It’s Autism awareness month and yesterday was world Autism awareness day. Usually I’d be lighting it up blue and doing my annual post on how the past year has gone raising a kid on the spectrum (See my posts from 2014, 2015, 2016), but lately I just haven’t been feeling super passionate about much of anything. Still, autism is near and dear to my heart. I just started reading the book NueroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Nuerodiversity. Noel discovered it from…
Nothing could make a parent more proud than to see their child work hard and finally graduate . . . from kindergarten. I personally think kindergarten graduation is a little silly, but as a parent, I have to admit it was both adorable and hilarious to see the kids in their cardboard graduation “caps” and see the slideshow of what they want to be when they grow up. (Cooper is going to be a firefighter.) Cooper really has worked hard…
This is my third Light it Up Blue post (1.o and 2.0) and definitely the one I’ve worried over the least. This is the first year that I don’t choke up every time I talk about Autism, and the first year that it has felt truly “normal.” Yes, there’s been a few bumps in the road with Cooper now and again, but we’ve grown comfortable with ASD being a part of our lives – it’s our normal. I admit, I sometimes…
“Making the decision to have a child – it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” – Elizabeth Stone One of my favorite things about Cooper has always been his cheerful disposition, so when he started having crying outbursts at school and fake coughing in the mornings in hopes that I’d keep him home my heart hurt. We have a great team that is working hard with us to help…
Whenever the word “kindergarten” was mentioned over the summer, Cooper would light up and I would try not to hyperventilate. Back in the spring, we met with the special ed team from the preschool and the elementary school to talk about his transition. After the meeting, the two teams collaborated to make him a book that would hopefully help him adjust easier to his new school. I also took Cooper on a tour of the school and then during the…
There has been a dearth of fireworks in our lives since having kids. Something has always prevented us from venturing out with our kids to one of the big shows on the 4th of July (rain, fire bans, a deep love for bedtime, etc). We decided this year was the year we finally introduced our children to the great American tradition of pyrotechnics. (Technically, we did take Cooper to see an impressive Cherry Blossom festival fireworks show on the Mall…
I was offended the first time someone suggested Cooper might be autistic. How dare this speech therapist make such an assumption after observing him for 30 minutes? Cooper was mellow, smart, and adored people – he definitely wasn’t autistic. The second time it was suggested that Cooper was autistic I did my best to be strong. “Yeah, we were thinking we should look into that,” I said focusing all my energy on keeping my voice steady. I sat across the…