No Lazy Summer Days Here!

Summer isn't really a vacation for most moms, but particularly special needs moms, and especially autism moms! One of the hardest things of parenting our kids on the autism spectrum is that you are always "on duty". There is truly no break during their waking hours, which makes summer that much more exhausting.

Autism presents differently in every person with the diagnosis (with obvious similarities that make a diagnosis possible). Our one child needs almost constant redirection. While her behavior is greatly improved, the ability to play and interact with others appropriately lasts for extremely short periods of time. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason why some days are inexplicably harder than another, but the hard days are .....well, hard. We are incredibly thankful for her ESY (extended school year) program at her autism school. The weeks preceding ESY and the weeks after it ends are truly survival mode.

Our other child with autism is at high risk for "elopement". Elopement is the term used to describe a child who wanders or runs off. Obviously this is highly dangerous for a child who doesn't understand safety and lacks verbal ability. It's not truly understood what motivates or drives this behavior, but it's terrifying for parents. Our child is extremely adept at recognizing opportunities (for example, every single time we have guests over we are on HIGH alert, because he waits for distracted adults and a door to sneak out). I feel panic if I can't lay eyes on him immediately. He wears a GPS tracking device, the local police have been made aware of this behavior, we have installed a variety of locks and alarms, but the vigilance must remain. We can never let our guard down.

So don't judge too harshly when I start my back-to-school countdown in a few days! I love my kiddos, but there really aren't any laid back days of summer when you parent two kids on the autism spectrum.

Happy 13th Birthday Yul!

Super Summer

In A Blink

Truly, it feels like we blinked and went from Caroline's preschool graduation to her high school graduation! We are so proud of all of her achievements and looking forward to seeing what the future holds. We know she is on her way to changing the world!

Fun at the Playground

Congratulations Caroline!

We have another senior in high school this year. After weighing her options, Caroline was very excited to commit to Carleton College. We are very proud of her, but we sure will miss her next year.

Happy Birthday Ivan & Luke!

Let's go Nova!

Happy Easter 2016

We had a wonderful time celebrating Easter at my sister's home with her family. The kids did a great job with the long car ride and had lots of fun doing an egg hunt and spending time with their cousins. We only managed to get mostly pictures of the youngest 7 kids. Irina and Maddie's dresses were once worn by their older sisters (now 18 & 20). So glad I kept them.

Happy Birthday Maddie!

Maddie is 10! She was so excited for her birthday and loved her special day!

Afternoon Fun

A brand new Hobby Lobby opened up locally. I had never been to one before, and didn't have much time, so barely got through half of the store. I did get some fun stuff for the kids, including beads and pipe cleaners, which turned out to be a fun afternoon activity making bracelets and necklaces (while working on fine motor skills and patterns, but don't tell the kids!).

Success

Irina had a day off from school, and her older sister Zoe wanted to take her to see a movie. Of course I love that she wanted to spend time with her little sister, but I was honestly nervous. As I shared before, Irina has Autism and can be significantly challenging. On a recent outing to Target, we had to make a quick exit where an epic meltdown occurred on the drive home (Irina had the meltdown. I cried.)

So I dropped them off at the theater, and went to a store in the same shopping center. Just in case. It went well! Irina was a little loud, and very excited, but she made it through the movie! Unfortunately, I didn't plan well. The movie ended at lunchtime, and despite eating plenty of popcorn, Irina wanted lunch. Now. She was not happy upon the refusal to go to McDonald's. She protested loudly the entire ride home. However, she did NOT have a meltdown!  She had lunch at home, and was able to reset and have a good afternoon. This is really significant progress! It's truly the "normal" everyday things that Autism parents don't take for granted. 

A Perfect Fit

Sometimes it seems illogical to add another special needs child to your family, especially if you are dealing with significant challenges with a child (or children) already home. God knows what He is doing. That new child might just be the most gentle soul who has the most special way of interacting with his siblings. Yul is so kind and patient (and yet firm!) with Irina. She really loves him and listens to him. He has a unique relationship with all his siblings. We can't imagine our family without him.