“Accepting your child for who they are is one of the most powerful things you can do.” Nickysday 💙
Courtesy of @collageconnection
Powerful Parenting Quote
Month: October 2016
Where’d He Go!?
Where’d He go? The usually kind hearted, sweet, fun loving kid, is apparently at recess or on vacation! Lately this is what MJ has been saying to me.
When I ask him to clean his room he responds with, “No, you do it mommy!” Has the child lost his mind?!
When he is told to put his clothes in the washing machine he responds with, “I did it last time, it’s your turn!”
When I tell him to brush his teeth before bed, he says, “No mommy, that’s busy stuff (not sure why he says “busy” but the bottom line is that he doesn’t want to do it)!”
At bedtime his response nightly is, “I’m not going to bed and that’s final!” He says this while pointing his finger!
When I need him to hurry up, he slows down.
Let’s not even talk about what happens with homework (makes us both miserable)!
The kicker, is what he told me when I told him that we were going to church…”No I’m not going! Church is boring!” Now I’ll admit that I laughed at that one because it was unexpected. He was in a bad mood the entire ride to church. He wasn’t cooperative when we first got there, but he slowly came around. At the end of the service I was standing up praying and opened my eyes. It was wonderful to see him standing with his hands raised and eyes closed, praying (or what he thinks is praying). The best part… He leaned over and whispered in my ear, “church is not boring mommy,” then went back to praying. In that moment I smiled, held in the tears, and thanked God for bringing my MJ back if only for a moment.
Had No Idea!
I had the pleasure of seeing the movie “The Accountant.” I have always loved Ben Affleck and was excited to see anything he’s starring in. There I was, thrilled to see an action packed movie. Within the first 50 seconds of the movie, I was holding back tears. Then again I was holding back tears at least 2 other times in the movie. I had NO idea that Autism would be a part of the movie. As I watched, I wondered if people who aren’t familiar with Autism, would even fully understand some things. I thought of MJ during lots of scenes. Imagining how he’d be as an adult (sigh). The end of the movie for me was worth triple the movie ticket! There was a saying about us not limiting our kids…and then came more tears. It took me 5 minutes to get up from my seat. In spite of the other plot of the movie (some people may actually be offended by some parts), I actually left the theater feeling inspired…Thanks Ben.
“MJ, Are You Sleeping?”
MJ has always had the same sleep cycle. When he was a baby I was adamant about putting him on a sleep schedule. When he was about 14 months old I was finally successful in putting him on the schedule. Bathtime, music, and baby massage was at 7:15 and he was in his crib by 8:00 pm. At first he cried and cried and cried before falling asleep. That went on for about 2 weeks until he realized that I wasn’t coming back to pick him up and take him out of the crib. Of course as he got older that schedule changed. Bedtime has moved to 9:00-9:30 pm. One thing has never changed…he always wakes up between 6:30-7:15 am no matter what time he falls asleep! I’ve read a lot about sleep and autism and have honestly been thankful that he had a pretty good sleep routine. Lately it appears as though that is changing. We constantly hear MJ throughout the night. He gets up to use the bathroom (which is actually great) but we hear him walking around at other times as well. The result is a very sleepy child in the morning. He now almost always sleeps on the way to school. After school, it’s much of the same. After our, “how was school today” banter, he is fast asleep. I’ve contacted his teacher to be sure that he is staying awake during school. So far so good. We intend to keep a close eye on this but I’m praying my boy is getting the sleep he needs.
#SleepyMj
#prayingforrestfulsleep
Dental Sedation Part 2
The morning of the appointment I was still very nervous. I wanted to make sure it was an early morning appointment because MJ would not be able to eat or drink anything prior to it. We got there and the nurse from the anesthesiologist’s office looked at me and began to giggle. I guess he immediately noticed how nervous I was. MJ went to his usual area to play, while I talked with the nurse, filled out paperwork, and watched a video about the procedure from the anesthesiologist. I must say they were very professional, knowledgeable, and put me at ease! They took MJ back and allowed him to play with their iPad as a distraction. Then they put on the laughing gas. After that, the IV went in and he was “out!” I will admit that the whole procedure took longer than I had anticipated, but they were also able to get “real” X-rays and give him a really good cleaning before they were done. The only part that was really difficult was when he was waking up. He was disoriented, flailing, and rubbing his eyes because they were blurry. We had to stay there an additional 30 minutes until the medicine really began to wear off. I knew he was ready to go when he looked at the dentist and said, “What’s up Doc?” Everyone in the office laughed😊. We are so thrilled that this is over! Now we really have to closely monitor MJ to be sure that he is brushing his teeth properly. It appears as though we have to teach him all over again.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. It really did help.
XOXO
#thankGoditsover
#theywerereallygreatwithhim
NickysdayWithAutism 