Sensory – Page 4 – The Autism Dad

I ended up having a really good day

For the last couple of years, I've associated June 5th with sadness. It's my grandma's birthday, and since she's passed, it was a sad day for me because she's not here to celebrate it anymore. I think that's pretty normal and part of human grief. For the first time since the funeral, I went and visited her at the cemetery. The kids wanted to go because they'd not been there before, and I took that as a sign. We got up early-ish on Saturday morning, packed up, and made the drive to Youngstown. I have no idea why my grandparents opted for the cemetery they did because it's out in the middle of nowhere. I meant to ask my Dad about that but keep forgetting to do that. I'm genuinely…

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June 6, 2021

My thoughts

Sometimes I need to remind myself

This week is turning out to be chock full of life lessons for me. I'm not one to shy away from valuable life lessons and I believe that I can learn something from every experience. I'm not super thrilled that some of these lessons have to be unpleasant in nature but such is life. I've been in a weird mood today and Mr. Emmett has constantly been asking me if I'm okay. Let's be honest here, he would be doing that anyway but it's harder to navigate this when I'm actually having a rough day. I ended up sitting him down and explaining some of the reasons for my more challenging day. Of course I kept it age appropriate and very general. Here's the thing. I think it's okay for…

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June 3, 2021

Mightier / My thoughts / Parenting Resources

Empowering my kids through a Summer of Mightier

COVID had taken its toll on pretty much everyone and my family is no exception. One of the things that I want to do is spend the summer, helping my kids to get back to some semblance of normalcy. COVID was very challenging partly due to the isolation, but also because of the frustration, anxiety, and fear it caused on the daily. As an adult, I found myself struggling to manage these emotions and I have a lifetime of experience to assist me. Gavin is 21 years old and Emmett is almost 13. It works amazing well with both of the boys. My kids on the other hand, struggled with managing these emotions in a way that was appropriate. Frankly, I feel like they've done an amazing job but we…

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May 30, 2021

Gavin / Independent Living / My thoughts

Helping my adult #autistic son find independence

Gavin is bound and determined to move out. Until recently, I hadn't really considered that to be an option but this is what he wants. As his parent, I want him to reach whatever level of independence he can achieve. With that in mind, I'm getting the ball rolling on this. The process is likely to take awhile and that's okay because I wouldn't do anything before COVID is resolved and it's safe for Gavin to pursue. I'm going to be preoccupied this week so I don't envision making any serious progress. I wanted to outline my current plan but keep in mind this is subject to change. I expect that we have a full year, at the very least, before we can really do anything. I want to make…

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February 7, 2021

My thoughts

#Autism or not, kids will be kids and brothers will be brothers

It's been a day. The kids have not been very cooperative and fighting a great deal more than usual. I'm not sure what's going on but we'll just say it was a somewhat challenging weekend. One of the issues we're struggling with is the boys get very frustrated with Gavin. They see a grown man on the outside but get frustrated when he doesn't act like an adult. Gavin wants to be treated like he's an adult but very often doesn't act like one and for good reason. Gavin is significantly cognitively delayed and in many areas of his emotional life, he's much closer to a 6 year old level than that of a 21 year old. I've known him for 20 years and I can find myself frustrated at…

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January 25, 2021

My thoughts

Fantastic news

In the spirit of trying to get back into writing more, I wanted to share some positive news tonight. First and foremost, the best thing that happened today is that Gavin's IVIG Infusion went well. I think that he will probably feel little more confident on Monday and perhaps he'll be able to get through his infusion a bit easier. Great job Gavin. In other Gavin news, his birthday present that wasn't supposed to arrive until next month, showed up today. He was super excited and now he only has one more item currently in shipping. It's something for him to look forward to. Elliott and Emmett are both caught up and current in regards to school. That's so amazing and I'm so proud of them. I know how difficult…

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January 22, 2021

Divorce / My thoughts

I got a break for the first time since September

It's been a couple days and I wanted to share something before I crash for the night. This will be brief because I'm exhausted and I'll try to follow up later. The other day, I called Lizze to find out if they'd been locked down for at least 14 days. They had been and so I suggested making arrangements for the boys to go over for a few days. It's been since September and that's really hard on her and the kids. We had decided to shut visits down until COVID was under control. That's the only reason she hasn't seen them. Since the insurrection at the Capitol Building and the current threats for this coming week, as well as how much worse COVID is getting, I thought we should…

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January 16, 2021

My thoughts

My kids had to learn about Trumps attempted coup in school today

We've made it through the first week back at school and we're doing pretty awesome. Emmett is completely current as is Elliott. This has been a challenge for autistic kids in regards to remote learning. I've spoken with tons of parents dealing with the same or worse. Lots of kids don't even show up to class every day. I I feel pretty good at this moment in time because the boys are adjusting to the change, finally. It's only taken half a school year but we have made progress. That's a positive thing and I'm crazy proud. We had a rough day yesterday because you know, an army of stupid Trump supports literally laid siege on the Capitol Building, in a attempted coup. The goal being to ensure a second…

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January 7, 2021