How #Autism unexpectedly influenced our day

We had a pretty amazing day. The parade was a ton of fun and we shared the float with another, amazing wish family. While it was a great experience, it wasn't without its Autism related challenges. Emmett struggled quite a bit because the Wishes Can Happen shirt he was given to wear, didn't fit the way he like his shirts to fit. The sensory issues were in full force and because the shirt was longer than he will wear them, it was a nightmare as we waited for the parade to begin. We were there about an hour and a half early, and it was a very long hour and a half. Once it was time to load onto the float, he ended up doing okay. It was really tough…

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The heartbreaking talk I had with my youngest

I always try to live my life without making any assumptions, at least big ones. No matter how hard I try, I inevitably find that I've made assumptions without even realizing it. I ran into one such time over the weekend. On one of our many trips to Home Depot, while trying to fix our kitchen sink, a subject came up and resulted in a heartbreaking conversation with Emmett. I'm not sure what we were talking about but I stopped off at a gas station because we needed gas. I asked Emmett if he wanted to learn to pump gas. Always eager to learn new things, he jumped at the opportunity. I closely monitored him but he did really well and we were soon on our way to pick up…

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All I wanted to do was fix the sink and this happened

It's been a really long and frustrating day. We were disappointed that we had to postpone our hike due to high temperatures but it is what it is. Instead, Emmett and I took on what was supposed to be a simple project and it turned out to be anything but. I'll try and sum it up a quickly as I can because I'm exhausted and hoping to actually fall asleep tonight. We had to remove an old, broken garbage disposal and convert the sink about to a standard drain. That was a relatively simple task aside from nothing coming apart the way it was supposed to because whoever installed it, screwed all the connections together and decided that wasn't enough. They opted to then cover everything with what appears to…

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Taking a project with my #Autistic son today

The insanely hot weather has defeated us again today. We were going to go hiking but it's simply too hot and we'd be inviting trouble. Instead, Emmett and I are going to take on a little plumbing project that needs to be done. Yesterday, Gavin accidentally clogged our broken garbage disposal. It hasn't worked in a very long time but we only ever have running water to that side of the sink, at least that's all it supposed to have. I never removed it because it just wasn't a priority and we were hoping to actually replace it. Gavin dumped food down there yesterday and it's now clogged. It takes hours for water to drain now and there's no point in trying to tear it apart in order to unclog…

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My youngest just hit double digits

Our day was fairly nonstop and I didn't get a chance to post this eariler. Better late than never. Emmett turned 10 years old today and he had a great birthday. We try to plan far enough in advance that we can pull things off. Anyway, Emmett is obsessed with Nerf Guns and he got what he calls the ultimate Nerf Gun today. Apparently, we did good. We had a busy but mostly low key day. We decided to celebrate his birthday in the early afternoon. It was pretty simple but it made him happy and that always feels good. We had ice cream cake before he opened his birthday presents. There were a few appointments this afternoon but we were done about dinner time. I cooked a couple pizzas…

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#Autism exploded all over our refrigerator

I'm so used to being an Autism parent that very little surprises me anymore. There are times however, that one of my kids does something that is so obviously Autism related in nature, that I can't help but stop and smile. ☺ Yesterday, I made a quick trip to the grocery store and Emmett helped put the groceries away when I got home. Putting the groceries away turned into reorganizing the refrigerator in a way that made sense to him. I couldn't help but smile and I snapped a picture and thought I would share.. ☺

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Poor Emmett is not doing well

It was a long night and I'm exhausted. Emmett is definitely sick and he's getting worse as time goes on. It began as an infrequent cough but now it's a fever and a cough. The cough is constant and dry. I don't think it's necessary to get him to the doctor as this is probably a cold but I'll be keeping a close eye on him.

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At least his arm isn’t broken

One of the joys of Autism Parenting is trying to figure out when something is wrong with your kid on the Spectrum. Communication issues abound and it can make things more challenging. I had to take Emmett into urgent care for x-rays this evening. About a week ago, Emmett fell at school and scraped his knees. We knew about that but he never told us he hurt his right arm as well. I only learned about his arm a couple of days ago. Emmett has major Sensory Processing challenges and it impacts many areas of his life, his interpretation of pain happens to be one of them. He's been in pain for over a week now but never told us or even showed any signs of being in pain. When…

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