I am Exhausted

I am tired.  I don't mean the kind of tired where I need a shot of caffeine and I will perk up.  I mean the kind of tired that is utter exhaustion.  I mean the kind of tired where I can barely move my body.  I mean the kind of tired that no amount of sleep can conquer.  It is an emotional exhaustion.  I think any parent will feel this type of exhaustion at one point or another.  I feel it all the time.  Raising a son who is both ADHD and Autistic is hard, draining work...mentally, spiritually

Different...Not Bad

I have said it before and I will say it again...just because something is different does not mean that it is bad.  Just because you are not familiar with something does not mean that something is wrong.  Just because someone learns differently from others does not mean that person is not capable of learning at all.  Oh how I wish more people would get this memo.  If every child in the class were visual learners and one child in the class was a tactile learner, do you single out that one child

Memories

I was looking through old photos on my computer last night.  I got sucked in to the memories...starting from our wedding and honeymoon and all through the present.  When I started looking at pictures of our son, infancy and forward I started thinking about all of the stress and worry and anxiety that I have had since we brought him home from the hospital.  It started with the adoption process.  His biological father was notified that he had a child and he wanted to earn his parental rights (he

Communication

So, lately I have been thinking about communication...the way we speak to each other.  First let me explain something about myself.  I am a people watcher...a noticer...I am aware of my surroundings.  I hear the way people talk to one another and I have this innate ability to "see" exactly where communication breaks down.  This is not something I try to do or something I can show someone else to do...it just happens.  I consider it a gift and I have used it many times in my career as a

Time for a Break

​I hope everyone had a fun and enjoyable Labor Day weekend!  I know we did.  We had the opportunity to have a whole day (24 hours) kid-free.  Since we have limited people in town who will take our son overnight, this is a very rare occasion for us.  Once our son left with his sitter, we stood for a moment and just listened to the silence.  It was amazing.  We made plans to drive up to Orange County and take a dolphin/whale watching excursion.  We stopped to eat along the way and thoroughly

Advocate!

​I have said it before and I will say it again...you are your child's BEST advocate.  You will have to advocate on behalf of your child several times and with several different people and within several different organizations.  Many parents have to start learning how to advocate with the child's pediatrician.  From there, you will have to advocate with day care providers, preschool teachers, primary, secondary, and post-secondary teachers.  Basically, any time your child has some interaction