Read more about the article Staring down the barrel of a four day weekend 
Emmett John / My thoughts

Staring down the barrel of a four day weekend 

The boys are off of school for the next four days. There's teachers conferences on Friday, and of course, Monday's a holiday. I'm not entirely sure what we're going to do with all this extra family time but we'll figure something out.  I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a part of me a little worried about how this is gonna go because we're not off to a good start...  A few minutes ago, Mr. Emmett came walking into our room, scared the shit out of me and proceeded to attach himself to my person because he wasn't feeling good.  He's miserable and so we moved to the living room. Doing this provides him with some comfort, as well as the best chance of sleep.. ☺  Four days of…

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February 17, 2017
Read more about the article All about raising a child with complex health issues and school
Emmett John / My thoughts

All about raising a child with complex health issues and school

My wife and I face many challenges in our life. At the moment, one of those challenges centers around our youngest, Emmett. Emmett is eight years old and absolutely loves going to school. He loves learning and excels academically.  Unfortunately, Emmett faces challenges that interfere with his ability to attend school sometimes.  Between Autism, Anxiety, Sensory Processing issues and a rare fever disorder called PFAPA, we never know of what's going to happen.  The sensory issues alone are more than a handful at times. Sensory issues impact people in different ways, and in Emmett's case, eating and wearing clothes present a multitude of challenges. The one that will keep him home from school the most often has to do with not tolerating anything on his feet.  The other most common…

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February 16, 2017
Read more about the article Emmett’s Fever Flares have returned
Emmett John / PFAPA

Emmett’s Fever Flares have returned

I had a really tough time falling asleep last night. I wasn't even feeling stressed out or anything like that. I just couldn't get comfortable and ended up moving to the couch about 4 am.  Anyway, Emmett has up on and off last night. In fact, he's been this way for the last few nights.  This morning when it came time to get ready for school, we finally pieced together why he's been struggling more than usual. It's a fever flare.  I mentioned earlier in the week that we could be looking at one but I wasn't going to jump to conclusions or possibly even jinx anyone by making that suggestion out loud.  Today however, Emmett is actually running a fever and can't go to school. Truthfully, I don't think…

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February 16, 2017
Read more about the article Emmett’s fever flares may have returned 
Emmett John / My thoughts / PFAPA

Emmett’s fever flares may have returned 

On Saturday night, Emmett began complaining of his mouth hurting. When I checked it out for him, I found a rather large mouth sore on the inside of his lip.  This may end up being nothing more than a random cold sore but Emmett's never had random cold sores. When these painful little things show up, it's always been because he was entering into a fever flare.  He's been really, really grumpy today and hasn't been eating much. All of these things are classic signs of a flare but he hasn't had one since early last year...  🙁  We'll have to see how he's doing in the morning before we know how school will be handled. If he's in pain, we can kiss him wearing shoes and socks goodbye because…

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February 13, 2017
Read more about the article Show of hands, who can relate to this #Autism Parenting challenge? 
Emmett John / My thoughts / Sensory / Shoes and Socks

Show of hands, who can relate to this #Autism Parenting challenge? 

It never fails that when I'm sick, tons of other shit happens at the same time, making it harder for me to rest.  I'm still not feeling good, didn't sleep well last night and Lizze is struggling to walk because of her hip. Simply waking up this morning had us at a disadvantage, right out of the gate.  Emmett had a really bad morning but not because he was doing anything wrong. He was unable to wear anything on his feet, despite exhaustive efforts to help him do so. He wouldn't even wear his flip flops.  We were almost twenty five minutes late before we even got him out to the car.  The poor kid had his shoes and socks on when we got into the car but he became…

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February 8, 2017
Read more about the article I feel like I was hit by a freight train and left to die in the tracks 
Emmett John / My thoughts / Sensory / Shoes and Socks

I feel like I was hit by a freight train and left to die in the tracks 

Emmett has clearly woken up on the wrong side of the bed and is not having a good morning. Shoe's and socks are presenting a major problem today and it doesn't seem like we are able to work through it like we usually do.  I'm feeling like I was hit by a freight train and left to die on the tracks.  All I have to do is get the boys to school and then I can come home and pass out. The only thing between me being able to go back to sleep, is Emmett and his shoes and socks. 

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February 8, 2017
Read more about the article How literal interpretation leads to meltdowns 
Emmett John / Homework / My thoughts / School Related Issues

How literal interpretation leads to meltdowns 

I promised that I would write about why Emmett's school report led to so many meltdowns over the last week or so. The reason can be summed up in two words, literal interpretation.   The instructions provided simply said to write about three things you like to do in the snow. Seems pretty simple and straight forward, right? Wrong.. Emmett was so fucking stressed out over this because he takes the instructions quite literally, and is unwilling to deviate from them in any way for fear of breaking the rules or lying. When we sat down to work on this last week, we began by coming up with three things he liked to do in the snow. That proved to be so much more difficult than it sounds. The way…

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February 3, 2017
Read more about the article Starting the day with a massive meltdown
Emmett John / Meltdowns / My thoughts

Starting the day with a massive meltdown

Massive Meltdown is the buzz phrase for today. Emmett has been up since about 3 am. I don't know exactly why he woke up but he did and was basically up for the rest of the night. Unfortunately, that usually means that his resources for dealing with the next day will be sorely lacking, making life more challenging for him. True to form, Emmett didn't have a good morning and could not cope with his socks. Overnight we received a couple inches of snow making his flip flops no longer an option. I worked with him for twenty minutes without success. Lizze picked up where I left off and put in another twenty minutes, only she was eventually successful in getting him to tolerate both his shoes and his socks.…

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January 27, 2017