When my kids have a great day at school

The boys had a great day at school today. That's not a huge surprise, but I never assume anything. I appreciate this ending to the week because we are heading into four day weekend and it's always a good thing to start those out on the right foot. Apparently, tomorrow is a teacher in-service day and then, of course; Monday is MLK Day. I'm super proud of the boys for giving the week their all and walking away with a smile. We don't have any plans for this weekend, but the boys are going to spend the night with their grandparents tomorrow night. That means we get a break. :-)

0 Comments

Are #Autism Parents Overprotective? 

Being a parent period, is a difficult but rewarding task. When you're an Autism or Special Needs parent, that difficulty level is increased to the nth degree as is the reward factor. Raising a child with a developmental disorder like Autism, is extremely difficult because of the very nature of the disorder. Autism is a very dynamic condition and often presents in a very fluid manner. This means that everything involving the parenting of a child with Autism can more often than not be a moving target. In my personal experience with my three boys on the Autism Spectrum, something that works today, may never work again. Likewise, something that's never worked before, could actually work today. Every single day that I wake up, I honestly have no idea what…

13 Comments

Why #Autism Parents sleep when they can

I slept for a couple of hours after dropping the boys off at school and feel so much better now. There were a million things I needed to get done this morning, but none of that was going to happen without at least some sleep. This morning's nap puts me at a total of only four hours of sleep but sometimes I get must less and so I'm grateful for what I can get when I can get it. Gavin and Lizze are both sleeping right now, and that gives me some time to myself to get some writing done. Writing helps me to clear my head, deal with my depression and also provide a better life for my family. In other words, it's very important to me. One of the…

5 Comments

2 hours of sleep

This morning was particularly rough for me personally. Elliott was up until almost 4 am and shortly after falling asleep, he woke up screaming because he must have bitten his the inside of his cheek. He was really upset and in pain but I couldn't figure out what was going on until we were up for the day. Elliott wasn't able to tell me what had happened because he wasn't fully awake. He did go back to sleep but when the alarm went off to get the day started, we had only had about 2 hours of sleep. The boys did get off to school without much issue but I'm going to have to take a nap..

14 Comments

Fixing what’s broken within the #Autism community

One of the things that I've seen as an obstacle within the Autism community, is our ability to work together regardless of our differing beliefs. I've spoken about the major rifts that have formed and how those rifts are preventing unity.  If you've been blessed enough to not run into one of these rifts, count yourself lucky because it's not always a pleasant experience, especially for the newly initiated parents within the community who have no idea what they're walking into.  Likewise, if you haven't experienced this first hand, don't discount the validity of these words because many others have experienced these things.   These rifts have led to factions or individual groups that sorta break off and do their own thing. What leads to these secessions is often a…

1 Comment

Feeling grateful 

Last night Elliott fell asleep with no problems. Emmett on the other hand had a rough time again. I don't think he fell asleep until 10:30-ish. That's an improvement over what it's been lately but it still presents its challenges. We had a slow start to the morning and a hard time waking the kids up. Truthfully, we had a hard time getting up as well but someone has to captain the ship. Having said that, once they were awake, Elliott and Emmett got ready for school without incident. In fact, Emmett put his socks and crocs on without hesitation this morning. I don't know what's different but he just woke up in a place where his shoes and socks were okay. This does happen on occasion but not very…

0 Comments