Our Life ~ Episode One

Information for my family

Today, as we were strolling along the beach front, Nick asked me to sing our version of  'The Wheels on the Bus'. Throughout the song we had a bit of banter about what to sing, lots of non-verbal communication with some noises and words thrown in. It went something like this.....

Nick makes the sign for baby.

I sing a verse.... The baby on the bus goes waah, waah, waah

Nick makes the sound, "oh no"

I sing a verse.... Dad on the bus goes oh no, oh no.
(I pause on occasion and wait for Nick to say, "oh no")

Nick makes the sign for cow.

I sing a verse.... The cow on the bus goes moo, moo, moo

Anyway, I am sure that you catch my drift on how this song pans out!

Nick gets so involved and we really have a beautiful interactive time together. I am fairly positive that I am the only mother at the beach front having such fun over a silly song. Go with the flow, I say!

As Nick and his Dad wander to the sand, I sit on the steps leading down to the beach and take some snapshots of them. As they return, I lie on my back and get some shots looking up. Nick thrusts out his hand to grab mine and heaves me back up onto my feet! Quite the strong lad.

It was great to see the following guys putting on a show to earn some bucks. I could have stayed there for ages listening to them..... but sadly, got dragged away by the husband and son. 

This post is for my Mum and my three sisters. They are heading this way at the end of August. I thought it would be helpful to share snippets of our life so that they have some idea of what to expect. The count down is on!!

Reasons to be cheerful ~ April

You know, living the life that we do, I find it necessary to push away the blues and take the time to focus on the ups. No one knows what it is like to live in our house. Only a select few are aware of the amount of care that Nick needs. Severe Autism and all that goes with it is no joke. I have down days, especially when I look too far into the future and start stressing about what is going to happen to Nick when I am too old to care for him.

Anyway, enough of all that depressing stuff for now. The point of this post is to lift myself out of the doldrums and share a few positives that made me smile.

We took Nick to Cape Town for the Easter weekend. The husband was running an Ultra Marathon and we were there as part of the support team! Cough, cough.

On the big day, we all got out of bed extremely early and dropped the husband off at the starting point. Nick didn't seem too perturbed about leaving the house in the dark, dressed in his pj's! Later that morning, we headed off to a super large shopping mall. Nick was absolutely amazing. He took in the new sights and noise with relative ease. He even tried on a few sweatshirts/rain jacket that I wanted for his brother. Due to Nick's chilled state, our shopping experience went on for a bit too long and we were late to pick up the husband at the finish of his race. Oopsie.

A while back I introduced Nick to store bought meals. Personally, I don't think they are a very healthy option and I would prefer home cooked, however, they save me a lot of grief when traveling. Nick now wolfs down Spaghetti Bolognaise, Macaroni Cheese and now a combo of the two. Talk about easy peasy!

I am really thrilled that Nick is now happy to walk into any restaurant and eat from the menu. Okay, we are choosing Italian venues at the moment because of the Spaghetti Bolognaise. But, hey, it's a start. Edge plus one and all that.

Nick is becoming a dab hand at traveling and our quality of life has improved due to his resilience and flexibility. Go Nick!

Time to start planning for our next adventure!

World Autism Awareness Day ~ Lighten up, people!

I am finding social media very scary these days. The month of April in Autism land appears to be fraught with tension. Eish, I don't know what colour to wear on the 2nd of April. Frankly, blue is my colour. I like it and it suits me. But then again, I do get compliments when I wear red. Decisions, decisions!

The camps are dividing, people, and it's getting nasty. Wearing blue is disrespectful to autistic people, or should that be, people with autism? I am so confused that I don't even know what the correct terminology is anymore! Wearing red/orange/yellow etc means that you think autism rocks and is the best thing since sliced bread. Really?

Oh my word, be very careful about using any of the autism buzz words. I dare not mention them here just in case I get trolled. There is always going to be someone who will be quick to rant, rave and throw their arms up in disgust.

The judgement of others throughout the Autism community is mind blowing. It is downright awful. Parents pitted against other parents. Non parents lambasting parents. People vilifying organisations and methodology....... and the list goes on.

As the parent of an autistic teen I like to keep up to date on what is happening out there. It is interesting and fascinating to read different views, methods and autism stories. I might think, "eek, that is not for me or my boy", however, I am certainly not going to criticize another person for what they think is right. (Okay, I may think "oh you silly mare", but those words won't pass my lips!).

Life is all about choices and having the freedom to choose. I might like dogs but dislike cats (it's okay, I don't dislike cats). I just happen to love RDI and what it has done for my family, however, I am not going to rant, rave and throw my arms in the air because a friend happens to think ABA is the bomb.

Basically, social media brings out the ugly.  It is all too easy to hide behind a screen and air your views whilst metaphorically stomping on other people. If only all interactions were face to face, then it would be a totally different story.

As for me and my little family. Well, I am going to carry on reading, learning and engaging with the nice people. You never know, somewhere in that pool there might be someone or something that clicks with me that could be beneficial for my boy. As for those who are quick to judge and are not shy about expressing their views to the determent of others. It's not my drama story, therefore I say, each to their own.

Anyway, for World Autism Awareness/Acceptance Day I am going to be far too busy flying off to Cape Town with my Nick to even think about the significance of the day. Adventures are far more exciting.

Mind you, I am probably going to wear blue. Lighten up, people. There is no hidden agenda, blue looks great on me. End of story. x