An Honest Look at Playing with Cooper

I took this video of Cooper last night. We were ‘playing’ trains. I have so many memories of setting up this train track with Cooper and thanking God that he played with something. And telling therapists that he was fine because he played with toys. I was lying to myself. Lying to them. I set the train track up. I put all the trains together. If one thing is off he will destroy the track and throw every single piece. There is no putting things in the trains. No stopping…

Read More

How to Tell the Difference Between a Tantrum and a Meltdown.

I just saw this on Pinterest and it really struck me. It was an ah-ha moment I guess. Cooper is obsessed with getting a reaction. Pretty much everyone that has met him will admit this. He is driven by reactions from others. If Cooper gets mad for whatever reason he goes into full blown tantrum mode. Since he can’t speak he tends to knock over chairs. Or maybe knock stuff off a table. (It’s exasperating!) But the odd part about it is he waits until you are looking. He will…

Read More

Finding Cooper

I’ve been staring at my computer for a while now trying to figure out what to write about our meeting with the child psychologist. A few words come to mind. Acceptance is one of them. It’s time now. Time for me to accept this. Right now, today, Cooper has special needs. It may get better and it may not. Honestly, the meeting probably had the best outcome that it could have. So, in that sense it was great. I’ll give you the facts first. Then I’ll give you the feelings. They…

Read More

My Son makes Fun of the Autistic Kid in Class

I know bullying happens. I am not naïve to that. But what I didn’t know is that sometimes parents think it is funny too. They promote it. They laugh about it. They condone it. And they even brag about it over a cup of coffee. I was sitting with a few co-workers the other day having a cup of coffee and we were sharing stories about our kids. We were laughing about the drama around little girls and the laid back personalities of little boys. I was hearing about dance and…

Read More

What If It's Not Autism?

When I finally decided to start blogging about Cooper I knew I wanted to write this post. I have been thinking about it for months. And trying to decide how to word it. I am Google obsessed. I have mentioned it before. I usually search in private after the kids have gone to bed. (Maybe I need an intervention!!) And it’s usually after some horrific scene has taken place. A bad visit to the doctor or a tantrum during speech. Or maybe its the opposite. Maybe someone is telling me…

Read More