A Walk in Our Shoes

Twas the Night Before Christmas
And all through the house
The creatures were stirring
Yes, even the mouse

We tried melatonin
And gave a hot bath
Asleep early for Christmas?
...an unlikely path

The children were finally
All nestled in bed
When visions of Christmas
Ran through my OWN head

Did I get the right gifts?
The right color and style?
Would there be a blank stare
Or even, maybe a smile?

Friends and family come
But they don't understand
The pleasure he gets
Just from bending his hands.

"Just make him stop it," some say
"Just tell him 'no',
You must learn to be tough..."
On, and on they do go...

We smile and nod
Because we know deep inside
The debate is moot
Let them all take a side
We know what it's like
To live with the spectrum
The struggles and triumphs
Achievements, regressions...

But what some don't know
And what some don't see
Is the joy that we feel
Over simplicity.

He said "hello"!
He ate something green!
He looked me in my eyes
He did not cause a scene!

He peed in the potty!
Who cares if he's ten;
He stopped saying the same thing
Again and again!

Some others don't realize
Just how we cope
How we bravely hang on
At the end of our rope

But what they do see
Is the joy we can't hide
When our children with autism
Make the tiniest stride

We may look at others
Without the problems we face
With envy, with wonder,
Or even distaste,

What we want them to know
What's important to see
Is that children with autism
Bring simplicity.

We don't get excited
Over expensive things
We jump for joy
With the progress work brings

Children with autism
Try so hard every day
That they make us proud
More than words can say.

They work even harder
Than you or I
To achieve something small
To reach a star in the sky

So to those who don't get it
Or can't get a clue
Take a walk in our shoes
And I'll assure you...

That even 10 minutes
Into the walk
You'll look at us all
With respect, even shock.

You will realize
What it is we go through
And the next time you see us
I can assure you

That you won't say a thing
You'll be quiet and learn,
Like the years I learned too
When the tables were turned.

-utahmaks.blogspot.com-

My boys are always cracking me up. We set up our Christmas tree last week and they were more than willing to help out.

Braedon remembered doing this last year and would show me were he wanted things on the tree. Reilly, on the other hand, liked to take a bunch of decorations and place them in a pile on the tree. If I tried to move them it would really upset him. Now, our tree is up. Half has just lights and half has decorations. It's such a fun time of year.

Braedon is loving school. He continues to excel. We are currently working to potty train him and it has it's ups and downs.

Reilly is starting to make sounds, which is wonderful! He uses "no" pretty consistently, and is starting to make other sounds. Hopefully we'll get a word or two from him in the next few months.

This is a bit of a throw-together post, but I wanted to get up some pics.

I love my sweet boys. They make me laugh, cry, and tired. For the past three weeks we have been potty training Braedon. I'm excited to announce that he hasn't had one accident at school. From day one, he goes with the other boys at bathroom time and keeps dry in the classroom. His teacher was really impressed and even commented that in her nine years at the school this is the first time without a single accident. That made me feel pretty great.

At home it has been a different story. We had some minor accidents and now he just goes in the bathroom when he needs. We are hoping that soon we can try overnight and church.

Number 2 has an interesting story. 4 minutes. That doesn't seem to be a long period of time. That's how long I was outside getting something off the grill. When I came back in I could smell "it". I walked around my kitchen corner to find a smiling Braedon, holding up dripping underwear and shorts. Dripping with a brown water-like substance. His hands had brown smeared on them, down his legs, and on his t-shirt. I noticed the hallway wall had brown smeared on it and also some clumps on the tile floor. When I walked into the bathroom the toilet was cloudy brown and the seat was completely covered in "it". There was brown water on the floor and that is where I found Reilly. Little boys like puddles of water to splash in and that is exactly what he was doing. A big smile on his face as he splashed in the poo-water. If that wasn't enough, Reilly got down on his hands and knees and began to run his hands through the awful poo on the floor.

I had a choice at this point. Would getting upset or mad get rid of all the mess? No!! I smiled at Braedon and thanked him for trying so hard to clean up and help Mommy out. Then, I put my children in the tub while I used almost a gallon of bleach water to clean up. I should mention that I can see the boys in the tub when I clean. ;-)

I am now immune to any further disasters. I also reserve the right to go to a spa for the weekend. ALONE!!!

Let it begin.

We officially started potty training with Braedon today. I bought all the supplies this past week. Disney big boy underpants. Skittles. Pants. I explained to him what was expected and showed him what we'd be doing today. We set an alarm to go off every 30 minutes and that would signal us going to the bathroom and trying to go potty.

28 minutes into the FIRST 30 minute cycle, Braedon comes to me with his shorts and underpants down by his ankles. He is saying, "diaper. diaper." When I look I can see a huge amount of poop in his underpants. Of course the very first accident is going to be poop. I can't imagine living in a world in which it wouldn't be. Can you?

We got it all cleaned up and so far things are going okay. We'll just keep this up and hope he catches on quickly. He's a smart little guy, so I think it should be rather easy.

You might be wondering why Braedon is 4 and not potty trained. With children on autism spectrum things come at different times. 4 is actually an early age.

Pictures

These two pictures are Braedon on his first day of school when Daddy dropped him off. He has a pretty cheesy grin.

The baby is my nephew Lucas and the older baby is my nephew Aiden.

Braedon and Claire really love each other.

This pretty young lady is my niece Sierra.

The boys LOVED to go swimming.

A group picture with Braedon, Randal, Dean, Reilly, and Katelynn.


Braedon found the little kids pool a blast.