Read more about the article Pictures from yesterdays therapeutic martial arts promotion
Autism Parenting Victories / Elliott / Emmett John / My thoughts

Pictures from yesterdays therapeutic martial arts promotion

The boys had their end of the school year martial arts promotion yesterday. Both Elliott and Emmett did awesomely. Elliott was promoted to blue belt, and Emmett was promoted to high blue. Lizze and I couldn't possibly be any prouder of them than we are. I posted some video on my Twitter feed yesterday and you can check that out by clicking here. I wanted to let you know how things went and share a couple pictures of the boys from yesterday.

2 Comments
May 25, 2019
Read more about the article Today’s a big day for the boys
My thoughts

Today’s a big day for the boys

The school year is just about wrapped up. We're finishing the last full week of school for this school year and today is the boy's final martial arts promotion. Emmett will be going first, and his promotion lasts about an hour. Elliott will go next but not for two hours after Emmett finishes. We're going to have a bit of time to kill around lunchtime before we return and watch Elliott get his promotion. This is always an exciting experience, and there is no one more excited than Gavin. He gets so happy to see his brothers doing their martial arts, as well as spending time at his old school. Gavin's a very proud big brother. 😀 Emmett takes this very seriously because he's very much into martial arts. Elliott,…

0 Comments
May 24, 2019
Read more about the article Do you have a #selfcare buddy?
Family Pets / My thoughts / Ruby / Self-Care

Do you have a #selfcare buddy?

Lizze took the boys to school and let me sleep in this morning. She's pretty awesome. Actually, she's pretty and awesome. 😉 Anyway, she had an appointment this morning, and when she got back, I was able to go for my walk. I don't usually like walking between the hours of 10 AM and 3 PM, especially when the sun is blasting but I slathered on some SPF 50, packed up my self-care buddy and hit the park. If you've not figured out yet, Ruby is my self-care buddy. She's quite passionate about walking and will relentlessly me until we go to the park. This really helps, especially on the days I don't feel like going. 😀 Everyone should have a self-care buddy. It's roughly 80°F and incredibly humid today,…

2 Comments
May 23, 2019
Read more about the article My son asked that I share this
Artwork / Gavin / My thoughts

My son asked that I share this

Gavin has been a Sonic fan for most of his life. Sonic is also one of the main characters in his Schizophrenic hallucinations. We hear about Sonic all the time, and while we can't see him, he often accompanies us where ever we go. Anyway, the point is, Sonic is very important to Gavin. It's been a good while since Gavin spent time drawing. He's usually too busy running missions with Sonic and the rest of his superhero team. The other day, however, Gavin came downstairs after having drawn and colored this picture of Sonic. He's super proud of himself and asked that I share his work with my readers. ☺ I'm always thrilled when my kids are creative, and I'm also excited to share my kid's artwork. I think…

2 Comments
May 23, 2019
Read more about the article I get demoralized at times and wish I could do better
Autism Parenting Struggles / My thoughts

I get demoralized at times and wish I could do better

Do you ever have those days where you can't shake a bad mood? I'm totally having one of those days right now. I'm not angry or anything like that. I do, however, feel frustrated for a number of reasons and overwhelmed by a great many things in my life. All I want to do is focus I on improving our quality of life, even a tiny amount. School let's out in five days, and we have a long summer ahead of us. There's a zero percent chance of us being able to afford going on any type of vacation, but we're going to try to get in as many day trips as we can. Even that's likely to be a struggle, but it's important that we give the kids the…

2 Comments
May 22, 2019
Read more about the article Today just keeps on giving
Autism Parenting Struggles / My thoughts

Today just keeps on giving

It's been another long night, and I'm just now getting around to writing anything. Mr. Emmett is all sorts of miserable because of his current fever flare, resulting in painful mouth sores, and is not very pleasant to be around at the moment. I can't really blame him. He's in a shitload of pain. This will be day two of the increased dose of his anti-virals, and we're hoping this helps to provide him with relief as soon as possible. Lizze's had a doctors appointment this morning, and as a result, I was not able to go walking until after lunch. Gavin's been keeping to himself for most of the day, and the times I have seen him, he's barking orders for things he wants me to get the next…

0 Comments
May 21, 2019
Read more about the article My 19-year-old #Autistic son totally impressed me
Akron Children's Hospital / Autism Parenting Insight / Gavin / My thoughts / Psychiatry

My 19-year-old #Autistic son totally impressed me

When Gavin was younger, he was admitted to the psych unit at Akron Children's Hospital more times than I can remember. It was always a last resort but a necessary action when things got really bad, and he needed acute stabilization. Anyway, Gavin's doing so much better now, but he's beginning to struggle once again. Most of this struggle revolves around him, managing his frustration. It's not easy for him because he's very easily frustrated and often has unrealistic expectations of himself. The other day, Gavin came downstairs and wanted to show me something. He'd been straightening up his room and came across one of his old folders from a psych stay at Akron Children's. Inside it, he found some of the work he'd done while he was there. In…

1 Comment
May 20, 2019
Read more about the article There’s no chance of that happening today
My thoughts

There’s no chance of that happening today

I didn't sleep very well last night. I'm really feeling stressed out, and I woke up almost every hour throughout the night. My brain was just churning out endless amounts of worry, and it kept waking me up. I was able to get the boys off to school on time and then go for my walk. Ruby, of course, went along with me. When I got home, I was able to work on a little writing before having to take Lizze to an appointment before lunch. Halfway to her doctor's office, the school called, and Emmett needed to be picked up. He apparently has a very bad mouth sore and was unable to make it through the day. He almost never comes home for these anymore and the fact that…

0 Comments
May 20, 2019