Value Sunday - our autism journey

Technically this started yesterday but I kept hoping that the sneezes would not mean what I knew they meant. Yup, Owen was getting sick. This is not news I like and this is certainly not something that we want when routine is so important but here we are. Thankfully he slept all night and woke after five. That was the good part but he woke with the snotty nose and fever I didn’t want him to have. Church was the first thing he realized he was not going to get to do today. This did not put him in the best of moods. Then he realized he was not going to school tomorrow which added the next layer of anxiety. The repetitive behavior gets repetitive awfully quickly. I have tried so many exercises and theories and suggestions and and and but tiredness and the fact that Owen is beyond smart and never forgets a thing does not help the process. Today was probably the closest that I’ve gotten to distracting him or implementing a rule that helps with him associating so that he doesn’t have to continuously repeat his words. If he wanted to talk to me about school or going to the doctor he had to put his tablet down. This was not something he wanted to do so we couldn’t talk about it. As the day wore on he would come to me without his tablet prepared to discuss what he wanted. I will have to work on the motivation with him and hopefully, it will help. He told me Owen has a “vever” and he has to “go to the doctor” tomorrow because the “school is busy.” His fever stayed right at one hundred for most of the day and then was gone. I pray that it stays gone. I’m still going to keep him home tomorrow because of his nose and how he was feeling but hopefully, we can get past it all quickly. He will be disappointed if we don’t go to the doctor but I’m praying we don’t. She was one of the people he told me he was thankful for. Bedtime came and he was out. I said, “I love you” and he said, “Good to know.” Each day is a gift. Each moment in time is a learning and growing experience. And today we grew. Find your strength and grow. Smiles to all and donut daze!