2 things my #Autism family is struggling with right now

It's been an exhausting day.  I managed to squeeze out five hours of sleep between last night and now. That was broken up into three tiny chunks and not all at once. That sorta kills the benefit.  Emmett's been having nightmares again for the last couple of nights, and in true Autistic fashion, he's generalized the cause as being his bed. In other words, because he had a nightmare while in his own bed, he will always have nightmares if he's in his own bed.  Generalization is one of the challenges Autism has brought into his young life and its tough to counter.  He's so smart and logically I think he knows his bed has nothing to go with bad dreams, but emotionally he can't put those things together.  It's…

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5 ways you can help an #Autism parent 

Being an Autism parent is overwhelming. I think anyone who's parenting a child with Autism would likely agree with that statement. What I think we can sometimes forget is that Autism can be overwhelming to anyone, including family and friends.  I truly believe that most family and friends want to be supportive, but don't know how. There are also very unsupportive or unhealthy dynamics between family and friends, but let's focus on the positive.  My thoughts at this point, center around helping family and friends discover ways that they can be more supportive, by sharing some ideas that can make a difference. Pick up the phone The easiest thing that someone can do to help an Autism parent is very simple and doesn't cost a penny. All you have to…

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I’m in desperate need of sleep

I had a rough night. I fell asleep around 1 AM and was woke up about 3 AM by Emmett. I don't remember all the details but he had a nightmare and just wanted to snuggle.  Normally I wouldn't mind but I've spent the last several nights on the couch because Elliott's been dealing with insomnia, even on Melatonin.  As a result of many nights on the couch, my back has gone out. I don't remember feeling this much pain in many, many years. The point being that Emmett wanting to snuggle, wasn't going to work cause I was in took much pain.  I ended up moving down to the couch again and was eventually able to fall back asleep. Lizze is sending me back to bed and I'm going…

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We had 4 MAJOR #Autism related hurdles to overcome this morning 

Lizze and I had an interesting night. We realized at about midnight, that the boys actually have school today. For some reason I had it stuck in my chronically sleep deprived brain, that they didn't go back until Tuesday..  That realization sent us into a panic because there are very specific things that absolutely must be in place each morning before school, or things won't go well. It was midnight and we were not prepared for the boys to return to school in roughly eight hours.  There were several issues we had to find solutions for, before we could go to bed.  For starters, we had planned on getting their school clothes washed and ready today, because they wouldn't need them until tomorrow. This new tidbit of information, sent us…

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So this happened last night and it was scary

Last night while I was trying to get Elliott to sleep, we were startled by flashing lights and people screaming. It was roughly 3 am and I hopped up to see what it was.  All I could see from the first floor was flashlights, maybe thirty feet from my window.  Elliott and I went upstairs, not only for safety reasons but so I could figure out what was happening and if we were in any danger. You may recall that we've had some crazy shit happen within a few feet of my house. If you don't remember, I'll list the big ones.  Hostage crisis, complete with snipers camped out across the street and us being evacuated from our house late at night We were involved in a drive by shooting…

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