Remember the Gummy Bears?

Do you remember the old cartoon,  The Gummy Bears.  Remember how they are bouncing here and there and everywhere? Elliott and Emmett have been channeling these high flying and extremely energetic bears since about 5 o'clock this morning.  They are in super duper hyper mode and literally bouncing off of everything in sight, including each other.  I'm going on the record as saying that I wish I could have a fraction of their energy. Even a fraction of a fraction would last me awhile.  I have no idea what the heck happened while they were sleeping but holy crap, it's going to be a really long day.

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#Autism and Animals: What’s your experience?

Moments like this make me so happy.  As a father,  I'm thrilled to death that my son has this kind of companionship with his puppy. Bella is an amazing dog and has done more for Emmett in the last year than all the therapies thus far ever have.  Emmett still spends a great deal of time with Bella, each and every day. I would love to hear your experience with animals and your #Autistic child’s? Please replay via the comments below......

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#Autism, #Anxiety and Tenex: Pulling the plug

So we had our appointment with Dr.  Reynolds yesterday.  The main discussion centered around Elliott and how's he's doing on the anti-anxiety medication Tenex. We went over all of our concerns and ultimately decided, with Dr.  Reynolds, to pull the plug on the Tenex.  He will have to be weened off over the next 10 days. We are also going to play around with his ADHD medication and see if it's really benefiting him at all.  When I say playing around, I just mean withholding it for a few days and see how he does.  This medication is very fast acting and can be started or stopped at any point.  Hopefully, we can balance Elliott out and help him to get some traction once again. 

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#Autism, The @Swiffer and Endless Fun

As a father to 3 boys in different places on the #Autism spectrum, I have rarely found any one thing that can capture the attention of both Elliott and Emmett at the same time.  Typically,  the only thing Web have found was video game related. That was until last night. In my fruitless effort to get my house in order, I picked up a box of replacement Swiffer heads. I did a quick once over and was putting them away. Apparently, I caught the attention of Emmett who was wanting to know what the heck I was doing.  Admittedly, it's really sad that Emmett hasn't witnessed me dusting enough in his 4 years of life, to know what dusting was. That's a pretty big fail on my part as a…

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Having the crap scared out of you, literally

You know how a pet can have a certain quality? Something that you always associate with them. Well,  we have only had Dean for a few days but it's become very clear that he has a very special talent. It turns out that anytime that Dean gets scared, he poops on the floor. This has happened 3 or 4 times now.  Maggie had Dean sorta cornered behind a piece of furniture this afternoon and once again, had the crap scared out of him, literally. The other three times, Dean pooped on Lizze.  :-)

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Operation Hope: Medication Monday

Today is going to be a day of medication changes for the Lost and Tired family.  I've already discussed Elliott's situation but I haven't explained Gavin's.  Tonight, Gavin will begin taking ativan as a means of suppressing his constantly elevated heart rate. We're going intobthis knowing that there are some serious risk factors.  The combination of the ativan and the clozapine that he's already on increases the risks of side effects for both drugs. The ativan isn't as big of a deal but the clozapine is.  Clozapine is the most tightly controlled medication in the United States. It's been responsible for many deaths in the EU. The most serious and deadly side effect has to do with the destruction of immune system.  If safely controlled and tightly monitored, Clozapine is…

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Thank God for small favors

Elliott's kitten, Dean, has been dealing with an upper respiratory infection since before he came to live with us.  We just didn't know about it at the time. Anyway, we had him to the Vet's office this morning.  We wanted to find out how bad it is.  Thankfully, he's just fine.  We have to keep his eyes clean but that's about it.  Outside of that, he's a beautiful healthy little kitten. Elliott made sure Dean was properly cared for and held him the whole time. I think this is going to be a good thing for Elliott and Dean both.

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Manic Monday: Missing school

Elliott will miss another day of school today because he has to be at the doctors. Hopefully, God willing, this will be it for the week.  However, depending on the medication changes Dr. Reynolds makes, he may be at home again tomorrow. Anytime you make changes to medications, especially when the child is prone to reactions, it's better to play it safe. That's my opinion anyway. Of course, your welcome to your own opinion.  It's just that sometimes after a medication change, the child has to be watched closely for a day or so.  Truthfully, I don't trust anyone else to do it.  Nothing against the school but when it comes to things like this, we tend not to delegate. I'm leaning towards pulling the plug on the Tenex and…

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