Gavin Archives - Page 69 of 113

Rediscovering forgotten skills

I have been working to reduce the amount of time Gavin spends on his tablet during the day. Part of that process is requiring him to practice some of his other skills during the day. The first forgotten skill is drawing. Gavin used to spend a great deal time drawing. He hasn't been drawing in for quite awhile. I'm not sure why, but I'm trying to reintroduce him to his past love of art. At some point during the day, Gavin is required to take a break from his tablet and draw three pictures. As time goes on, I'll introduce different tasks as well. This is meant to keep his brain working, as well as broaden his horizon. Gavin has no complaints about this and I'm hoping his love of…

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May 15, 2017

Awkward Conversations / Gavin / My thoughts

Tales of #Autism and really awkward conversations

One of the things that many Autism parents are all too familiar with is awkward conversations. When it comes to awkward conversations in our house, Gavin is King. 😁 We spent a couple hours with my grandpa this afternoon. Rather than Gavin going straight to the TV, I had him sit in the living room with us and hang out. That was an experience... ☺ Gavin has never avoided conversations with people, and that's a good thing. The problem is that he's not gifted in the ways of two-way conversations.. More often than not, Gavin will only want to talk about his video games, and will simply change the subject from whatever is being discussed. He didn't do that too much today, and I'm proud of him. What he did…

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May 10, 2017

Autism Parenting Insight / Autism Parenting Struggles / Gavin / My thoughts

Jamming pencils in my ears

I try to provide insight and inspiration to my readers, by sharing my thoughts and experiences. Sometimes though, the best I can do is share what I'm feeling after a long day of being an Autism and Special Needs parent. We weren't without our struggles yesterday, but it was a good day. One of the things I struggled with was Gavin's behaviors. There wasn't anything violent or majorly inappropriate, but that doesn't make it any less exhausting. If you have ever spent any time with Gavin, you will very quickly learn that he loves playing games on his tablet. You would learn this quickly because it's all he will talk about. I have listened to him talk about his games to the point I want to jam pencils in my…

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May 10, 2017

Gavin / My thoughts

Emmett’s facing an uphill battle

The saga of Emmett and his rare fever disorder, continues. He's once again, home from school as a result of a fever, He slept good last night and woke up in a decent mood as well. Unfortunately, he is still running a fever and is unable to attend school again. I'm not sure how long this is going last, but I know I'm exhausted.

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May 3, 2017

Gavin / My thoughts

This is too amazing not to share

It's easy to find ourselves overwhelmed by all the terrible things going on in the world. There's so much negativity out there anymore, and twenty-four hour news cycle helps to ensure that we all know it. Recently, I shared a story about how Gavin accidently broke his sword while training in the early hours of the morning. Gavin was devastated because this sword played a key roll in his responsiblities to the Universe. Gavin has Schizophrenia and lives in a very different world than the rest of us. He sees and hears things that no one else can see or hear. It's not easy for any of us, least of all Gavin. A day or two after my entry about what happened was published, I received an email from someone,…

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May 3, 2017

Gavin / My thoughts

Why this is a blessing and a curse

I know it may seem silly to some because what happened this morning at Gavin's doctors appointment, didn't really change anything, but I'm struggling anyway. Would it make the Universe implode if just for once, we could get really good news at one of Gavin's doctors appointments? Would the cosmic balance be thrown out of whack if Gavin was able to catch a break? Would life as we know it cease to be if Gavin were able to recover from even one of his many physical or emotional health problems? I realize I'm biased but my God, how much should one kid have to endure in a lifetime? I'm trying to be positive about this, so here's my thought. Maybe one of the major challenges he faces has an upside…

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April 26, 2017

Gavin / Major Update / Mental Health / My thoughts

Gavin had a major diagnosis change today

Gavin and I met with Dr. Reynolds this morning. Lizze wasn't feeling well and was resting up so she would be better when the kids got home from school. Sometimes we have to divide and conquer. Today's appointment was basically supposed to be a followup, because we had discontinued the Lithium last month. Dr. Reynolds wanted to make sure everything was okay. We met for quite awhile, and the discussion turned to something I hadn't planned on. I asked the question, at what point do we revisit his Schizoaffective diagnosis and look at straight up Schizophrenia? The reason I asked this question is because we haven't reevaluated him in a long time and his symptoms have changed as he's gotten older. Long story short, Gavin's official diagnosis has changed to…

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April 26, 2017

Gavin / My thoughts

Why this #Autism Dad feels guilty today

It's already one of those days where I'm feeling very guilty. It's the kind of guilt one feels when their special needs child is driving them fucking crazy. By sharing this, I know it's almost hypocritical because I'm always telling my readers not to feel guilty. The truth is, sometimes there's nothing that can stop the overwhelming feelings of guilt. I'm feeling guilty today because I'm really struggling with Gavin this morning. He's very slowly processing everything around him today, and I'm in a hurry because we have Dr. Reynolds to be at, first thing. It's almost like he's unable to think. He's not even able to answer some of my simple questions. We're sitting here in the waiting room at Dr. Reynolds, and Gavin's starts doing the potty…

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April 26, 2017