#Autism can be so goddamn frustrating at times

I've spent the weekend working with Emmett on his make up work from school. While we were working through this pile of papers, I noticed a couple of things. I should begin by saying that we never made it through all the makeup work because of frustration and massive meltdowns. When Emmett works on things like math or sciences, he does quite well. When we works on anything that requires him to use something other than logic, he struggles. I learned something during this nightmarish battle over homework. Emmett excels in things that deal with facts and absolutes. Math, science and even spelling are all very ridged in the sense that there is a clear right and wrong. There's one right way to spell his spelling words and only one…

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I had to tell my son he’s NOT a failure

I've been working with Emmett on wearing his new pants. It's not been an easy journey but I will cautiously say that we might be making a baby step forward. ☺ For those new to the party, Emmett is our 9 year old with Autism and significant Sensory Processing issues. Food and clothing are his mortal enemies. Food doesn't taste, smell, feel or look right and clothes make him itch. This has a profound impact on day to day life, especially when it comes to school. Apparently, the school requires clothes to be worn and there are many days where Emmett simply cannot wear clothes because the hurt. We recently had what I thought was our first successful shopping trip in regards to finding pants he will wear. He tried…

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Prepaing the new school week

The boys had a pretty decent day. Gavin spent most of his time in his bedroom, most likely because he was on a mission to save the Universe from pending fake. Elliott and Emmett got along pretty well for most of the day. Emmett worked on some of his homework but towards the end of his time working on it, he became very stressed out and ended up having a decent size meltdown. Lizze is still under the weather but she's moving around a bit more. We have zero plans for tomorrow, aside from laundry and getting lunch supplies for the new school week. We're going to have to work with Emmett a bit because he will be returning to school Monday and he's going to be very nervous. I'm…

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Things went horribly wrong this morning

I'm going to keep this super short because I'm exhausted. Emmett woke up and wasn't doing well. We tried for over an hour to help him feel better and nothing worked. He became hysterical as we tried to help him decide what pants he could tolerate. He has a new sore on his upper lip and that has him teetering on the edge to begin with. We know he tried and there wasn't anything that we could do. Our hope is that by Monday he'll be feeling better. For the moment, this has been an unbelievably exhausting morning.

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I’m praying there will be 2 kids in the car this morning

We're hoping beyond hope that Emmett will feel up to going to school tomorrow. He's been slowly doing better as the days go on but mornings are still really tough for him. Getting ready for school is often stressful for him and that will make him more sensitive to the pain. I'm not sure we will be able help him through the morning enough to get him to school. My goal is to not rush him to get ready. I want to try to keep him as calm and stress free as possible because it will get out of control quickly if I don't. Lizze and I will likely have to tag team him but with any luck, I'll be dropping two kids off at school in the AM... ☺

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I wish I could do something to help him

The morning was rough. I didn't get nearly enough sleep because I was up with an Emmett who was in a great deal of pain. I let Lizze sleep and she let me sleep in, while she took Elliott to school. Teamwork... ☺ Emmett's in a good mood but at the same time, he's miserable because he wants to eat solid food. I looked at the sores on his lips this morning and it looks like there's another one popping up. I wish there was something that could be done but there isn't. This is one of those things that we don't know much about because it's incredibly rare and there's no research being done as a result. One of my readers brought up something called Magic Mouthwash. I think…

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#Autism + Haircut = MAJOR SUCKAGE

Elliott was feeling better this afternoon and I took advantage of that. He was desperately in need of a haircut and he was actually willing to get one. These opportunities don't come around very often because he hates getting his hair cut. Normally haircuts are a rather nightmarish event that leaves everyone stressed out and exhausted. It's a total sensory thing and a strong dislike of change. I wasn't sure how things were going to go but I'm pleased to say that Elliott did awesome. ☺ He never complained about having to get is hair cut short. His long hair was proving too much for him to maintain and we told him that we would have to cut it short if he couldn't maintain it. This is all typical teenage…

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All I can do is what I feel in the moment, is best

It's been a pretty good day today. The boys seem to be doing better and I'm hoping that they can both return to school in the morning. Elliott's fever is gone and he's feeling fine now. I don't know what was going on this morning. I don't know how Emmett will be doing but he's still only able to do shakes and is avoiding all solid food. If he's still not eating, I don't see how he can go to school. This whole thing is so frustrating because all I can do is what I feel in the moment, is best. There's no instruction manual and very little in the way of guidance available to help us know what to do. 😱 At least they seem to be doing okay…

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