterday, that his tongue is full of little sores.  Typically, his mouth is full of really big sores when a flare up occurs.  This is new to us and aren't sure if this is better or worse than normal. Note this picture is from a previous flare. Hopefully you get the point though. I say that because the actual volume of sores is higher than normal.  They are smaller but there are more of them. Emmett doesn't really tell us…

As loud and energetic as Emmett can be, I really appreciate these peaceful quiet moments. Yes, they are few and far between but I love watching him sleeping and not in any pain from the mouth sores associated with his fever disorder. This afternoon he fell asleep watching Penguins of Madagascar. Five minutes before I snapped this picture, he was screaming his head off. Now he's resting and hopefully preparing to wake up in a better mood. :-)

Lizze and I talked to the boys about Perry the tortoise.  Yes, they renamed her Perry, because she doesn't do anything.  However, the conversation didn't go well and ended with Elliott sobbing and hyperventilating.  Maybe I'm weak. Perhaps even a bad parent.  I simply couldn't do that to him. He has so much in his plate right now and I just can't be responsible for adding more to his plate. I can make this work its just going to be a bit more work for me but that's okay.  I'll have to rebuild at least part of the table to dog-proof the thing. This just was on my ever growing list of things I have to accomplish. As far as the potential health risks go, they are minimal, we didn't…

Elliott gifted me with this picture he drew of the Magic School Bus. He drew it earlier this week but gave it to me today. I'm so proud of him and feel totally blessed to be his father.  Elliott is easily the most compassionate soul I have ever known.  Anyone that ever meets him knows just how amazing he is.  Right now, he's using the picture as a book mark in his New Super Mario Bros 2 guide book.  I hope to get my office put back together and when I do, this will be hanging in there, along with the rest of the creative things my kids have made for me.  :-)

This evening Elliott had an anxiety attack. I'm not really sure what brought this on.  Elliott was trying to tell us that he owes us money for something that happened to the wall in his bedroom. We were explaining the difference between what happened in his room and what Gavin has done. We tried explaining that Gavin purposefully destroyed his room and various other items around the house. Elliott just freaked out. Lizze and I spent a great deal of time trying to calm him down. He was hyperventilating and shaking.  I think it's safe to say that his anxiety is out of control. We began his new anti anxiety, tenex. We're starting off with a really small dose and building up over the next few weeks. We did manage…