Autism
I Can Choose To Learn
When I think of the great teachers I have had throughout my life, I think of the typical ones many of us have had. A high school teacher. A family member. Someone we look up too but have never met. But if I was to truly answer the question honestly, I would tell you that my greatest teacher has been my son Cooper. He is 10. His autism was discovered at age 3, although it was no secret when the paper was slid across the table to us. It was…
Read MoreWe Waited Ten Years For This
Beautiful things are happening between these two brothers. Things that we weren’t sure would happen. Things we accepted may never happen. Because we just didn’t know. They have never played a game together, at least not in the traditional sense. Sawyer tried for years to engage his older brother but never had any luck. It was heartbreaking for him. But lately, Cooper is loving to wrestle, tickle, run, and chase his brothers. It came out of nowhere. It’s a gift. He laughs so deep from his belly and his face…
Read MoreChoose Kindness
When do we learn hate? At what age? It’s a question I’ve been thinking about for days now. I share these three boys and our family on Facebook. I do it for a few reasons. I want to normalize autism. I want to remove the stigma and fear from the word. I want to show the possibility. The reality. The hope and the joy. I want to educate the person who knows nothing of disability. So when they meet a child or adult like my son, they give grace. And…
Read MoreTen Years Old and Nonverbal
Nonverbal communication is a pretty amazing thing really. My son Cooper communicates mostly with sounds: Think grunts and squeals and gasps. He points a lot. And brings things to us and brings us to things. He places his hands on ours and guides them in certain ways. He touches our lips and uses his hands to turn our faces to see things. He uses his iPad to show us pictures or videos of things he wants to tell us about. He does some typing. But only words that are important…
Read MoreWhat Does it Mean to be Grateful?
What does it mean to be grateful? I think gratitude can look different for each individual person. We all want a happy life. Some people may be grateful for a good job and financial stability. Others may be grateful to be a stay at home parent, raising and watching their children thrive and grow. Gratitude is a powerful human emotion. In its simplest form, gratitude refers to a “state of thankfulness” or a “state of being grateful.” Thanking others, thanking ourselves, gratitude in any form can enlighten the mind and…
Read MoreAge is Literally Just a Number
Today I find myself decluttering. It usually makes me feel quite a bit better…when I’m in one of those random funks. But if nothing else, today’s chore left me feeling more gloomy than anything. I first tackled the hall closets, our makeshift office in the spare bedroom, and then turned my attention to Beckett’s room. Truth be told, there isn’t much going on in our son’s room..to declutter, or otherwise. Of course, he has a sturdy, nice bed, complete with ladder and slide. There are various decorative pieces on his…
Read MoreI am a Forever Mother
All five of my kids have really peculiar teeth. Which is kind of ironic, seeing as my husband is a dentist. Missing laterals, crowding, odd bite patterns—we’ve got it all. My son Jack has what is called a class three underbite, which means his lower jaw comes out much further than it should. He’ll probably need to have a lot of teeth pulled. And there is a surgery to correct the whole thing. It is big and long and complicated, with a very difficult recovery. We could never put him…
Read MoreIt Feels Like the Walls are Closing In
Does anyone else feel like they are standing in a room screaming at the top of their lungs but no one is listening. Or cares. Because I do. Distance learning is really hard. Trying to work with three kids and a husband is really hard. Never being alone is hard. Self care is hard. Motivation is hard. Trying to be happy all the time is hard. Trying to stay busy without leaving the house is hard. Finding Christmas cheer is hard. When everything shut down in March for us I…
Read MoreA War With Hope
My son Cooper has taught me so much about timing over the years. And how we don’t have a set time limit to accomplish things. When he was diagnosed we heard a lot of things. We heard game over. We heard prepare for the worst. We heard he would never talk, or make a friend or ride a bike. We were told he would never live independently or have any type of self care. After kindergarten we were told he would never be able to attend a public school. And…
Read MoreThe Special Needs Sibling Shield
Today we ventured to Walmart for a few things. Eggs. Milk. Nerf gun bullets. And 2 pieces of paper. The essentials. Obviously. Outings as a family are still relatively new for us. And while they are far from perfect, they are real. See, we have a kid who is just learning about waiting and buying and walking and all the parts of the world. While our son Cooper is making amazing progress at stores and by amazing I mean huge leaps and bounds…so much of it is still hard for…
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