The toughest part of being an #Autism parent

Being a special needs parent can be frustrating for a multitude of reasons. I bet if I asked random people, what they thought the hardest part of being a special needs parent was, there would be some pretty interesting answers. In the almost 15 years I've been a special needs parent, I've fought many battles. Some of those battles were school and IEP related. Some were insurance related. Let's be honest, many of them were insurance related. Battles were fought just to get my kids to eat a meal or wear clothes. There's the stress, anxiety, meltdowns, overstimulation, communication challenges, loss of friends, a complete implosion of your social life and a lifetime without sleep. I've faced off with each one of these challenges and more, on countless occasions, as…

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School is just around the corner and I’m ready for it

The boys have about 20 days left of summer break. On September 1st, they will be returning to the classroom and frankly, I'm getting a bit anxious for that to happen.  I love having the boys home but since there's only one of me and three of them, it's proven to be quite taxing. I'm ready for them to go back. I mean, I'm ready for them to physically go back. I still have a ton of shopping to do as soon as I can.  Summer break is a mixed bag for a special needs family. I've found that it's much, much harder to take care of myself or anything else for that matter, when I'm taking care of the boys 24/7. While they're in school, they get to socialize…

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Gavin’s has me more and more concerned

I'm getting concerned about Gavin. While he's still doing really well, he's also cognitively slipping. I'm not sure how to really as plain what I mean... Okay, let's try this..  Gavin's current level of functioning is lower than it was 3 months ago. It's still relatively subtle but I'm noticing things throughout the day that are concerning. He's unable to perform more than one or two step tasks at a time. Even with that, he's often either not finishing or simply forgets what he's supposed to be doing.     He fell going up the stairs today because he was trying to take 2 or 3 steps at a time, even after I reminded him not to.  I seeing a great deal of impulsivity, where he's acting before he thinks.  Originally,…

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It’s actually been pretty quiet today :)

We haven't done a whole lot today. It's been a busy last couple of days and everyone is sorta tired.   That being said, it's been quiet and without much in the way of fighting. It's really nice to see everyone getting along and playing together as though they actually like each other. 😉 I don't know what's going to be on the agenda for the rest of the day but I'm pretty content with the way things are going at the moment. 😀   

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I’m so grateful for the good days

The boys came home about dinner time and shortly after, we went to my sisters for a little gathering. Most of my siblings were there and I got to see a few family friends as well.  It's was just a nice time and the boys had fun.  It's so easy to get isolated when you're a special needs parent and I'm trying to make sure I don't let that happen again. I'm making an effort to be more social and while there are still times, I opt out of things, I'm glad I went tonight.  Afterwards, there was sort of a family meeting. It was just myself, my parents and two others.    The whole point was to discuss everything going on in my life. We are working to find…

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I don’t remember much of today

Sorry I've been absent today. The boys spent part of the day with their Mom and I slept almost the entire time they were gone.  I haven't had a good nights sleep in some time and once the boys were gone, my body just sorta shut down. I only woke up when the boys came home and don't remember much in between.  I know that some of you can relate to that level of exhaustion because it's certainly not unique to me alone.  Anyway, the boys and I have an open house to go to at my sisters tonight. I also have a meeting later on and I'm not sure I have the energy to get this all done but I'm gonna try.  I'm working up the energy to get…

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Do you ever get used to losing your marriage? A Deeply personal post from a newly single Dad

I wasn't sure if I was going to touch on this part of my life with this new blog but I'm not really sure how I couldn't.  Everyone has a moment in their life that changes the the course of everything going forward. That moment for me, occurred on the night of October 14, 2014. That's the night that my wife left and never returned.  I thought that we were the exception to the rule.  It was her second marriage and we were a blended family with special needs children. I suppose the cards were stacked against us but I never saw this coming and there are still times I wake up in the middle of the night thinking it was just a bad dream.     I know guys who've…

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It’s been a really difficult day for this single Dad

It's been one of those night that I have yet to fall asleep. It's been a exhausting day, filled with ups and downs. The boys have struggled and yet we celebrated a few victories as well.  I got the boys down for the night but Elliott is still awake and shortly after he came downstairs, Emmett joined the party.  There was laundry that needed to be done for the boys to leave the house with clothes on to go visit their Mom for the day. We had a little snafu with the dryer and so it took way longer than intended.  When everything was done for the night, I was able to get the boys back in their own beds, at least for now.  As I'm writing this in bed,…

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