Parenting – Page 428 – The Autism Dad

How we handle one of our kids with #Autism being home from school

It was a rough night but I did get some sleep and so did Elliott. Having said that, we had Mr. Emmett throw a wrench into our plans today because he woke up not feeling good. Emmett loves school and so faking an illness to stay home isn't his thing. His stomach was upset and there was no getting him to do anything. Lizze and I kept him home because we didn't know what else to do. It's really frustrating because Emmett struggles with expressive language in a very big way. Gaining insight into what he's experiencing is no easy task. Sometimes we can only step back and look at everything as a whole, making a decision based on our best guess. Emmett's home from school and when one of…

0 Comments

February 27, 2017

Elliott / My thoughts

Why this Dad is sleeping on the couch tonight

Let me tell you about my favorite way to start the new week. By favorite I mean the absolutely worst way to begin the week cause it sets a tone that seems to follow me through the rest of it. Picture this, the boys are in bed, and I just hit the Walgreens to pick up a gallon of milk and some ice cream. It's Sunday and that means Lizze and I plan on being parked on the couch, killing time until Last Week Tonight begins at 11pm. This is our Sunday ritual and the way we say goodbye to the weekend and hello to the week ahead. Unfortunately, on this Sunday, Mr. Elliott decides he's not going to be able to fall asleep. Did he plan this out because…

2 Comments

February 27, 2017

My thoughts

Limiting screen time for my kids with #Autism

One of the things we discussed with the boy's pediatrician the other day, was how much screen time she recommended per day. The boys weren't happy with that question being asked but that didn't stop the discussion. She said she doesn't want them having more than two hours of screen time a day, if possible. That's tablet, TV and video games combined. We've been wanting to make this change for some time but it keeps getting bumped. Lizze and I are going to work out exactly how we will approach this change. After school on Monday, we will sit down with the kids and loop them and explain everything. We will probably do this in increments because kids on the Autism Spectrum tend not to do well with change, and…

8 Comments

February 26, 2017

Gavin / IVIG Infusion

Why I withheld my son’s IVIG infusion this week

I'm pretty sure I told you that Gavin's IVIG supplies were delivered on Wednesday. What I didn't explain was that we held off on giving it to him until Friday. The reason behind that seemingly counterintuitive move was simple. By the time we could have given him his infusion on Wednesday, it would have been really late in the day. With his next scheduled infusion being essentially twenty four hours away, it was too close together. If we had gone ahead with a Wednesday infusion, we would have had to push off the Friday infusion, thus fucking up the entire schedule as we worked to get things back on track. By holding off and waiting until Friday, we were able to preserve the schedule and keep things from getting worse…

0 Comments

February 26, 2017

Elliott / General Update

UPDATE: We met with Elliott’s pediatrician and it didn’t go as planned

Last Thursday, we took Elliott to the pediatrician because she's taking over his ADHD management. We were also there to discuss Elliott's headaches and maybe get a referral to a specialist. The ADHD part of the appointment went really well. There's not a great deal to managing ADHD aside from the medication and follow ups every three months. When we began talking about his headaches or migraines, I asked if this could be related to dehydration. Elliott doesn't drink nearly enough water and before we go any further down this road, we're going to focus on his hydration and see if that helps. Elliott doesn't drink much of anything during the day and it's very difficult get him to drink water. The doctor explained to Elliott that we are absolutely…

4 Comments

February 26, 2017

Gallery

Cool pictures from the last few days

I wanted to take a few minutes tonight and share some pictures from the last couple of days. I'm a little behind on the updates but you can at least see some in the moment shots. I'll follow up tomorrow with a couple of updates.. ☺

4 Comments

February 25, 2017

My thoughts

We have no kids today

The kids were gone last night and won't be back until dinner-ish today. Lizze and I stuck close to home last night because our plans today will take us out of town for a little bit. It's not going to be anything major, but we're going to lunch and to do some shopping. We went to bed relatively early last night and I was up pretty damn early this morning because my Dad was coming over to help me fix the ass backwards plumbing in our shower. It took a bit of improvising but we now have a working shower again and for that, we're grateful. I'm feeling pretty energized today and not at all needing to take a nap. I know I probably should take advantage of the time…

0 Comments

February 25, 2017

My thoughts / Vivint Gives Back

How automating the lights in my house helps my son with #Autism to sleep

If you're a regular reader, you know about all the struggles we face in regards to sleep with two of our three kids with Autism. The biggest challenge over the years, has been with Emmett. We've never been able to really nail down what his issues were related to, and we've only been met with sporadic success until recently. I've spoken many times before about Vivint and how I've implemented their technology throughout our home, in order to make it safer. Since our initial installation, I've been finding more creative ways of using this tech to help my wife and I better care for our three boys with Autism. It's safe to say that I've been inspired by my Vivint experience, and bitten by the home automation bug. As I've made small…

0 Comments

February 24, 2017