Parenting Archives - Page 45 of 720

I solved a simple but nagging problem

I've been back in my makeshift studio recording season 4 of my podcast and I've had this one nagging problem that I haven't been able to fix. That's not exactly true. The truth is, I haven't been willing to take the time needed to fix it properly. It's not a huge deal but it's annoying as all get out. Part of the reason for the delay in properly repairing was that I wanted to enlist Emmett's help in troubleshooting and see if he could come up with a working solution. If you look at the underside of my table, you'll see a mess of cables. I wanted to make the table include everything without having multiple cords plugged into the limited outlets in my room. I ran one powers trip…

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February 4, 2021

Depression / My thoughts

My life will forever change next week but I’m going to be okay

I realized this morning that my marriage will officially be over in a week. I'm sure it will be the main topic in therapy this week. This whole thing is a mixed bag for me because letting go of something that was so important to me is incredibly difficult. There's a roller coaster of emotions surrounding this and as I'm laying here on the couch, listening to my kids kids playing upstairs, I'm getting emotional. I've been talking to my therapist about this a lot and last week, she was pretty blunt with me. She's a little concerned that while I may be doing okay right now, next Tuesday could be a very different story. I'm managing my depression as well as can be expected under all these insane conditions.…

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February 1, 2021

My thoughts

Teachable moments can be so f*cking exhausting

I'm really frustrated with one Mr. Gavin today. He can be so difficult to coexist with sometimes because he basically lives in his own world and the rest of us are just along for the ride. It can be very challenging to get Gavin on the same page as everyone else. He might say that he gets it but in reality, he knows that what he's supposed to say and he probably still doesn't get it on any meaningful level. He made so much amazing progress and has improved in many areas. I'm very proud of him but there are still things we need to work on. Last night, he and Elliott got into it because Gavin said something about Elliott being in a bad mood. Elliott wasn't actually in…

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January 31, 2021

My thoughts

I love sharing good news

I wanted to share a couple of updates that are actually quite positive for a change. For those who don't know, Gavin's absolute favorite snack in the entire world is Little Debbie Swiss Rolls. They're simply his thing and have been for as long as I can remember. For his 21st birthday, I wanted to surprise him with a whole bunch of Swiss Rolls. I ordered a case on Amazon and it finally showed up. There's about 100 Swiss Rolls and he was in heaven. 😂 Being the sweetheart that he is, he wanted to share with his brothers and gave them each a box. He wanted to give them more but I limited it to one box each because I really want this to be for Gavin. Before the…

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January 30, 2021

My thoughts / Reviews

The nomadiQ Ultimate Lightweight Portable Propane Grill (Review)

I get review items in all the time but every once in awhile, something like the nomadiQ grill comes in that I'm super excited about. This is one such item and while there's really no direct tie to special needs parenting, it's nonetheless very useful. So let's just jump in with both feet. About 2 weeks ago, I received a interesting looking package and it turned out to be a portable propane grill from nomadiQ. Considering we haven't had a working grill for most of COVID lockdown, this was really exciting. I had my doubts about this little grill because it costs about $300 and I was concerned that it just wouldn't work as well as I was hoping it would. The grill is extremely well built and out of…

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January 30, 2021

My thoughts

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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January 29, 2021

My thoughts

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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January 27, 2021

My thoughts

#Autism or not, kids will be kids and brothers will be brothers

It's been a day. The kids have not been very cooperative and fighting a great deal more than usual. I'm not sure what's going on but we'll just say it was a somewhat challenging weekend. One of the issues we're struggling with is the boys get very frustrated with Gavin. They see a grown man on the outside but get frustrated when he doesn't act like an adult. Gavin wants to be treated like he's an adult but very often doesn't act like one and for good reason. Gavin is significantly cognitively delayed and in many areas of his emotional life, he's much closer to a 6 year old level than that of a 21 year old. I've known him for 20 years and I can find myself frustrated at…

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January 25, 2021