I'm super grateful that Elliott is still sleeping at 8:10 am. He's not been sleeping well for the last week or so, and he needs whatever sleep he can get. I'd love to see him sleep in past 10 am if possible. Emmett has already been up for awhile, as has Gavin. I woke about 7 am and I'm feeling tired but optimistic about today.
It's slated to be somewhat of a busy day. Gavin needs his IVIG infusion first thing in the morning, and then we have to go order his new glasses. We had to wait for payday to do that. After we take care of all of those things, Lizze has two appointments around dinner time. Her doctor is right by a Little Ceasars pizza and I'll probably swing by and grab one so the kids can eat while we're waiting. That's a super informal dinner but it's kinda fun to do weird things like that sometimes. The kids enjoy it and that's good enough for me.
I feel asleep on the couch this evening while Lizze was puting the kids down for the night. I've been so exhausted, I just passed out when things slowed down. Unfortunately, it's now midnight and I'm not able to fall asleep. This sucks.. O_o
The boys left around lunch time and will be back around dinner time. Lizze has been hard at work on a class project, and I took a solid, three hour nap. That's about the extent of our travels. I can't explain how exhausting my daily life is. When I have a chance for some guilt free sleep, I take full advantage. Would it have been nice to do something? Of course it would have, but sometimes it's just not in the cards. The level of exhaustion felt by an Autism parent is indescribable. In many cases, sleep is a luxury we dont have, and neither is free time. When we do get a break, we have a choice. We can either gets some desperately needed sleep, or try and have…
The boys will be going to my parents house for the day. We will be getting a nice little break this afternoon and my God do we need it. I haven't even had a shitty night's sleep in almost a week. I'm so desperately looking for a nice long nap. It's sad when you get some time to yourself and all you want to do is sleep.
Gavin's going to be eighteen years old in January, and I'm really trying to work on self-care type things with him. Things like showering, shaving, medications, personal hygiene, and even choosing appropriate clothes. For the most part, showering, and medications are things that he can reliably do. Sometimes it can be hit or miss, but he really does a good job. He's been shaving by himself with an electric razor for about a year or two. Sometimes he misses more than he gets, but he puts the effort in, and we just continue to practice. Personal hygiene is something that we struggle with. Gavin is not very self-aware, and so he doesn't pay attention to food on his face, or toothpaste all over his mouth. This is definitely a work…
While a nap has been impossible today, I'm doing okay considering I have not had much sleep in the last five days. The boys are asking to go to the indoor playground and I think that's a great idea. Elliott is pretty hung up on Pokémon lately and I'm trying to convince him to leave them behind today. I'd love to see him playing with the other kids, and not everyone is into Pokémon the way he is. I predict I'm going to lose that battle.. 😁 I'm hoping that this will help with exhausting them and aiding in falling asleep tonight.
I'm frustrated with Gavin today, but it's not really his fault. He was cleaning out the ferrets litter box, and didn't pay attention to what I had told him, and he ended up breaking the cage. It's possible I'll be able to fix it, but that's not really the point. If he'd simply listened to my words, this could have been avoided. While I'm frustrated, I'm not angry. This is one of the many challenges I face as an Autism parent/special needs parent. The reality is that Gavin my not have heard me. He could have heard but then forgot. He may have also simply been impuslive. All I know is that this isn't fun, and after five nights of major sleep loss. My patience is wearing thin, and I'm…