Posts Tagged ‘autism and birthdays’
Hard Days are Allowed
When I think about my experience with autism so far, there are a few moments of awakening that really stand out. One of those was Johnny’s second birthday. We had known about his autism for four months and, naively, I thought that the ups and downs we had experienced since that time meant we were “through” the acclimation phase. I thought that we were already prepared to settle in to our altered version of normal. That day, we drove over an hour to meet with most of our family and…
Read MoreAnd Then He Was Six
Yesterday was Cooper’s 6th birthday. My baby is 6. How can that be? Of course I knew this day was coming. And I prepared for the emotional impact it was going to have on me. Each year brings on new challenges. New services are needed. Services end. He will be done at Fraser in January. That’s a toughie. Our family moved here for Fraser. And it changed Cooper’s life. His needs are changing too. It is very apparent that Cooper has severe autism. Or low functioning autism. When he was…
Read MoreI Would Always Choose Cooper
Coopers birthday is on Saturday. He will be 4. I’ve been thinking about it nonstop. Even sneaking little peeks at Cooper. Watching closer than usual. Wondering how we got here and marveling in how far we’ve come. And thinking how far we have to go. And most importantly melting at just how wonderful this kid is and secretly wondering if maybe his way of thinking isn’t all that off. For example I am trying to teach Cooper to sign ‘thank you’. The sign is touching your hand to your chin and would be pretty…
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