A Good Weekend!

We had an exceptionally good weekend. "We" meaning Nicholas. There were no tantrums, no major arguing, no big attitude, etc. This is rare and made me happy.

Last weekend came as a much welcomed surprise since he had an especially rough week. His outbursts and lack of self control had been apparent both at home and at school all last week so I was prepared for a long weekend of the same. But when the weekend was over and I realized that we had the opposite of the kind of weekend I was anticipating I began thinking about what it takes to have a "good" weekend. And I think it is important to share this because most people don’t understand Nicholas’, and therefore our, unique struggle, especially since, at first glance, Nicholas appears to be a typical child. When he starts to experience his issues in public strangers think he is just misbehaving and familiar people (family) tend to forget the complexity of the situation.

Misleading "Truths," New Truths

As 2015 comes to a close, I find myself reflecting on this year and what we have been through, what we have learned.  Specifically, what we now know about Nicholas and his Autism that we did not know in 2014.  And, in turn, what we now know about me and my family.

Eight!

I know I’m two weeks late, but life is too busy to spend time in front of a computer typing.  This is good, we are spending more time together!  But it’s also not so good, leisure time to do stuff is rare.

Anyway, Nicholas is 8 years old now.  I guess it’s important to compare how he is today to how he was a year ago.  What has happened in a year?  A lot.  He has physically grown, which is always a plus medically but a bit sad personally.  He no longer fits nicely in my arms though we still try quite often.

Answers! Sort of...

We finally got the much awaited phone call and appointment and psych report.  We got answers!  Of course, being Nicholas, they are not the clean cut answers we hoped for.  But ANSWERS!

NOV07 7.0 - "Nicholas"

WOW!  He is SEVEN years old and I am in disbelief!  It just doesn't feel like it has really been that many years.  He is now more than half my size and that still amazes me every time I notice.  Granted, I'm short so that's not very tall and he is still the shortest first grader in his school.  But still, DUDE!  Pretty soon he'll be my size, and that's not an exaggeration.  I am happy I have a growing child, my wallet is begging him to slow his growing.

On his birthday we went to Disneyland and we stayed late so that he could watch the fireworks.  He is now tall enough for a lot of the larger rides and he enjoys those.  On Sunday we had cake and pizza with grandma and parents.  This coming Saturday he will have his birthday party at his aunt's and finish off his birthday month celebration with Thanksgiving.

His 6th year was packed with all sorts of experiences and new things and changes.  Not all were good.  We have learned a lot this past year and grown a lot:

Autism Awareness

Apparently today is Autism Awareness Day?  At least according to our office manager, who also has an autistic son.  And apparently you are also suppose to wear blue in support of autism awareness and everyone got the memo except me because I’m just suppose to somehow know all there is to know in regards to activism and autism.

Unsolicited Advice

Part of being a parent is getting unsolicited advice.  I have come to accept that and, as a parent, I have several responses that I use for such advice:

“Oh, that sounds interesting. I’ll look into it.”

“Thanks, but that doesn’t really align with my parenting style.”

And an oldie, but works:

“Thanks...”

Back! Again...

Back in November I had written a rather lengthy post but did not publish it because it was late and I wanted to give it one more read through for grammar and what not.  Well, life happened and I never went back to it.  In retrospect, it seems senseless now and I may tell that story at a later date or in a series of posts later on.  Life has happened and so lets get caught up.

Potty Training: A Year Later

As the Fourth of July passed I realised it had been a year since I started the potty training journey.  Lots has happened in one year and I can say with confidence that he is fully potty trained.  He has the errant accident but our dry days largely outnumber the wet undies.  He sleeps in underwear and I've had less than a handful of night accidents.

So all is great, right?  Gotta love this diaper free life like everyone said I would... NOT!

Teen Suicide: A Little Close to Home

It's been too long, a lot has happened, and the truth is I've been lazy.  Catch up may come later...

A little less than a year ago someone shared a video somewhere, I'm not really sure where, called "60 Days Later..." which was made by the parents of a teenager who committed suicide and how they were doing 60 days later.  Through this video I found their Facebook page and have been following them since. 

Yesterday, this page posted a link to a page recently created to keep people updated on a teenage girl who attempted suicide this past weekend.  Apparently she shot herself in the head and, as of this point, looks like she may recover (though with many problems).  As I was reading through the page and the comments I was overwhelmed by how many people were posting that they lost children to suicide.  I couldn't keep count!  I knew it was a problem and in recent years bullying has been highlighted as a major cause but I just hadn't been forced to see so many actual accounts.

Potty Training - Week 9

Days 57-63

8/23-8/29

This week was the first full week we used the new toilet/potty thing.  It works, when it gets used.  He still won't tell me though my sister says he tells her so there have been accidents.  Lots.  *sigh*

Ok, so lets talk about this contraption.  It is called Mommy's Helper - Padded Potty Seat with Step Stool.  I got it from Walmart.com and got shipped for free to the store that is a few minutes from where I live.  Assembling it was quite easy but you do need to pay attention and follow the very simple instructions.  Then it was time to put it on the toilet.

The 'New' Playroom

It's 1:30am.  WTH am I doing up at this time??  Cleaning, that's what.  Hurricane Nicholas came through today will full force leaving behind a disaster zone that makes Katrina look mild.  These past couple of days have been rough, he's been acting way out of character for him and by the time he is in bed I have been too exhausted to attempt cleaning up.  Today I had a little extra energy, we had a surprisingly ok evening after his nap, so I went to work before FEMA has a chance to try and 'help.'  

Cleaning up, while it took almost an hour, was a breeze!!  All thanks to my new set up and system (yay!).  I didn't move too much of his things around but did take out my bookcases from the playroom (aka living room) which has left an incredibly nice space.  Moved a couple of things around and I have been incredibly satisfied with the result.  And since insomnia has kicked in, I shall tell you all about these changes.