Selfcare Archives - Page 51 of 94

Why I get to the school an hour before dismissal

One of the reasons I like getting to school an hour early to pick up the boys is because I like the quiet. It's a great time to get some writing done without too much distraction. Another reason I like to arrive an hour early at the school, especially in warmer weather is because it gives me a chance to observe my kids playing outside with their peers. Sometimes it can be hard to pick up on social awkwardness because they're comfortable at home and we're used to everything about them. Sometimes it's just nice to see them playing with their classmates. Making friends can be tough for people with Autism and so it feels good to see them doing good in this area. We all want our kids to…

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May 6, 2019

Navigating the nursing home with my #Autistic kids isn’t easy

I wanted to share a special moment from the other day. As you may recall, we recently lost Lizze's grandmother, my grandfather and now my grandmother is in heart failure. She's moved into a nursing home about five minutes away. She's been there for a couple of months, and it's been a difficult transition for her. The positive is that she's now safe, well cared for and much closer. She used to live ninety minutes away, and that made it so hard to see her when especially with our car. Anyway, we try to visit her as close to every day as we can. It's a difficult journey with the kids because her memory is not very good anymore and the other day, it didn't seem like she remembered us.…

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May 6, 2019

Autism Parenting Struggles / Gavin / My thoughts

There’s never an in between

I mentioned earlier that Gavin appears to be more and more paranoid. Part of the concern is about his schizophrenic hallucinations and the direction they're currently heading in. He seems to be worried about bad guys watching him or something to that effect. That's not necessarily new, but we see it with more frequency lately. What's weird is his current obsession with his health. He's very focused on rather benign issues, and we've never seen him show any interest in his health before. He's continually coming to us with things like I just coughed, my nose is runny, I just had to blow my nose, my arm muscle just felt funny, there's saliva in my mouth, my toe hurt for a second, I sneezed twice, my knee cramped up, and…

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May 3, 2019

Akron Children's Hospital / Autism Parenting Struggles / Elliott / Psychiatry

It feels awful to know I’m failing my wife and kids

We had Elliott to Akron Children's Hospital yesterday. It was a routine follow up in behavioral health. We discussed any concerns we had. We talwdat things are going well and what needs work. We also follow up on medications and make sure we're still on the right track with that as well. I personally feel like Elliott is making a serious effort in many areas, and I made sure to bring that up. I'm incredibly proud of him because I know that life in our house isn't easy. That said, there are still things that he needs to work on as well. That's not anything against him at all. He's a newly minted teenager, and that's never easy, especially when Autism factors in. One of the things that Elliott is…

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May 2, 2019

My thoughts

Another day

It's another day, and that means a clean slate. The boys are heading off to school, and I'm going walking. We don't have any plans for today, and I'm okay with that. Well, Gavin has therapy tonight, but that's about it. I'm hoping to get some writing done and maybe, a bit of housework as well. I haven't seen Gavin yet this morning, so I've no idea what we're dealing with in that regard today. Time will tell.

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May 1, 2019

Autism Parenting Struggles / Emmett John / My thoughts

I almost had to kick in my son’s bedroom door tonight

We had an incident tonight that sorta derailed our evening. I had assigned everyone a chore to do after we got home from dinner. They were all simple things like feeding the dog and changing the trash. I asked Emmett to split up the new bottle of hand sanitizer between the bathroom and the kitchen. We buy a large bottle and use that to refill the two smaller bottles we have in the house. Anyway, Emmett ended having a rough time for some reason. He had spilled some on the front of the new bottle, and because there's alcohol in it, the ink on the label bled. He was doing this in the bathtub for some reason, and the ink left blue marks all over the bottom of the tub.…

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April 30, 2019

Akron Children's Hospital / My thoughts / Pediatrics / Psychiatry

So far so good

We've made it halfway through the day, and things have actually gone smoothly. Emmett's back at school, and we're in the waiting room at Akron Children's Hospital for Elliott's appointment. A huge thank you goes out to Lizze's Mom because she was willing to hang out with Gavin after he was done with his blood work. This way we didn't have to drag him around with us all day. It wouldn't have been fun for him, and I needed a break from his constant updates about his new Keyblade. We'll get Elliott some lunch and then head back to pick up the kids when we're done here. We have family therapy at 5 PM, and then we're going to meet my family for dinner. That's a last minute thing, but…

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April 30, 2019

My thoughts

The incessant talking is slowly eroding my sanity

It's going to be a hectic day. We have four appointments to get to, and the logistics are a bit challenging. Emmett has an appointment for his legs this morning. We will drop Elliott off at school and head straight to Akron Children's. Lizze and I will need to divide and conquer because, on the way to Emmett's appointment, we have to drop Gavin at the lab to get his blood drawn for the week. After we're done, we'll drop Emmett off at school and likely head home for a short time before returning to the school for Elliott. From there we head to Akron for a few hours. Lizze's Mom is going to pick up Emmett at school, and we'll probably pick him up on the way home. We…

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April 30, 2019