Minnesota Autism Mom

I found an animated version of “Goodnight Moon” on youtube today and it’s very well done. I think it will be a nice way to signify bedtime from here on out. We’ll still read books, but since he loved his copy of the book to the pt it’s ripped in half…I guess this is a nice 2nd option. The music is so sweet too.

I have had a handful of blog entry ideas, but between father’s day, son’s 3rd b-day, looking for a job, and yes actually spending time offline…this blog just reminds me that it’s hard to make time to write and be reflective. It’s much easier to find an article or a quick snip-it to share on Facebook.

We have decided to move forward with getting MCHA. Not excited to add another bill to the list OR to put one person on 3 insurance options, but it’s what we must do to move him into a different (and possibly better) ABA program. It took us a long time to make this decision, but it’s time to move on as soon as we can. Husband did some research and was told this could possibly only take a month, but everyone else has told me it’s a 6 month wait (pre-existing condition). So I don’t know if something has changed or he was told something wrong. I am preparing for this taking 6+ months just in case.

Nothing else is new…still unemployed (unemployment just finished about 2 weeks ago) and the teaching jobs are not plenty. I am giving myself a few more weeks  before I really broaden my job search to anything I can do. It BLOWS. This year has gone by so fast. I feel I have accomplished nothing and so much, but mostly nothing. I hate to say how much I regret how I have spent my free time and lately have been spending it better, which could explain my lack of entries! Tackling basement and garage organization, working on the yard, etc. I hate when those types of things weigh on me too long.

My need for employment is a complete and utter struggle as my heart is not in the place to work. I really, really want to be my son’s caregiver. I know on very logical levels that my need to be home while he is at therapy is silly. But, because he is still napping and because I do drive him to things and try so hard to give him down time and normalcy…well it hurts to demand him into a 40 hour therapy so mommy can get a paycheck.

This mommy thing is hard. Sometimes much, much harder than you can imagine when you are child-less. And yet, on the other hand, I know perfectly well that I felt similarly when he was born. He is a June baby and the adjustment to motherhood was not ideal. I had no idea how to get help when i needed it. I resented those that didn’t burden me w/ their need to help. But, August eventually rolled around and teacher workshops popped out at me. I had totally forgotten that us teachers start school before the children. I made myself go into workshops. Showing pictures and videos of my new baby…even one fellow mother  mocking me for showing them off. She made me feel like a moron for my pride and love. I hated her for that. She had clearly forgotten what it felt like to return to work.  But, I did eventually adjust to the busy, busy day of a teacher’s life. Problems at work filled the corners of my mind. I left my child with my own mother, I relaxed. I remembered that at the end of the day; I am not just a mom. I was someone else before I had a child. I actually liked my job, friends, and family. Leaving him with someone else was hard, but it was also a necessity. Having him was like having my world altered so dramatically that it didn’t depress me, but it was really difficult. Returning to work gave me an opportunity to go back to being just me. And there really was no guilt because I had my own mother to carry me thru this. To love him as much as I do. This gave them (including grandpa) an awesome opportunity to bond very deeply. You should see his face when he gets to see them. I think he likes them better than us.

So here I am again. We are in a rhythm of the way things are and while I hardly spend every waking second with him, many days those seconds have been very hard. SO hard, in fact, that now I struggle imagining anyone else doing well with him. I see therapists struggle with him and they don’t try hard enough to “get him” sometimes. It makes me feel insecure, crazy – why can’t they do better after all of this time?

In my babbling here, I remembered I wanted to write a reflection of where my son was at 2 and now where’s at at 3. But, my old enties are useless. I don’t discuss his development. There is nothing there to see. So I think I will save it for a later time. Where he’s not screaming in the other room. When I haven’t already written so much. I will look up his ECSE reports and see if I can remember who he was at 2 in June. I know we have made some major strides and in other ways, not much has changed in my mind. (I am not minimizing his achievements, but he’s not talking yet and is currently crying like a baby in the other room…so you know). I better go tell him to go to bed. Again.

I wasn’t going to write tonite, but I am feeling a little emotional the last 2 days. I think it’s official, I think it has to be so our son understands he has a new bedroom/ a new bed…the crib is over. Last night we took the twin bed apart so that there is just a mattress on the floor. I laid down beside him and told him to go to bed. I stroked his hair, I rubbed his arms, I sang some songs and then he closed his eyes to fall asleep. It was beautiful. I am typically only privy to this in the car. This is after he screams and cries and then falls asleep in total exhaustion.

I made a decision after leaving his ECFE class on Tues. Another mom spoke up about bed time issues and I listened carefully to the teacher gently suggest that naps may be a thing of the past. I heard her talking to me as she said giving up nap time is hard on us, not them. I went home and made a decision that all of the fights to take a nap were his way of saying “mom, I do not need this”. As I refused to listen, the bed time kept creeping from 8, 9…to finally 10:30. I was wearing out before him. Going to bed the minute he was put in his crib. I was done. He was done. 10:30 is too late for a 2 year old. Even a 2 year old that is about to turn 3.

Making bedtime 6:30/7 pm is something I sort of want and don’t. 7 means he won’t be seeing daddy at night anymore. 7 means weekends where we would go shopping at 5 or 6 is done, but it also means we can start doing this stuff earlier rather than after nap. I know it will take some adjustment on my part, but I am sure in a week it could feel normal.

On a more serious note, saying good-bye to the crib is by no means hard for him. It is hard on me and even daddy. As I picked out toys that are for a baby and washed his crib sheet one more time…my heart was quietly breaking. Would this be the last time I see this crib? Are my baby days already over? I just don’t know.

I have so many questions for his developmental ped next week. The questions will make me sound like I am in a stage of denial or blame. These questions are not about that all. I want to know if there is any way someone can tell me why so I can decide on whether or not to have more (or to adopt). Questions that are silly to serious…all (from what I read) possiblities for why he is developmentally delayed.

This is a bit of topic, but not, and I am going to pose it here —knowing well someone is not going to answer, but any way… Can your child have ASD, but have good play skills? I ask because his play skills have really blossomed. I mean, I am sure he is still not like non-ASD kids, but still I wonder.

Good news today – he is singing! I don’t know what he is singing exactly, but that’s what it sounds like. It started about a month ago and each day grows stronger. I think music is the way to developing speech with him! He’s making more variety of sounds. Each day he gets closer to putting a single word together. That is the day I will throw a big party and burst out in great big tears of joy. I know he’ ll be a talker like I am, so I am waiting so patiently to hear that voice in words I understand.