When a full day feels full by seven in the morning it feels a lot fuller by seven at night. The ante is up on what the pirate tooth fairy is now bringing. Owen lost another tooth this morning and thankfully I think it is his last because he told me he wanted the pirate tooth fairy to bring him “a coin a lollipop and skeleton bones” because it would have an eyepatch for his treasure chest. I told him that thankfully we already have an eyepatch and he could wear it anytime. He told me it belonged to the pirate. I think my boy is going to be a story writer before this is all over. He woke a little early due to the whole tooth, pirate talk but he was calm. For hours and hours and hours I ignored him. That word sounds so harsh, so emotional. How can I ignore my child? But I did. And that isn’t even true. I heard every single time he asked about what he was doing on Wednesday, pushing past today and tomorrow. He wanted me to confirm he was going to see his grandma. I told him yes the first time and then tried to get him to process through his behaviors. It is extremely hard, emotional, difficult, stressful, upsetting, and every other emotion you can think of to have a child that won’t let go of the repetitive and obsessive behaviors and how much it must affect him. My heart aches knowing that I don’t have the answers or the knowledge to help him move forward. One day we will get there and he has a team that loves and supports him as well as me. It is hard to adapt your behaviors to process your own feeling and then trying to learn how to help him adapt adds a new level to it. Autism is as much about how I handle it as it is about Owen having it. In my form of distraction this morning I asked Owen to make long sentences. If I don’t say long then he makes two-word sentences and he’s done. He was explaining one of the characters on a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse video and said, “Boo-Boo Chicken has eyes on he’s got feet on and feathers on.” He is getting the hang of the long sentence. I was listening to my podcast for editing purposes and he walked up to me and said, “pause that.” He doesn’t like to hear voices he knows unless he wants to hear the voices he knows. That goes with pretty much everything. He asked to go bowling today and we had a fabulous time. After bowling, we went to ride his bike but he kept picking up things. I told him we would leave if he kept doing it. We had to leave. I’m not sure how else to make the connection for him. He knows the words and will say them but he still does it. I need him to understand safety. We talked on and off about it all afternoon. I hope he can understand soon. I am so excited I have finally found him swimming lessons and he goes for an evaluation tomorrow. I told him we were going and he said for me to get his “swimming suit, summer sandals, and sunglasses” ready for tomorrow. He’s talked about it all day. He then told me he was going to the beach. He loves the water. He didn’t want to go to bed but his eyes told him otherwise and he was out. The victories are on the journey forward. Be proud of your accomplishments and watch your world grow. Smiles to all and donut daze!
RSS Feed