I was wondering how you all handle the holidays with your child on the #Autism spectrum?  Right now, in the US, we are getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving. I'm not entirely sure how tomorrow is going to go.  I know that my boys are already on overload and probably don't need anymore stimulus. However, being with family will be a pleasant distraction for them and us. Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do about the environment because we have no control over that. Having said that, in my family, if they say we are eating at 2pm, plan to eat around 4pm instead.  In order to limit the anxiety and stress from anticipation, we arrive fashionably late. We will bring something to occupy the boys if they need to get…

I wanted to start a dialog about food allergies.  As many of you already know, Elliott has been diagnosed with a tree nut allergy,  more specifically to almonds. We aren't new to food allergies but Emmett's previous food allergies were not this serious.  I wanted to share resources we have found and hopefully learn about some new ones that can help us and anyone else reading, to more safely navigate this new world of food hazards. I found an app in the Google Play store called InRFood. The app itself has much promise but the bar code scanner is not working most of the time.  Let's share app ideas, whether iPhone or Android. Feel free to also share experience and types of allergies as well.

As you may recall, a few days ago Elliott was officially diagnosed with serious allergy to almonds.  His immunologist wants any and all tree nuts removed from his diet and he must carry an epipen of his person, at all times. This is a pretty big hit and we weren't prepared for this.  We literally just moved past Emmett's food allergies to milk, egg and lactose. I think he was officially declared allergy free about 2 months ago. Now we are scrambling to figure out what Elliott can and cannot eat.  Once again the rug is yanked out from under us.  Poor Elliott is really upset and is becoming paranoid that there's some type of tree nut in everything he eats. We've also had to introduce him to his new…

Yesterday and today have been very difficult with Gavin.  Yesterday, Gavin was playing with Emmett, both at home and Dr.  Patti's. While playing with Emmett,  Gavin made sure to sabotage Emmett's game play in order to ensure that only he could win. When confronted about his unfair play, he denied everything and began to dance around as he got upset with us for questioning him. This morning, Gavin was being rude and disrespectful to Lizze.  He wasn't even up for an hour before he began messing with her.  He was confronted by me, when I came downstairs and knew he was busted.  Oddly enough he didn't try to deny it. I sent him to his room, where I may just have him stay today. No one needs this right now…

Emmett had an accident today and busted his chin wide open. This happened about 45 minutes before we were supposed to see Dr. Patti.  If you have any experience with kids on the #Autism spectrum, you know that a trip to the emergency room for stitches is not something that's gonna go well. What should be an easy decision to go to the hospital becomes a huge decision that can have very serious consequences. Emmett would be absolutely traumatized by the experience and we wanted to avoid that if at all possible.  Not only would Emmett be deeply impacted but we would be devastated to put him through that.  This was heartbreaking for a number of reasons.  First of all, Emmett was in pain.  I hate any of my kids…

Tuesdays are the days that we cram most of the therapy for the boys into. We juggle speech, OT and soon PT as well.  We also see Dr.  Patti in the early evening as well. In total, I think we have 7 or 8 different appointments every Tuesday.  These are the days that the boys typically sleep really well and without much struggle.  By the end of the day, Lizze and I are throughly drained and ready to do nothing for the rest of the night.  UPDATE:  All three of the boys did well at Concorde Kids today.  Even Gavin did well and he's been having problems as of late.  Great job guys.  Daddy's ubber proud of you all.  :-)

I'm going to confess to something that I'm quite embarrassed of and never talk about because I really struggle with this. Something you may not know about me is that I'm rather particular about my things.  Some might consider it OCD but I honestly don't know.  For me personally, I can't deal with things like dead pixels an LCD screen.  While I truly love technology, I dread getting things like new phones, handheld gaming systems or TV's/Monitors.  The excitement of getting something new is drowned out by the anxiety I feel over whether or not the display is perfect. If I see a dead pixel or worse, dead pixels, I simply can't cope with it.  Once I see it I know it's there and can't move passed it. I've been…