My family visited my dad today. With covid precautions, it’s been quite some time since we’ve seen him. As I sat with him today, I found myself thinking back. Nearly two years ago, my stepmom lost her battle with pancreatic cancer. The night before we lost her, I was driving my dad back to his house, from the nursing home where she would spend her last days. It was nearing midnight. He was exhausted, close to 80 himself. He needed to rest for a few hours. It was foggy and…
We need to talk about discipline. Particularly discipline and special needs children. My oldest has Autism and a handful of other diagnosis. For most of his younger years he simply did not have behaviors at home. His behaviors occurred at school and I strongly subscribed (past tense to some extent) to the ideology that kids should not be double punished. That if something happens at school, and the child receives a consequence, that the child should not be double punished at home. Then my life exploded. A handful of close deaths.…
We are packed up and headed home after a wonderful adventure up north. We stayed in a hotel which is a huge deal for us. No restaurants yet but it’s definitely are biggest goal. We went to Adventure Zone and the Great Lakes Aquarium successfully! Swam three times. And visited Two Harbors, MN, where Jamie and I lived when Cooper was born 10 years ago. So many memories wrapped up in one little city. Getting married. Buying a house. Becoming first time parents. An autism diagnosis. Moving to a bigger…
The other day I took my son Jack to the dermatologist. It was a routine visit, nothing out of the ordinary. I did what I always do when it comes to Jack and his appointments. Over the phone, I explained he has autism, and it might seem like he isn’t listening at first. He takes a while to answer questions. Also, he might jump around a little if he gets restless. On the drive to the office, I took Jack through a quick social story about wearing his mask, sitting in the…
She sat beside me in the car, diligently working on sorting letters from the Elmo case she so often carries in her clutches, occupying much of her days… We waited for her Brother, who inside the adjacent building sat working on his own set of goals, alongside his SLP, and OT. “A for Apple! B is for Baby!” Eva proudly exclaimed, gazing up at me, her smile filled with wonder and excitement. A girl after my own heart…her love of books, words, and the letters that encompass them all emanates…
We all remember that day. The visit, the phone call, or the letter. And you hear or read those words: “Your child is on the autism spectrum.” I know I will never forget. I can still hear the Dr. saying, “We can go two different routes here. We can give the diagnosis of PDD/NOS or Autism.” I think he was truly trying to spare us that ominous word. I voted for Autism. I knew enough to know that the diagnosis of autism was our ticket to services. See, this all…
I’m a young mom, 25 now to be exact.When you become a mom in your early 20’s the pressures are different then I feel like those in their 30’s. Girls night’s are mandatory and happen probably way too often. We’re praised for the simplest things like keeping our children alive. There’s no pressure to be the perfect PTA mom driving around in our minivans, because truthfully in a lot of ways we’re still kids ourselves trying to navigate adulthood. We are the first in line for our Pumpkin Spice Lattes…
I am writing this letter to thank the doctor who gave my daughter a fighting chance. You were the first person to listen to our cry for help. I was a new mom. My daughter was not meeting her milestones on time. There were so many nights that she just cried for hours. There was something wrong. Her helpless little body could not tell me the real reason things were not going well. It was heartbreaking. This was not what I imagined when deciding to become a mother. I…
This is the face of a child who has suffered so much during this lockdown. And yet, he still smiles. He doesn’t understand why things are closed, or why he cannot go to school. He doesn’t understand why his favorite places are closed or why we stay home all the time. He doesn’t understand why we need to wear masks. I have tried, but he cannot wear one. It’s hard to explain to people why. No, he can’t wear a visor instead, trust me we are still working on it.…
Last night we visited an arcade. It was a big adventure for our little family. Our middle son loves all things game. The baby loves tagging after his older brother. And Cooper, our eldest son, he is just starting to take in the world outside of our home. He is ten years old. He loves trains and postcards with animals on them. He also has autism. He is autistic. And nonverbal. Those are his descriptions written on the piece of paper in my drawer in a file marked, Cooper’s Med…
