The new year is in full swing, our Christmas holidays came to an end yesterday with the appearance of a few of my son's workers coming to the house to set up special services at home, ( they are fantastic so it wasn't a horrible time just a reminder that our down time is done and that crazy town will be starting back up again plus it gave a small glimpse of what is to come in a few days) and in two days we will be fighting the back to school battle of wills and meltdowns, oh the joy and sorrows of breaks, love them while they are happening, hate them the first week back to reality. My kids do awesome on holidays and I know this is a rare thing in autism houses so I do cherish this fact and consider this a huge win in our lives, but that transition back to school and therapy is like a hurricane, you can see it brewing, you know it's coming and the strength it is building up, you can brace yourself for the impact, get out your tool box, nail those shutters in place, and batten down the hatches hoping and praying for the best, but once those clouds open up, watch out you are assaulted with gail force screams and flood gates of tears. If your lucky the storm passes quickly, and things get back to their “normal” calm, if your not lucky that sucker hangs over head for days, sometimes, even leaving only to circle back in for another attack. I can see the storm brewing, the last couple of days, “how many more days until we have to go back to school ?”, “I don't want to go back to school!”, and then yesterday a brief over view of what is to come on Monday, big guy Ben started screaming and stomping the minute the first worker knocked on the door, it ended quick enough once he realized that they were not there for him and that he was allowed to continue to watch his t.v show, (yes I do use t.v. as a babysitter and for rewards, judgey judges go ahead and slam me it's all good I have thick skin ;-) ) but that tiny little storm is nothing compared to what's about to hit landfall. Bring it on, I have cute rain boots and a pretty raincoat, and my cellar is stocked with chocolate and booze. This is not our first storm, we will weather this the best we can and come out of it dancing in the rain and looking for rainbows.
With the hurricane of back to school brewing and our family time coming to an end I am looking back at our past year and man what a year it was, a real roller coaster of ups and downs. A third autism diagnosis, some very serious self injurious behaviour, PICA traits and chewing on electrical cords, hospital visits and testing and broken noses and knocked out teeth, and enough tears to fill an ocean. Then the realization that we needed to make a big change in order to get our kiddo's the help that they needed and deserved, the good fortune to have the right people pulling for us to help make the changes that we needed to for our family. I can not thank those people enough for all of the help and support that they provided to us during what was probably one of the most difficult times in our lives, thank you just doesn't seem like a big enough word for how we feel, because of their support and help we were able to make the changes that were needed and it has truly been life changing for us. We moved our family across the country on the threads of hope that we would be able to get even a smidgen more help than what we were getting at our past posting, the research that went into our decision was pages and pages of information. Literally I have a file folder full of info that was put together to present to my husbands chain of command, luckily we didn't need to go that route and our posting went very smoothly thanks again to that amazing group of people that took it upon themselves to really care about us and went out of their way to help us in our time of need. I am so overwhelmed and still in awe of the services and help that we have gotten here. This special needs community has opened up their arms to my family, the workers, doctor's and therapists have been incredibly welcoming, they have gone above and beyond to ensure that our transition has gone as smoothly as possible, they have been fantastic at providing support and information and setting up programming and services, we left behind some of the most amazing therapists, teachers and workers and I do miss them, when you are working so closely with people you form a bond with them, they will always be remembered and thought of as friends for my family, so finding workers here that have been so welcoming and that show such care for my kids has been a real blessing for us. We ended the year with some incredible changes for big guy Ben some words, and some huge developments for him, even keeping some clothes on and saying a few words, Lady Grace is excelling in her school work and has a fantastic worker that is helping to keep her on track, we are working on a few different things to get her the help that she needs, G-man has formed some friendships and loves our new house, we are still figuring out the school thing with him as he's been a bit of a challenge and the transition to the new school was by far the hardest on him, but we are fingers crossed getting things back on track.
We are going into this new year, with a full line up of therapy, appointments and services. A referral has been put in for a full assessment for the Remi bot and the clinical psychologist and doctor are wanting it bumped to the top of the pile, yes you heard it here first they want to take a closer look at the little mans quirks and get to the bottom of his not talking, I'm surprisingly not even fazed by this one, what's another diagnosis in this ausome house of ours! Thankfully I have a pretty calendar and organisation system to keep things going smoothly, because crazy town is coming.
Well that's me for today reflecting on this crazy roller coaster ride we call life and sorting through the puzzle pieces one day at a time.
J
