Posts Tagged ‘autism in girls’
What Happens When We Are Gone?
The company where I work does a job for a regular customer a couple times a year. She has a child who’s somewhere on the autism spectrum. From the few times that I have actually seen her, she seems to be fairly verbal, and smart. But, she has also been in the same school as Amelia for most of her life. Although, I think, its been off and on for the last few years. The mother is an older lady. In her eighties, I believe. The daughter is somewhere in…
Read MoreAt Least She’s Healthy
When your son was diagnosed with cancer my daughter had long been diagnosed with autism. They were in the two’s together and every day my little girl showed up with a Birth to Three therapist. I’m sure you saw us. She was the only one who needed a therapist to get through the day. To put a cup to her lips and push her chin up. The girl who had meltdowns and ran down the hall spinning, tumbling laughing maniacally. I remember when I heard about your son. I went…
Read MoreI Don’t Know How You Do It
I don’t know how you do it. Those seven words grate on my very last nerve. What do you mean how do I do it? Isn’t that what a parent is supposed to do? Isn’t that our #1 job? When I entered this parental world, I never imagined it would be like this. I never knew such a deep love and sadness all wrapped in to one. I never knew Autism. Autism knows no bounds. It ravishes your life piece by piece. Autism takes away so much. It takes away…
Read MorePrecious as a Prayer
I sit and watch you after you have fallen asleep. I am in awe of how much you’ve grown. I sometimes mistaken you for your big sisters (now you weigh the same), and I pull back with fear. You see, sweet child, I have come to terms you will always be my baby. I will always protect you and sing you your favorite lullaby in loop mode. I will always be there to help you eat your breakfast and remind you the food is hot, and to use your fork, not…
Read MoreHow Can I Live Forever?
Once upon a time, you were just a small girl, but now you are almost grown-up. At the age of 16, I have realized just how quick adulthood is coming, and how this is the time I dreaded for so long. When you were little, and I knew something was different, I knew that something wasn’t completely right. I didn’t know what to do, I was young and I was naive and thought that it would change. I thought that maybe it was a” phase”, that the talking would come,…
Read MoreWe’re All the Same
Before having my daughter, I had two miscarriages. They were years apart and left me fragile and vulnerable to fear. Fear that it would happen again and fear I’d lose her after she was born. Later. Someday. Fear that kept me up at night. Fear that still keeps me up at night. While people are finally starting to open up about their experiences with loss, they aren’t talking about this anxiety that comes with parenting. At five years old, I opened myself up to trusting more people to watch her…
Read MoreNavigating the Autism Maze
When I first learned our sweet, beautiful daughter had autism I felt as if a tsunami had swept me up, taking with it my family’s happiness and peace. I thought from here on, our life would be limited to therapies and hardships. I was frightened and uncertain about our now shaky future. Would our almost three year old daughter ever be able to fully communicate? What type of relationship could she and I have as she grew older? She blends in now, but what sort of behaviors might she develop…
Read MoreUnexpected Spectrum
When my wife Tammy and I met, we had four children between us; two from her first marriage, and two from mine. After a few years of being married we became like any other couple. We talked about having a child. We had yours and mine, and now we wanted the ours. Tammy, having her tubes tied after her second child, made it a little more difficult to get what we wanted. We could choose the surgery route to reverse her previous procedure, which costs a lot of money with…
Read MoreBut She Doesn’t Look Like She Has Autism
I hear these words so many times when I relate to someone that Alana is autistic. I’m so glad she can speak; she has no problem with that. She was able to read any book given her by age 6. We never really sounded out letters too much; just what Kindergarten taught her. But one day she magically just started to read and loves it. But there are behavior issues that will wear me down. Anywhere we go, I constantly watch her. I don’t leave her alone. I did take…
Read MoreThe Best Big Brother
My son Xander has always been an amazing kid, above average in every way, but he goes above and beyond as a big brother. He wanted a little sister more than anything. He actually asked Santa! When we told him we were pregnant he was over the moon. He wanted a book that took him week by week thru the pregnancy and he read it more than once. He helped choose her name, he picked clothes and helped us set up her nursery. My favorite memory is at night he…
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