Day 2 of being back in the classroom

I just picked up Emmett from school today and his second day back has been a resounding success. He's so excited and I feel so good right now because after focusing so long on his physical safety, I can finally doing something positive for his emotional health as well. Everything went well for him today and he's anxious to return. Tomorrow will be state testing again, as well as the last day of the school week. He'll return on Monday for regular in person learning. Assuming nothing changes dramatically with COVID, he should be able to finish out the school year. I'm so grateful for all the love and support as he ventures back into the classroom. Unfortunately, Elliott doesn't have the same opportunity but he will be back at…

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Emmett returned to the classroom today

Today was such a big day, especially for Emmett. I haven't mentioned this in a little while because I wasn't sure what was going to happen. Today was the moment of truth and here's what happened. State testing is ridiculously mandatory this year, despite the pandemic. I have made my thoughts on that quite clear. It's flat out fucking stupid that we didn't skip testing this year. We know the scores are going to be lower but it's because our kids were surviving a fucking pandemic, not because they're incapable of learning or the teachers aren't doing their jobs. Sorry, I get pretty fired up about this but I digress. Anyway, Emmett was required to return to school for the testing process and he will be required in and off…

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A Super Quick Update

It's been a pretty amazing day for those of us living in the The Autism Dad household today. The boys did well at school and I feel like I accomplished a good bit before I writing this, ready to call it a night. I just took a melatonin, so I'm gonna make this quick and painless. I should be getting the car back in the morning and hopefully, that will be the last time it's in the bodyshop. The boys and I are going to be moving our movie night from Friday to Wednesday because they will be at their mom's for the whole weekend. I'm really excited for them and for me. I'm looking forward to this weekend. Anyway, I will be finishing this Friday's episode a bit early…

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I’m so excited about this week

I had a pretty good weekend and I feel relatively accomplished. The boys and I did some yardwork and will be planting flowers this week, weather permitting. We also began our descent into spring cleaning. We got a good bit done already and we're going to spend some time every single day continuing the progress. The boys head back to school in the morning. I still don't think it makes sense to do things this way but I don't make the rules. The boys are going to be at their moms all weekend and I'm so excited for them. It's been forever since they've been able to go over so I think it will do them a world of good. I feel like life is just coming together for us.…

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I’m nearing the bright light at the end of this very dark tunnel

So the kids are on Spring Break and the timing sorta baffles me a little bit. They're getting this week off but will return for the week before Easter and I feel like it would have made more sense to go this week and have the week of Easter off, but whatever. There aren't that many plans for this week and I'm okay with that. The boys have a video appointment with Akron Children's and I do have to drop the car off at the body shop again. Hopefully, this will be the last trip unless I need new repairs done. One of the things I plan on doing this week is Spring cleaning. We definitely need to do that because COVID lockdown has taken it's toll on the house…

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Helping my adult #autistic son find independence

Gavin is bound and determined to move out. Until recently, I hadn't really considered that to be an option but this is what he wants. As his parent, I want him to reach whatever level of independence he can achieve. With that in mind, I'm getting the ball rolling on this. The process is likely to take awhile and that's okay because I wouldn't do anything before COVID is resolved and it's safe for Gavin to pursue. I'm going to be preoccupied this week so I don't envision making any serious progress. I wanted to outline my current plan but keep in mind this is subject to change. I expect that we have a full year, at the very least, before we can really do anything. I want to make…

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Huge thank you to my friends at the Stark County Health Department and here’s why

It's been kind of a whirlwind day in The Autism Dad household. I had 2 interviews scheduled this afternoon and ended up having to reschedule one of them for a later date. I hate inconveniencing my guests but it was unavoidable. Eariler this week, I received the callback I had been waiting for in regards to Gavin's first dose of the COVID vaccine. He was scheduled for 3:40pm this afternoon. That sorta turned our day upside down because not only did it mean breaking quarantine, but we'd be going somewhere with a lot of other people. It was a calculated risk and one that we couldn't avoid. I was able to get my first interview done before shutting down and making sure Gavin was ready to go. He was so…

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Do you ever feel like an awful parent?

It's been one of those days where I feel like the shittiest parent in the world. I know that part of this is depression talking but another part of it is just how I feel. I'm having a difficult time managing everything right now and I just can't seem to keep up. The kids are all on edge. Actually, Gavin's doing pretty well. Elliott and Emmett are on edge. They're over COVID and all that goes along with it. I can't say as I blame them. I mean, who among us isn't over all this shit at this point. I know I am. Elliott had technical issues with remote learning today and was unable to hear anything for part of the day. That creates a great deal of frustration for…

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