Let's Clear Things Up

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I worked from dawn til dusk on Saturday, so I was determined to make my Sunday amazing. And thanks to smartphones and facebook, I got to share the love all day long. (Even though this drives Travis crazay).

 

My first post: "It was a Country Mart fried chicken in the park after church kind of day."

 

We played soccer and chased geese. Swung the kids til our wrists were sore and let them push us on the merry-go-round. Got greasy faces from our fried chicken and ate a whole plastic container of chocolate cupcakes from the CM deli. Drug Waylon away from making splashes in the water kicking and screaming. And then we came home and changed clothes to spend the rest of the afternoon outside.

 

My second post: "Going to find momma some mushrooms."

 

The kids played outside all afternoon in the amazing Spring weather. They went mushroom hunting. Travis fired up the smoker and threw in some ribs. Waylon played in the leftover rainwater in the sand table on the deck while Rose Mary and Caden headed out for an adventure.

 

My third post: "Kids went out "adventuring", and I found them 15 feet up a cedar tree. #myheartstopped ...But obviously I came to in time to snap a picture."

 

Then late afternoon, in need of a bit of solitude, I went to town to return some movies to the video store and enjoy 20 minutes in the van with my audio book. In town I decided to stop by the liquor store and wouldn't you know- I got caught red handed. The clerk says, "Oh, I read your blog this week!"

 

It dawns on me that I may need to clear things up a little. Even though I may portray one on facebook, or the blog, I'm no superhero. I'm no mother of the year.  Just your typical mom, raising my kids one day at a time.

 

And some days he drives me to drink.

 

 

 

Autism Awareness

I've had really great intentions to blog like crazy during April- you know, Autism Awareness Month. I know you've at least heard of it- pictures and videos are all over facebook and the puzzle piece is everywhere. (Even over there --->!) But other than braving Saturday morning soccer with a stimming, screaming kid, I haven't done much to spread the awareness.

This year marks our fourth Autism Awareness Month since Waylon's diagnosis. In the beginning, I started this blog to help my family be aware of what autism is, and to help them understand Waylon. Eventually, it expanded to friends, then facebook, and last month there were 737 blog hits of people who came here to learn about autism. Whoa. That's huge. And I love it.

Here's the way I see it. Waylon is six now, and although I've heard lots of great stories about the kid who just "grew out" of their autism, it's not looking hopeful for us. And every bit of awareness I can spread now, will help Waylon in the future. If the number of shared photos and videos to my facebook wall is even an inkling of an indication, I know Waylon is loved. And maybe I'm a bit bias, but when you read the blog and learn more about who Waylon really is (not just the stimming, screaming kid in the bleachers), you'll love him even more. And that's what awareness is about.

In nursing school, we learned the stages of grief- DABDA. (Well, that's how I memorized it for tests anyways). Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. They work the same whether you didn't study and failed a test- (I 'm not going to fail this test, Crap I failed this  &*%$! test, Maybe she'll let me retake it for extra points, Now I'm going to fail this class, Oh well I guess I'll study better next time) or whether you have a child diagnosed with autism (I'm over-reacting he'll be fine, God why did you do this to my son, Maybe I'll pay for ridiculous amounts of therapy and it will go away, I'll never be able to have a life that doesn't include crappy pants again, I have a beautiful happy healthy son who I am proud of no matter what.) It's so true. But it's not like they're always in that perfect, neat order. Somedays, I find myself angry, and somedays I find myself in acceptance.

So I use this blog of awareness as my crutch. I hope you don't mind. When we are having a rough moment in the park, or the front of church, and I can feel a thousand sets of staring eyes come upon me, I think, "maybe they read the blog..." and I hope that they understand. Every one of the 737 blog hits last month were like fist pumps in the park, or the church pew, or the grocery store line, or the soccer bleachers.

 It takes a village to raise a child. African proverb

 Thanks for being part of our village.
 And happy Autism Awareness Month!



"Kids with autism are actually geniuses, you know. I saw it on 60 minutes."
#thingsIhearsixtimesaweek
Well, he doesn't play the piano like Beethoven or do math like Einstein.
The boy likes cars.
Future NASCAR driver? We'll have to wait and see.


As a sort-of Autism Awareness post-script, I want to mention: If you know of anyone who's child is not meeting the typical developmental milestones, and they are concerned, don't blow them off.  If I had a dollar for every time a well-meaning, kind-hearted person told me, "Oh, he'll talk someday and then you will wish he had never started!" Um, no. While many kids who start out with a language delay can catch up, there are many who don't. There are resources out there, like the Tiny-K program, for kids who are even just a little bit behind. It takes a strong parent to realize there may be something wrong with their child, and to do something about it while they have plenty of time.


Picture this

Picture this:
3 kids in the car with Mom and everyone has to pee.
If you get out at a fast food joint, inevitably it is assumed to be supper time, regardless of the actual time of day. You leave $25 poorer than you were before everyone had to pee.
If you stop at a gas station you have to strategically maneuver past the pop and orange candy slices and pray there are no venereal diseases lurking on the toilet seats.
So anyways, pick your poison and stop the car for twenty minutes of torture.
Although we've really outgrown the likes of the small stall, if one wants to urinate in the big stall they must keep one hand on Waylon at all times and complete all other business with the other. One slip of the hand and he's got the latch open and he's headed for the orange slices. And you've got your pants down.
On rare occasions (okay, it only happened once, last Monday) you'll hear a cute little girl say "Mom I think there's a camera in the toilet" and you turn to see that alas, your phone slipped from your coat pocket during the pee rodeo and it's now sitting in three different sources of urine at the bottom of the basin.
But don't forget to keep a hand on The Wanderer at all times, even during phone retrieval, or he'll be at the orange slices and you'll still have a phone in the toilet.
Add to the equation his fear of automatic hand dryers, and you get to hear shrill screams and wince as he plugs his ears with germ infested hands every time an innocent bystander tries to dry their hands. Or during the entire time you're trying to dry the pee off your cell phone.
Get everyone back in the car and start passing the hand sanitizer. Drive to the cell phone store as fast as you can.
The end.