So, where have I been? Honestly, I really can't say - no where and at the same time everywhere. I have been buried in all of the things, we are all buried in - School, therapy, OT, Speech, PLAY project, what to make for dinner?, not to mention the daily trials of an emotional kindergardener! So, here is a recap of the last few months.
Christmas was good. Probably the best yet. Hudson was regulated and happy due to a few changes we have made. Santa brings stockings to their bedroom. This allowed for some time to adjust to the idea of ripping open packages. It worked great and for the first time I had a kid who was happy at Christmas.
Hudson's birthday is just 3 days later, and he informed me that he was having a Lego Ninjago Birthday party with all of his friends. Wow! Trust me when I tell you this has never happened. He hates his birthday! So, we really have down played it. But, per his request we moved forward with the party idea. And because it's me, we went a tad Ninja crazy. It was after all, his first, actual party with games, prizes, cake and presents. The best moment for me as a Mom, was to see him smiling as everyone sang "Happy Birthday." Tradionally, too this was the moment when he would scream at everyone and hit himself in the face! A pretty awkward moment as a party goer, as I am sure you can imagine. Not this time :) Yay!
Move onto to January where my husband and I celebrated 6 years if marriage and then towards the end of the month, we began to take a closer look at my older son Greyson, thinking he too is on the Autism spectrum. So we have been going through some testing an evaluation. By no means do I feel it is very severe, but if he is on the Asperger's end of things, he is going to need some special parenting to help him lighten up, both emotionally and socially. This is parenting that I am not familiar with - although, I am always willing to learn.
With all of this distraction it has been easy to focus on everyone else but myself. I woke up one morning last month and declared I was going to go do something for me that morning - only to be completely stumped as to what to do? It was an eye opening moment. Since then I have been at least every other day, working on an art journal. This I love, an it gets all the goings-on out of my head. I have signed myself up for the Salt Lake City Half Marathon, because I know that exercise is a huge mood lifter for me. When I have signed up for an event, I tend to stick to it more than when I don't. And because of some great Salt Lake programs, like U-Fit, I have been able to have a regular Friday night out with friends and my kids come back to me completely exhausted! This has been amazing and if you don't know about it you really should. I know when I get out of myself and laugh with friends and seek the support from our group, I really can handle all that is thrown my way. Thank you again for all your love and support.
In response to Christmas, we can't keep our guy away from the presents, we can tell his younger brother he has to wait, but the big guy KNOWS something is in there for him, and he will do anything he can to open it.
ReplyDeleteGoes to show how unique each child on the spectrum is.
Yeah, it was all usually to overwhelming for him. He did not want to have anything to do with it. You never know, he is catching on though. He might be like your kid in no time.
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