Look I'm going to be completely honest. Everything has gone down hill for me this evening. I thought I was holding it together but I'm done. Gavin is driving me absolutely CRAZY. He just can't do anything like he's supposed to. I'm only talking about things I know he is capable of. Simple 1 step tasks seem like we are asking him to reinvent the wheel. He stalls and stalls all the time instead of just doing what he is freaking asked. Everything seems like a game and the game is manipulation. I swear he plays head games with ER. He wants to play then doesn't want to play. If he does play he is the only one that is allowed to have an imagination. Anything ER imagines is quickly…

Today has been one of those days, again. It started out with EJ not sleeping well last night (which is later explained). He was up several times last night. On one time Lizze went downstairs to get his sippy and she fell down the steps. I swear this stair case is out to get us. She is really sore, more then usual but ok. Emmett John spiked a temp this afternoon of 103F. We had to pick Gavin up from school early in order to get EJ to see Dr. H. It appears he has strep throat. We are waiting for the rapid culture to come back. If positive then it's antibiotics for him. Dr. H doesn't hand out antibiotics like candy, one of the many reasons we like him…

I posted last night about Gavin sneaking out of the house. Lizze and I have been talking and decided that there has to be some kind of consequence for his decision. I just don't know what that should be and if it's even to late to do it. We can't let it go unaddressed but nothing seems to work. I don't think he would typically be able to escape without us knowing but it's possible. Any ideas? Talking won't work. Going to bed earily won't either. Help. LT Thank you for sharing our lives. LT

We had some tree trouble today. My neighbor came over and help remove some large damaged limbs that threatened my neighbors property. Gavin had been in bed for a bit and Lizze had the other two in our room hanging out. I just happened to look to the front of the yard and there is Gavin walking around. He let himself out of the house and into the yard in his BJ's. He has only done this once before. Last time we caught him in the alley going through peoples trash looking for things to recycle. We have to watch him much closer now. This kind of increases the risk now. He can't just let himself out that is way to dangerous. This all goes back the continued regression we…

Elliott Richard is believed to be very high functioning aspergers. We have been paying more attention to some of his behaviors as of late and have noticed some things. ER has NEVER tolerated the tags on his shirts. I have to cut them out (which drives Lizze crazy cause we won't know what size it is) or he won't wear the shirt. He says they hurt him. We kinda played it down before but now realize it might just be sensory issue. He also cannot stand water passing over his ears. Again maybe sensory. As Dr. Patti has stated, most people would never notice any of these things. This kind of stuff shouldn't effect his life in any real negative way. We do however, know that he is struggling with…

Today has been productive so far. I have gotten through several loads of laundry, sorted and folded. Lizze got Gavin off to school this morning. Her knee is really bothering her today so I want her to take it easy. She is napping with the baby right now. ER and I just split an orange and are going through more laundry and just hanging out before lunch. 4 more days of school left and that's it for the summer. Going to try to get as much done while I have this strange amount of energy and motivation. LT Thank you for sharing our lives. LT

School is out in 4 or 5 days and the truth is I'm scared. I don't know for sure what the summer agenda is. As much as we love Gavin, and we do, we can only take so much Gavin at a time. My mother is a saint, you can ask anyone who knows her. She loved summer break and snow days. She loved having all 6 of us home at once. However, she didn't have autism to contend with and we do, possibly x3. My mother had endless energy and motivation and we have neither. I had a relatively safe neighborhood to grow up in and lots of nice kids to play with. We have the "relatively" safe neighborhood, save for a few ignorants who call my special needs…

Today has been a rough one. Gavin got off to school on a bad note. I was up all night again with ER. EJ few off the couch several times today and has a bruise running up and down the left side of his face. We can't sem to stay ahead of him no matter how hard we try, and believe me we do. As you are aware we have had some family drama which has impacted us in a negative way. We have begun to rise above this and I plan on leaving this behind me now. We have more worthy things to spend our precious little amounts of energy on. Gavin had a good day at school but a really rough time once home. He just doesn't listen…