Kellie, ignore the cricket part and just watch the very end. I'm really excited by this. :)   Emmett and I hung out at the pet store today for a little while. We had to get Crickets for Toothless, Elliott's Bearded Dragon. Emmett was very excited to see the fish, so we spent a good half hour walking from tank to tank. Finally, we had to leave so we got the crickets we were there for and were on our way home.   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM1yP1we0zo[/youtube]

As I have posted about many times before, Gavin doesn't respond to things in the same manner other children would. So often times we have to employ "outside the box" thinking, as conventional means have no impact. Gavin had a meltdown this morning. He had it in his room away from everyone else. This time I didn't intervene at all. In fact I didn't even goes upstairs until he was done. In the spirit of honesty, this was mostly because I was just to tired to play this game today with him. So don't think it was some brilliant parenting move on my part because you would be giving me WAY to much credit today. That said, when I did go up to check on him, to my surprise, he…

It takes $3 worth of Walgreen's over priced water to flush a toilet once. :) Also, even though your kids "NEVER" remember to flush the toilet ANY other time, they will when it costs $3 per flush.... It's like literally flushing money down the drain :(  

As I am writing this Gavin is upstairs having a giant meltdown (has been for a little while) and Emmett just spilled his chocolate milk ALL over the floor. Over the past few weeks I haven't been posting as much because things are just getting more and more challenging. Finding the time to even post a quick blog has not been easy or honestly, even a priority. So, I'm trying to fix that for a couple of reasons. First, it's my outlet, a safe place to vent and share my thoughts and feelings. Second, it's important for people to understand just how "life" can impact a special needs family. So here's to getting back on track :) Remember I wrote about the van getting "fixed" about a week or so ago? It…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahbw-jqGNH8[/youtube] Emmett's smile is just one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I LOOOOOOVE  it. Oh..and Kellie, we were the only one's there. That's a huge part of why this was such a positive experience.

Can you spot how Emmett "helped" me in this picture. I try to involve the boys in much of what I do. Emmett likes to be Daddy's little helper. This is a result of Emmett "helping" when Daddy isn't looking. No harm done. Plus he was really proud of himself. Oh...and if you can't figure out what's wrong with this picture, Emmett jammed 2 hard drive mounting screws into the top of the tower binding the fan and forcing it to stop. I caught it pretty quick so everything is ok. - Lost and Tired Please Vote for Lost and Tired (just click the link) and help me spread Autism Awareness. Everyone can Vote once a day :)

Today has been am exceptionally trying day. Things we getting pretty ugly so I decided intervene before things got any worse. I packed everyone up and we headed off to Elliot's school or what used to be his school and we all played on the play ground. The kids had a lot of fun. Even Gavin did pretty well. When we got home we had a little cook out and ate in front of the TV on a little picnic table. We put on some Netflix and relaxed until bedtime. Just a shot of normalcy. It doesn't last long but it's nice while it does.  

While reflecting on this experience with Emmett in the previous post, I started thinking about this whole "can an Autistic child be successful?" thing. I think maybe we been overlooking the obvious here. Missing the forest for the trees...if you will. We get so caught up in the debate that we can't see what's happening right in front of our own eyes. Whether or not a child with Autism becomes rich and famous has NO Impact on them being successful. The life of an Autistic child, while full of challenges, SHOULD be the standard from which we gauge what success really is. Some people will never understand this but as challenging as it can be raising a child with Autism, imagine BEING a child with Autism.. An Autistic child overcomes obstacles each…