Emmett John / My thoughts

My son with #Autism needs everything to match. Does yours? 

I woke up to the boys fighting this morning. Emmett was freaking out because he needs everything in his life to match and when it doesn't, he panics and melts down.  This mornings disaster was caused because Elliott had been playing the Xbox for about an hour, while Emmett had only played for about half that amount of time. That was simply the way it worked out.  Emmett began to get really upset because the times didn't match. He wanted to play the exact number of minutes needed to match Elliott's time but that wasn't possible at the time. This led to a pretty shitty start to the day a massive meltdown.   All of Emmett's life, he's had to have things match. Christmas presents, pizza slices, how much drink…

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December 17, 2016
Gavin / My thoughts

Gavin continues to regress and it’s horrible to witness 

This will be a good news - bad news entry but I'll begin with the good news.☺  The good news is that since Gavin's peeing blood situation earlier in the week, there hasn't been anymore instances of this happening again. Assuming it happened in the first place, perhaps it was a one off kinda thing and we won't see this again.  That's really the end of the good news for now but you have to admit, not peeing blood anymore is definitely a good thing.   Unfortunately, the rest of what I have to share is of a sad and even heartbreaking nature. 🙁  Gavin's been very mission oriented lately and that means he's continuing to lose touch with reality. Almost every morning this week, Gavin has rushed off to…

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December 17, 2016
Bad News / My thoughts

We received some bad news

I really like to focus on the positive side of things but sometimes, life just sucks. No matter how it's painted or candy coated, there's no escaping the gravitational pull of this dense ball of negative shit. If I don't talk about this stuff then you don't have a true image of what our lives are like or the challenges we face while we're going through everything else. With that in mind, I'll share the shitty day I've had.  There were quite a few littler things that hit us today but the single biggest thing is that we lost the dispute with our bank over the $500+ in unauthorized transactions. It was two transactions and they found that no error was made. We've appealed but it's gonna take another two…

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December 17, 2016
Read more about the article Having some upgrades to our @VivintHome system today
My thoughts / Vivint Gives Back

Having some upgrades to our @VivintHome system today

I'm pretty excited because we're having so equipment upgrades to our Vivint Smarthome. My house gets automatic upgrades when updated equipment comes out so I can both test, review and then share my experience. Today, we're being upgraded to the Nest thermostat and Amazon Echo integration. The boys are excited about the Echo and I'm excited about both. Once I've had a chance to play with these upgrades, I'll share some pictures and thoughts. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a huge deal but I'm really proud of this partnership and since I love tech, it's something I really look forward to. ☺

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December 16, 2016
Gavin / My thoughts

Why I’m so proud of Gavin this morning

Gavin's bloodwork went we this morning, not that it ever doesn't anymore. We went to the lab after dropping the boys off at school today because Gavin was due for his Clozapine refill and that can't happen without current bloodwork.  As usual, I dropped him off at the front door and he signed himself in. I waited in the car while he did what he had to do.  I don't worry too much about him being in there alone because everyone knows Gavin and looks after him while he's there. Besides, he would have to come through one of two doors to leave and I could see both.   When he came out, he explained that everything went great and then we discussed the suckered he picked out for himself,…

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December 16, 2016
My thoughts

A very frustrating ADHD morning

It was a rough morning. We were all planning on a second snowday and it didn't happen. Elliott was very uncooperative and bouncing off if every service he came into contact with.  Lizze and I were trying to keep everyone moving but Elliott was frustratingly difficult to the point that's he's lost some screen time to when he gets home from school today.  Emmett did pretty well but unfortunately, everything was overshadowed by the chaos left in Elliott's wake. 

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December 16, 2016
My thoughts / Sensory / Shoes and Socks / YouTube Video

Desensitization and helping our son with #Autism wear shoes and socks (video) 

Sensory processing disorder has creeped its way into almost every aspect of our lives. Elliott, Emmett and Lizze all struggle with sensory related challenges. Gavin's doing much better as he gets older.   One of the most impactful issues revolves around Emmett and wearing clothes, in particular shoes and socks.   We've been trying a great many things for many years and have received mixed results at best.  I wanted to share a quick video of a new approach I've taken to help Emmett become more comfortable in his shoes and socks. The key here is for him not to realize what we're doing and disguise my efforts in something fun.  He loves walking on the treadmill but can't unless he's wearing shoes and socks. It's a safety thing and…

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December 16, 2016
My thoughts

Sometimes I feel like everyone in my family is speaking a different language

Sometimes I feel like a sane person locked inside a looney bin. I've privately made this statement many times over the years and while it may sound insensitive, it's simply how I feel sometimes.  Let me put this into perspective for you.   There are five people living in our house and four of those five people have special needs. I suffer from depression but I'm largely able to function. There are times however, where that level of function is much more difficult for me to maintain.  Here's the thing that I've been known to struggle with.  Every person I coexist with in our home has physical or emotional needs that require me to modify the way I address things in our life.   Gavin requires me to sit and…

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December 15, 2016