Winter Break

First day of winter break. This kid woke up at 6 and asked to shower. He then put on his shoe (he can’t find the other one), put on his mask and got his backpack. He is waiting for the bus to arrive. 😔 We keep telling him there’s no class today but he doesn’t…

Revelation

Last week I met some friends of friends.  They introduced themselves to my husband and me.  They are a married couple with a small child.  And as my husband was talking about his job, the guy kept saying comments such as: “I don’t know how you can work with kids.” and “I would never work…

Eyes

The monkey’s sleep has been on and off. He does great a few nights in a row and then he has a rough night. We are still fighting this and trying to find what works. At least now, we feel we are sleeping more. Not as much as we need to, but much more than…

Sleeping

These last few days, we finally started sleeping. The monkey’s on and off again sleeping patterns, waking up at all hours of the night, had been very difficult for us. I couldn’t stay awake during the day. We were all sleep deprived. I was looking at my Fitbit watch, which tracks sleeping hours, and it…

Seen.

It’s 11:30 in the morning and the monkey is napping. I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times he has taken naps since he was born. Last night, or I should say early this morning, he woke up at 2:30 wanting to shower. I tried to get him to go back…

Exhausted

It’s 2a.m and this kid is wide awake Second day in a row. We stayed in a cabin this past weekend and the monkey woke up at 4 a.m. every day. My husband and I tag team this but the exhaustion is so difficult. How’s one supposed to function with a few hours of sleep…

He’s getting there.

One of my husband’s ex-students gave us a drawing of our Bella. At first the monkey kept trying to grab it and take it outside to the trash bins. But now he just wants to stare at it. We tell him we miss her and he gets mad. He’s still processing all of this but…

Struggles

These are my scratched up hands. The monkey had a meltdown a week ago. And my hands are still healing. This is the part that I always struggle with. Going to the office, hiding my hands during meetings, trying so hard not to have to explain why my son hurt me. This is our autism…

Grandparents Love

My dad got admitted again to the hospital. He went to the emergency room Wednesday with a lot of pain and was admitted. The following morning on Thursday, I went to see him. He was in so much pain. He said he’d been in pain all night and wasn’t able to sleep. I called his…

Bella

Our beloved Bella, golden retriever, passed away about a week ago. She’s been with us for over 16 years. She’s been such a big part of our family and we feel the void now that she’s not here. The monkey had been doing really well at school. The teacher’s notes were always positive, letting us…

Siblings of special needs children

Every night before school, my daughter will prepare my son’s lunch. She will call me during the day to remind me to buy juices, or grapes, or whatever it is that we are running low on his lunch. She always makes sure her brother is taken care of. The past few months, when my son…