I wanted to let you a know that I have more tablets to give away and should be able to continue doing so on a regular basis. I'm so excited to be able to provide this amazing opportunity to my readers. More details to come soon. :-)
One of the most powerful weapons in a special needs parents arsenal is the brush. When you are raising a child with sensory processing disorder, brushing your child's skin is a really good way to help calm them down and provide good sensory input. It may seem silly but when you see how well it works, you'll be amazed. Honestly, I don't know if this works for everyone but I think it works more often than not. When Emmett is really having a rough time, we can try to help him through it by brushing his skin. Typically, we use a baby hair brush but when your dog chews it up, you can use something similar. Emmett likes to be brushed in a particular way. Usually, he likes being given…
It's really friggin cold outside here. Thank God we finally got the remote start fixed on the van yesterday. It hasn't worked all winter and every time I was supposed to bring it in, something came up. It took the guy 5 minutes to fix it and there was no charge for the repair. Apparently, a relay was bad and he's seen a number of them going bad lately. Anyway, now we can remotely start the car again. :-)
I wanted to share this, not only because it's friggin adorable but because it shows the unique bond that a child can have with a pet. We've had Bella for about a year now and she was 8 yeeks old at the time. For some reason, Bella and Emmett bonded in a way that brought him out of his shell and into the world. I have no idea what has caused this bond to form, but I'm certainly grateful that it has. Emmett's made more progress in the last year, since she's been at his side, then he has in previous years. I'm not sure if Bella sensed something in Emmett but I know that Emmett sensed something in Bella. As Emmett becomes more independent, they are as attached at…
Elliott had a meltdown tonight before going to bed. This lasted about 30 minutes and began when it was time to take his bedtime meds. I really hate meltdowns because they're miserable for all persons involved. Elliott has become very tunnel visioned when it comes to things like video games or really anything that captures his attention. He wanted to play his 3DS in bed tonight and we said that he's played it enough already today. That was the trigger. We didn't even kill it cold turkey. We gave him some lead time to finish up what he was doing. He's just having a rough time anymore. The stress of everything that Lizze and I are trying to cope with inadvertently spills over and impacts him as well. No matter…
I love the way my kids think. This one is just killing me. :-) The other day I was trying to work and Emmett wanted me to play with him. I was trying to explain to him that Daddy has to write in order to pay the bills. I was being goofy and said "Emmett, Daddy has to bring home the bacon". It's been three days now and Emmett is still asking me where the bacon is. As soon as I move to go somewhere, he asks if he can come with me so he can help me pick out the bacon. I think I may actually have to go out and just buy some bacon. It will put an end to to Emmett confusion. :-) He's just too cute.…
I had a really good discussion today on Facebook of all places. I had asked the question, "Do you miss your life before #autism?" I was kinda surprised by the mixed reaction that drew from the community. There were some people that almost seemed to take offense to the question. Like how dare I ask if they miss their old life. On the other hand, there were people that responded saying that they absolutely miss their old life at times. The discussion got somewhat heated because someone made the comment that you have to want to see the positive and that they aren't a part of the pity party autism support groups. Personally, I was really caught off guard by how this question was taken, at least by some. However,…
I've been totally dragging today. It's like forgetting to disengage the ebrake on your car and trying to drive away. I just can't seem to get moving. Emmett wants all of my attention during the day. I try my very best to find balance between working and spending time with him. Working from home is both a blessing and curse because there are far too many distractions. Today, I really had to push myself to play with Emmett. Lizze is still really sick and that's just exhausting for for both of us. Emmett wanted to play with his blocks. He wanted to build castles and then use the castle pseudo bowling pins. After the castle was built, we would roll these balls at the castle and try and knock it…