I have some really good news tonight. Elliott is peacefully sleeping, and has been all night. This is the first time in over three days that he's done that. The neighborhood noise was really bad, and he slept right through it. My hope is that he will sleep in and feel much better when he wakes up. Like I said before, we aren't sure what's behind this, but at this point, we're just grateful that it seems to be over for now.
We're currently working through a mini-crisis of sorts. Mr. Elliott has been awake for the better part of three days. He's taken a few short (as in one or two hours at a time) naps, but nothing significant. This is on Melatonin and his nightly Benadryl for allergies. There are likely a couple of pieces to this problem, but I'm not sure what the root cause is. One issue is possibly related to being manic. We aren't really putting much into that at this point, but as I've said before, it's on our radar. The second part is very likely to be anxiety related. He's been experiencing a significant amount of anxiety lately, and that's just part of his severe anxiety disorder. He's anxious for seemingly no reason, and it…
A few days ago, I took the family to a local park. The boys wanted to go hunting for salamanders in the creek, and that's exactly what we did. Everyone had a ton of fun, we caught lots of salamanders and gently released them back where we found them. Before releasing them, the boys got to spend a little time checking them out. One of them took a liking to Emmett's shirt.. ☺ Oddly enough, until last year, I didn't know salamanders were even living in my area. I guess now I know.. ☺ Below are a bunch of pictures of our trip. Simply click the image and the gallery will appear.. Enjoy and let me. Know what you think. [foogallery id="56634"]
It's been another horrible night. Elliott has yet to fall asleep, and that means I didn't get any sleep either. About half way through the night, Emmett joined us in the land of people who should be sleeping, but aren't. Lizze has class in about an hour, and I'm barely able to even focus my eyes on the tablet I'm using to write this. I'm concerned that Elliott's having so many sleepless night, even while taking Melatonin. God help me today, I'm going to need all the help I can get. Frankly, a nap wouldn't hurt either.
The boys are in rare form this morning. Emmett is refusing to wear clothes and Elliott won't stop talking. There is so much needless noise, and it's ironic because the loudest people in the house, are the ones who hate notice the most. I would love to have some quiet but I don't think it's in the forecast..
My goal with this post is to help you understand the meltdown process from start to finish. I'm hoping to reinforce that meltdowns are not behavioral problems. Meltdowns do not require discipline and aren't indicative or bad parenting or a bad child. I am using an example that happened in our lives recently, to help you better understand meltdowns. We went to the grocery store in order for Emmett to pick out his birthday cake. It was a momentary lapse in judgment, and believe me, I paid the price for it. In truth, Lizze, Emmett, and I paid a price for it. The store had tons of ice cream cakes, but the only white or yellow cakes had a graduation theme. The theme was only plastic decorations that could be…
I didn't get a chance to write much today, and there's a good reason for that. I was up all night with both Elliott and Emmett. I don't know why Elliott was up but it's concerning when we've possibly got Bipolar disorder on the radar. As for Emmett, he was nauseous and running a fever. He was set up on the couch, with a puke bucket and a very low threshold for anything. Being up all night would have been bad enough, but he wasn't just awake. Emmett was having massive meltdowns into the wee hours of the morning. These weren't mini-meltdowns either. It was a super surprised that someone didn't call the police kind of meltdowns. This, of course, didn't help Elliott sleep, but he was already not sleeping…
This is a message from the Autism Society of Greater Akron. I'm simply helping to spread the word, and drum up support. Please take a second and read this, especially if you're in Ohio.. I fully support the Autism Society.. When they speak, we need to listen. This week, Ohio's legislature passed a budget bill that freezes enrollments in expanded Medicaid after July 1, 2018. The bill has been passed to Governor Kasich and he is expected to veto the language that freezes enrollments. If that happens, the legislature may have the votes to override his veto and pass the enrollment freeze into law. Here's what you need to know and how you can help: The Autism Society of Ohio and other ASA affiliates around the state have sent letters to the…