Mudslide

Sometimes I really wonder why people do the things they do ... seriously, I just don't get it somedays!

The other day, Austin was over at my in-laws place (they live next door).  Now, there is a path between our houses and it can get really muddy this time of year, so I always tell the kids to be careful so they do not fall.  While Austin was there, he decided to come back home to get his board game to play with Kaleigh and my mother in-law.  What does she send him back to the house wearing?  Not his running shoes, but her rubber boots, yes, HER rubber boots.  So an excited Austin went running through the path and BOOM!  He slipped in the rubber boots and fell down. He showed up at the door crying and screaming!

Austin HATES to get dirty ... seriously, he cannot stand it!  When he got in the house he was so upset it took a minute for me to understand what was wrong.  He turned around and he was covered in mud.  I asked why he was wearing rubber boots?  He had said my mother in-law told him to wear them ... sigh ... do not get me started.  I got Austin calmed down and sent him to the bathroom to get changed.  I got him all new clothes and told him not to worry, I would wash his coat right away so it would be ready by morning.  His mood turned around quickly and I put him in his other running shoes and sent him back to my mother in-law's with his board game.  I watched him through the windows (so I can see him to get to her door).  He ran, not fast but still he ran through the mud and he was fine.  I suppose the grips on those GEOX were well worth the money!

I do not understand why some people do what they do.  What would possess my mother in-law to put her rubber boots on Austin when he had perfectly good running shoes with him?  Don't get it but at least Austin realizes that Mama knows best!  This Mama that is! ;)

All the best!  *HUGS*

Christmas Crazies!!!

Last year, a couple of weeks before Christmas, Austin's behaviour changed drastically and I do mean, d-r-a-s-t-i-c-a-l-l-y!  Initially I thought he was reacting to some kind of food or was regressing.  Neither of these were the issue.

Around the end of November, Austin really started to act differently.  He was very hyper, he screamed a lot, cried, could not calm down, was restless, did not sleep well, did not eat as he normally would, his focus was really off, he would throw things and kick on his wall or door, he also would meltdown at the drop of a hat over the smallest thing, it was SCARY!  I racked my brain trying to figure out what could be causing all of this commotion.  My husband and I were very concerned.  I contacted Tink and asked her, I figured she would have some insight.  What did she tell me?  It is because of Christmas.  I thought "No way!", it could not be that.  Christmas was weeks away.  I actually doubted Tink, that is rare.  So I tried all sorts of things, changing some foods, trying to get him to sleep at a different time, no iPad or videos to remove the stimulation factor.  I tried talking to him.  I tried timeouts for his behaviour ... I tried everything I could think of ... nothing worked ... nothing. :(  I thought, this is how he is changing and I am just going to have to cope and deal with it.  That seemed to be the only answer until he had a HUGE MELTDOWN and I started to suspect Tink was right.

The day we had decorated the house and put up the tree was the kicker.  Well, OMG!  The behaviours Austin was experiencing increased exponentially!  I am not kidding!  I was at a loss, I had no idea what to do because Christmas is everywhere, school, home, the stores, the streets ... everywhere!  I had contacted another friend of mine (she is such a lovable person I will call her "Annabelle") and told her what was happening.   She has a child on the spectrum too and she said something close to the following, "Oh yeah, my child went through that for weeks before Christmas.  They get so excited, just like typical kids but it is harder for them because they cannot deal with that kind of excitement the same way a typical child would."  Tink had said pretty much the same thing.  I got it.  (I was then, and still am, sorry for doubting you Tink!)  Once we knew that this was the reason Austin was so out of sorts, it was easier to talk to him and deal with the situation.  It did go on for weeks.

The thing that shocked me the most about the whole experience, was the day we took down the tree and decorations, Austin woke up the next day and all the behaviours seem to disappear overnight!  Unbelievable but true!

Thank you to Tink and Annabelle for all your help, advice, support and understanding! :) OX OX

All the best!  *HUGS*

Upward and Onward

So, I asked for some feedback regarding Austin's privacy and this blog ... well, did I get it!  Thank you so much for all the people who gave me their input.  Now, I have decided to continue writing and have to say, that all my feedback was very supportive to do so.  No one thought that Austin's privacy was being compromised or anything was considered embarrassing.  I really do not normally care what people think, but this person is very close to me, so when they said it, it really hurt.  They know I would never do anything to hurt Austin.  When the feedback came back so negatively about this person, they wanted me to disclose who they were!  Can you imagine?  NO WAY!  Why?  Because they thought if people knew who it was, they would not be so harsh ... right ... it could very well go the other way ... anyways, I said "no".  This person's identity will remain undisclosed and if Austin asks me one day, I will tell him.

I am very happy to be continuing this blog.  I have a lot more stories to share that I think can give people insight and I am learning all the time too.  Austin is changing so much and there are always new challenges and new achievements as well.  I am so very PROUD of him.

Thank you once again for all your support and feedback!  I really appreciate all of you!

All the best!  *HUGS*!

To My Lovey

This post is for you, Austin, my lovey, my sweet boy! :)

Recently, I was questioned by someone very close to me about this blog.  I started it because I thought  it would help other people and also document your journey with autism.  I can assure you that my intentions are only good ones.  You know my heart and know that I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!  I would never embarrass or do anything to intentionally cause you any distress.

I am putting this post here so you may read and understand that I almost stopped writing because of something someone said to me.  I was being very foolish and have decided to continue on with the posts.  I can only say to you that I pray when you read this blog, when you are older, you do not feel anything negative and know that what I have documented are stories of how much I LOVE YOU and how PROUD I am of you!

You are the rainbow across my heart!  I ADORE and LOVE you more than anything!

LOTS N' LOTS N' LOTS OF LOVE,

Mommie OX

Privacy Predicament

My Father once told me, if you do not want to hear the answer, do not ask the question.  This is something that I always keep in mind when it comes to sensitive subjects.  I did not think asking a question about blogging when it comes to Austin and autism would have such an impact.  I questioned a friend of mine (I am going to let them remain anonymous as to protect their privacy) about reading my blog.  This person raised a concern about Austin's privacy and did I consider how he would feel about me disclosing his life experiences for all the world to read?  Well, I had a bit in the beginning but I felt that this blog was to help not hurt.  I did not feel that I was writing anything harmful about Austin.  I was very, very upset and devastated by this comment.

I would like to know, to the people that read this blog and have children they blog about, it does not have to be about autism, even just blogging in general, am I invading my son's privacy?  Should I stop blogging immediately and remove this blog, never to write another post again?  I am at a crossroads.  I do not know what to do since this person said this to me.  Part of me feels like if I dare post another of story about him, it would be exploiting Austin, not a feeling I like and certainly not what this blog is about ... I am very concerned about ever hurting my sweet boy, even unintentionally.

I do try to conceal Austin's identity.  His last name is never in any post.  I do not put pictures of him on here.  I do not blog about anything I think he would ever be embarrassed about later on in life.  I try to document his experiences so he can look back and see how far he has come, how PROUD I am of him, how much I LOVE HIM!  I pray, that if I do continue this blog, and I welcome all the feedback I can get, that Austin will see this blog was created to help.

Most of the people that follow this blog that know Austin's identity are family and friends who love and care about him very, very much.  I can only pray that if this blog does stay online and I continue to share this journey with everyone, he will understand, or if he is upset by it, I will remove it immediately and apologize profusely.

Thank you for reading, sharing and caring!

All the best!  *HUGS*

Terrified to Tears

Today we went shopping for Austin's costume.  I always take him to the Halloween Spirit store and things usually go quite well ... not today!  OMG!!!

We walked into the store and there was a huge display in front of us (we usually go to the store in the west end of the city, today we shopped for shoes, so we went to the store close by in the east end) and Austin said he did not want to go near it.  That is not unusual, so I guided him away from the display by holding his hand, he let go and held onto the back of my sweater.  I thought, okay, no problem, there are a lot of people and this store is really lit up so you can see all the detail on the decorations and the other one is the complete opposite!  Anyway, Austin decided he wanted to be a vampire instead of a mummy.  Do you think we could find one vampire costume?  NOPE!  What did Austin set his heart on?  A hot dog costume.  Now, I did try over and over to talk him out of it and then some saleswomen came up and said it was "Totally Cool"!  Uhhhh, not for a boy who kids call "Wiener Boy"!  :(  He really wanted it so I thought, I can always get him something else but I was apprehensive ...

We got Kaleigh's costume and headed for the cashier.  Uhhhh, we tried to head towards the cashier.  Austin is terrified of spiders ... real or fake it does not matter and they were everywhere in this store on the displays.  I weaved my way around three different aisles until I thought it was safe (Austin is still holding on to my sweater this whole time) ... WRONG ONE!  We came around the corner and a two foot tarantula jumped out at Austin ... the shriek that came out of him ... he was TERRIFIED!!! Tears streamed down his face ... I cuddled him close to me and told him it was okay we were leaving.  I told him to close his eyes and it would be okay.  We get to the cash and there are huge spiders everywhere until we get to the farthest cash (there were no spiders at that one).  These spiders all had red lights for eyes and were about a foot long with cobwebs everywhere.  Austin was crying his heart out.  I explained to the girl that he is really frightened of spiders (now more than ever I learned).  I did not know if I should just leave the costumes and go or what.  I paid the girl as the other cashier unplugged the glowing spiders ... trying her hardest to calm Austin ... we all were.  Paid, and thank you ... out the door we went.  I hugged Austin and told him it was okay ... we are NEVER going back to that store ... promise!  Poor guy!  I felt so badly but I really had no idea he would react like that ... I know he does not like the decoration aisle in the store but this was very unusual for Austin, at this age anyway. :(

We got the costume home, Daddy had concerns about the costume too.  I talked to Austin and said it may be better as a dress up costume for home.  He said that would be okay and we went to another store, Canadian Tire, (this one is not cluttered with decorations or anything) and picked out a vampire costume and he was calm and happy.  I did not take him to the dollar store with Kaleigh and I after though because he gets upset at the amount of decorations there, so he stayed home with Daddy while we went.

It all turned out okay at the end of the day and Austin is very excited to be a vampire this Halloween, he even picked out make-up and black hair spray at the pharmacy.  I am so sorry that he experienced what he did today ... I really did not see it coming and it really had an impact.  His Daddy and I are going to see if there is something we can do to help him with this fear of spiders.  We do not want to see him like that ever again!

All the best!  *HUGS*

Halloween Horror

Isn't it interesting how the more things change, somethings stay the same?  Austin has a lot of fear when it comes to Halloween decorations but he LOVES Halloween! The biggest challenge with him is in the store buying decorations.  We also have to make sure not to put too many scary ones up in the house.

Yesterday we went shopping for decorations.  At certain points in the aisle, he stopped and froze, he was that scared.  He asked me walk back up the aisle to come and get him, which I did.  I told him it was okay and we could just leave but he was bound and determined to get the decorations.  I let him pick what he wanted, Kaleigh too, but no spiders, Austin is terrified of spiders, real or fake.

We got through the shopping pretty quickly but we did encounter another boy in the aisle while Austin was upset.  The child looked at Austin like he could not believe that someone could be so disturbed by the decorations.  I took Austin's hand and told him it was okay and we were leaving and not to worry that he was safe.  He did not even notice the boy staring at him with a weird look on his face.  My only concern is to make sure he is safe and happy.

Austin came home and helped Kaleigh put up the decorations and is excited to go and buy his costume. He does not get upset shopping for costumes and usually stays away from the displays.  I believe that the small aisle with all the scary faces is what makes him so frightened.  Luckily, a small hug from me and taking him by the hand reassures him quickly.  He wants to be a mummy this year and is so excited for the Halloween dance!  Last year I took him to the dance and I did not get to sit down all night!  This time, I am bringing Kaleigh, she can dance it up with him while Momma takes a few breaks! :D

All the best!  *HUGS*