Worst morning in a very long time

We had the worst morning in I can't remember how long. Emmett was having the worst morning ever. I'm not sure what was going on but he couldn't tolerate any of his clothes.  Emmett's issues with clothes, extended well beyond the usual struggles with his shoes or socks.  He was unable to tolerate his crocs, shorts and shirt today.  The screaming was unbelievable and went on for almost an hour. By the time 8:30 AM rolled around, I decided to take Elliott to school and then finish dealing with whatever Emmett was going through.  Leaving him behind wasn't something I wanted to do but Elliott needed to get to school and we were already thirty minutes later.  The idea of being left behind, sorta jarred d Emmett enough to put…

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Bad News

I'm going to start with the most important thing first and that's Emmett. Apparently, Emmett was climbing on a metal folding chair that Lizze sits on when she's reading to them at night.  While he was climbing, he slipped and smashed his mouth into the metal frame of the chair.  This resulted in him chipping his front tooth. Of course, this is an adult tooth. It doesn't appear to be that bad of a chip but we will call the dentist in the morning, get him and Elliott in for their checkup and whatever Emmett needs.  He's not in any pain and I think the dentist will just sorta grind it down a little bit and leave it. It could have been much, much worse and I'm very grateful it…

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It’s a weird day in my house

It's a weird day here in The Autism Dad household. Everyone is in kind of a weird place today. I don't think anyone's in a bad mood per say, but everyone's a bit grumpy.  Lizze didn't sleep last night and I didn't get much sleep last night. It was simply one of those nights where sleep remains elusive.  Thankfully, the boys seem to be finally feeling better. I still hear the occasional cough but nothing major, and no fevers. That's the big one. No fever is a really good sign. ☺  I'm needing to hit the grocery store today cause the boys need stuff for their lunches.. I'm not sure what I'm going to find for Emmett. Last week I got him to eat pepperoni sticks, apple sauce and a…

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That didn’t go as planned

We sent the boys to hang out with Lizze's parents today, so we could attempt to round up Greysha. This cat is impossible to find and even harder to capture.  Lizze and I literally spent hours this afternoon trying to catch her.  Frankly, I don't know if we will ever be able to round her up. I wish we had a better solution but she just never adjusted to being around people. If we look at her while she's walking around, she freaks out and runs away. We've tried everything to help her adjust, but it's been a few years now and the older she gets, the more feral like behavior we are seeing. She's now getting very aggressive with our older cat. She's even gone after the ferrets.  We…

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How we used our Ping Camera by Vivint Smart Home to protect our cat 

This is an unorthodox use of our smart home technology, but I'm always looking to share the creative things we've been able to do with our smart home technology by Vivint Smart Home. We've been having a problem with one of our cats. Our oldest cat Cleo is being bullied by our younger one named Greysha. She and her brother Blue were adopted as feral kittens, three or four years ago. Over the years, Blue has adapted well and enjoys his life as part of our family. Greysha, on the other hand, hasn't. She's always been easily frightened. She's retained her feral instincts, and we will only be seen when she wants to eat. Lately, she's been appearing more often, but when she does, she's very aggressive. We've spoken to our…

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Op-Ed: When a 10 year old with #Autism is arrested for assault 

If you haven't already heard about this story, you can read in on CNN by clicking here.  After reading the article about John Haygood, a 10 year old little boy with Autism, being arrested for assaulting his teacher, I was at a loss for words. As a father of three boys with Autism, my gut reaction is one of anger.  Based on the article, it seems that John had been experiencing behavioral problems of varying degrees, not all that uncommon for kids on the Autism Spectrum.  The incident that apparently sparked this entire situation took place last October.  John was being disruptive in class, throwing paper balls at classmates, and was asked to go to time out. He refused and it appears the teacher went to physically move him and that's…

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The massive morning meltdown

It was a rough morning and Emmett was not easy to get off to school. He woke up in what's amounted to a horrible mood. He said he was tired and I'm not here to say he wasn't. The problem was all the fricking screaming.  Lizze was making lunches and I was trying to get Emmett dressed. The operative word in the last sentence is trying.  He was very anti-clothing, which usually means he's struggling with sensory issues.  I eventually succeeded in getting Emmet  dressed, but to be completely honest, I'm not sure how I survived this morning.  Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly grateful that he made it to school but no I'm completely drained. 

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I received some really awesome news tonight

I wanted to share some really amazing news. If you recall, I submitted my very first article to a company that hired me to write. This was basically a trial run and if all goes well, this could lead to more articles.  This is a big deal because this is really good money and great exposure for my blog.  I was really nervous because I really wasn't given much restriction and I wasn't sure what to expect.  As luck would have it, they absolutely loved my article and after one round of editing, it appears to be good to go. This is a pretty big company and it seems that I'm a good fit thus far.  When this article goes live, I'll be sharing the link and asking you all…

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