How do you know when it's going to be one of those days? I ask this because I'm curious if this is something that is different for each of us. Is there a tell tale sign that the day is going to be extra challenging? For me personally, I can usually tell by the mood that Gavin wakes up in.  Lately he's been in a good mood.  However,  when he becomes frustrated first thing in the morning,  it's usually downhill from there. What kinds of things do see as signs that a bad day is in the horizon? **Thanks for reading**        -Lost and Tired Please join our Autism Help Forum Look for "Autism Help" app at the Google Play Store This was posted via WordPress for Android,…

Elliott and Emmett found a nice distraction front Gavin's meltdown by playing Lego Batman 2 on the computer.  Despite the fact that have been bickering all day long,  and I mean all day long,  they worked as a team to defeat the Joker and Two Face. They took turns without any issues at all.  When Elliott was stuck,  Emmett helped him out and visversa.  I'm really proud of my boys for playing so nicely together. While Gavin's meltdown was unpleasant for all involved,  at least something positive came out of it.  :-) **Thanks for reading**        -Lost and Tired Please join our Autism Help Forum Look for "Autism Help" app at the Google Play Store This was posted via WordPress for Android, courtesy of Samsung's Galaxy S III.…

So Bella is back from the Vet's office and is going to be just fine.  They removed the tape,  which she had a reaction to.  She also did pop one stitch,  but she's already healing up nicely.  They did fit her for an e-collar.  To say Bella was unhappy about that would be a gross understatement.  However,  she only has to wear it when we can't watch her.  The stitches come out a week from today so we are going to have to try to just watch her till then. Bella sorta freaks out with the e-collar on.  It's kinda like trying to walk a cat on a leash.  They just sorta bounce around spazzing out. That's why we are going to likely just try to watch her instead of…

The honeymoon phase with Gavin is officially over. We had our first full fledged meltdown since his return from the psych unit. He's done pretty well until this point and I give him all the credit in the world for that. However, while his physical behavior has been better his continued disrespect for Lizze has continued to get worse. After meeting with Dr. Patti last night, we have all agreed that we must crack down on the disrespect. There is absolutely no excuse for this type of behavior. It was also decided that we would maintain the oatmeal thing but since he says it doesn't bother him anymore, we need to add something in addition to it. For example, we can have him write "I will be respectful to my mother, she loves…

I have to take Ms.  Bella into the vet this morning at 10:15.  She got into her bandages last night and some of the tape is stuck on the actual sutures.  It should only take a few minutes,  hopefully. Less than an hour later,  Lizze is scheduled for her long awaited MRI.  Every time she has been close to actually getting it done,  Gavin ends up in the hospital. We were supposed to be in Cleveland this morning with Gavin.  However,  we received a call yesterday explaining that they found a better doctor for Gavin to see.  This changed his appointment date and allowed Lizze to finally get this done. This also means that we are going to be making quite a few trips to the Cleveland Clinic for Gavin…

As you may recall reading,  Lizze is having good major back problems.  She has been waiting for insurance to approve an MRI. This was accomplished awhile ago,  however,  each time she scheduled for it,  Gavin ended up in the friggin hospital. She will finally get that desperately needed MRI done this morning. She's in a great deal of pain,  so she nervous about being able to lay still during the process. We have decided that our best bet would be to divide and conquer.  My mother will pick her up in the morning and escort her to the hospital and ring her home safely upon completion of the imaging. Her doctor suspects to find either a herniation or something called spinal stenosis. I have a herniation myself and have been…

Bella got into her badges this evening and I was forced to remove as much of the as I could. Having many years as a paramedic under my belt helped with this.  Having said that,  we did run into a problem and will have to get Bella,  back into the vet in the morning.  Most of the badges came off,  however there is a section that appears to be stuck to the actual sutures and I was not comfortable removing that.  I ran out to Walgreens and bought a bunch of clean wrap and patched her back up.  That should hold her until we can get back into the vet.  My guess is that they would simply remove the tape but they are move skilled in that department and I…

We had a very interesting session with Dr. Patti tonight.  We discussed Gavin's interactions with Lizze. Gavin is very mean and disrespectful to her and it's really getting to a point that Lizze is quite upset by this and frankly,  so am I. When with a child that has #Autism or maybe other mental health issues like Gavin,  it's so difficult to tell what is what. Factor in puberty and the teenage years and the water surrounding certain behavioral issues get even murkier. The Lost and Tired family is there right now with Gavin. Dr.  Patti,  Lizze and myself sat down with Gavin tonight and had a very open,  honest and disturbing conversation with him.  It was made clear to him from the start that he wasn't in trouble but…