Gavin’s has me more and more concerned

I'm getting concerned about Gavin. While he's still doing really well, he's also cognitively slipping. I'm not sure how to really as plain what I mean... Okay, let's try this..  Gavin's current level of functioning is lower than it was 3 months ago. It's still relatively subtle but I'm noticing things throughout the day that are concerning. He's unable to perform more than one or two step tasks at a time. Even with that, he's often either not finishing or simply forgets what he's supposed to be doing.     He fell going up the stairs today because he was trying to take 2 or 3 steps at a time, even after I reminded him not to.  I seeing a great deal of impulsivity, where he's acting before he thinks.  Originally,…

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It’s actually been pretty quiet today :)

We haven't done a whole lot today. It's been a busy last couple of days and everyone is sorta tired.   That being said, it's been quiet and without much in the way of fighting. It's really nice to see everyone getting along and playing together as though they actually like each other. 😉 I don't know what's going to be on the agenda for the rest of the day but I'm pretty content with the way things are going at the moment. 😀   

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I’m so grateful for the good days

The boys came home about dinner time and shortly after, we went to my sisters for a little gathering. Most of my siblings were there and I got to see a few family friends as well.  It's was just a nice time and the boys had fun.  It's so easy to get isolated when you're a special needs parent and I'm trying to make sure I don't let that happen again. I'm making an effort to be more social and while there are still times, I opt out of things, I'm glad I went tonight.  Afterwards, there was sort of a family meeting. It was just myself, my parents and two others.    The whole point was to discuss everything going on in my life. We are working to find…

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I want to say thank you for judging me……..

It's so hard for people to understand what special needs families are faced with on a daily basis. I tried to put just some of the daily challenges and choices I have to make, into words. My hope is that this will help people to gain perspective. I'm blessed to have a very loving and supportive family, but not everyone does. The following is dedicated to all the special needs families in the world. If you were to walk into my house at any given time, you would find many things. Among them, the floor covered with toys and the kitchen with a sink full of dirty dishes. If you ventured into the basement, you would see a mountain of dirty laundry patiently waiting to be washed. Look around some…

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I don’t remember much of today

Sorry I've been absent today. The boys spent part of the day with their Mom and I slept almost the entire time they were gone.  I haven't had a good nights sleep in some time and once the boys were gone, my body just sorta shut down. I only woke up when the boys came home and don't remember much in between.  I know that some of you can relate to that level of exhaustion because it's certainly not unique to me alone.  Anyway, the boys and I have an open house to go to at my sisters tonight. I also have a meeting later on and I'm not sure I have the energy to get this all done but I'm gonna try.  I'm working up the energy to get…

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Do you ever get used to losing your marriage? A Deeply personal post from a newly single Dad

I wasn't sure if I was going to touch on this part of my life with this new blog but I'm not really sure how I couldn't.  Everyone has a moment in their life that changes the the course of everything going forward. That moment for me, occurred on the night of October 14, 2014. That's the night that my wife left and never returned.  I thought that we were the exception to the rule.  It was her second marriage and we were a blended family with special needs children. I suppose the cards were stacked against us but I never saw this coming and there are still times I wake up in the middle of the night thinking it was just a bad dream.     I know guys who've…

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It’s been a really difficult day for this single Dad

It's been one of those night that I have yet to fall asleep. It's been a exhausting day, filled with ups and downs. The boys have struggled and yet we celebrated a few victories as well.  I got the boys down for the night but Elliott is still awake and shortly after he came downstairs, Emmett joined the party.  There was laundry that needed to be done for the boys to leave the house with clothes on to go visit their Mom for the day. We had a little snafu with the dryer and so it took way longer than intended.  When everything was done for the night, I was able to get the boys back in their own beds, at least for now.  As I'm writing this in bed,…

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Taking my 3 kids with #Autism to the grocery store isn’t easy

The boys and I had to hit the grocery store this afternoon. Sometimes I'd like to avoid taking them with me, especially if they're in a mood but that's a luxury that a single parent just doesn't always have.  Elliott struggles with wanting everything he sees and that's proving to be problematic. The reasons behind that have nothing to do with being greedy, selfish, difficult or materialism. This is rooted much deeper and the result of trauma.     He's desperately trying to find things to fill the giant void left by his mother when she left last year.  It's a losing battle that stuck on repeat because no matter how many times he realizes that you can't replace people with things, he keeps trying. It's heartbreaking and I facilitate this…

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