Dismaying Statistic

Although my son hasn't been formally diagnosed with autism (yet), he displays pretty much all the characteristics of children with PDD-NOS, which is pervasive developmental delays not otherwise specified, which is considered to be on the "spectrum" of autism. We have a neurologist appointment in a month, and I'm hoping that he'll be formally diagnosed so that he can receive more services.
I've been reading about autism, and found a dismaying statistic. The divorce rate for parents of autistic children is 85%. Well, I've never followed the crowd, and expect to be in the other 15%. I think people give up too easily on marriage these days. However, I do think that maybe my husband and I should concentrate a little more on our relationship and work out some sort of babysitter plan, because I can see how you can become so engrossed in caring for your child that you can let everything else go, and the stress just builds and builds and builds. It is hard. It is very hard. Now that we're dealing with an additional family member and the dynamic between my son and daughter, it is even harder. There are many days when my son reduces me to tears and I think I just can't do it anymore. It is hard. Thank God I have a true partner who gives 110% of himself to help me and his children. It is hard, and I am truly blessed.

Nightly Routine

I decided to take a picture of what we need to do for my son's bedtime routine just for memories. For some reason, whenever my son gets a cold, it develops into a sinus infection and bronchial asthma. For some reason, my son always seems to have a cold/infection. So, we do the nebulizer, the nasal spray, and the antibiotics. Then he gets a growth hormone injection every night because he has a deficiency. He gets a multivitamin, of course, and for his dyspraxia and ADHD, he gets a complete vitamin E tablet and fish oils. AND of course, we put on jammies and brush his teeth.

His favorite book right now is Goodnight Moon, so we read that every night too, and whenever he sees the moon, he says goodnight moon (boo da moo) in his sweet voice.

Except for Goodnight Moon, he hates everything and fights from the second I start changing his diaper. Tonight I got kicked square in the mouth before I even got his shoes off. I have bruises all over from him fighting. Oh, it takes a lot of patience, but he's cute, and I love him. I also have a wonderful, helpful, supportive husband, who very often takes over the duties of getting our son ready for bed, as well as anything else that needs to be done with either child. And he's wonderful to me too. I'm very lucky.

Life's a Beach!

Disney!

Well, we're driving to Florida to visit my husband's parents, and on one of the days, we're going to bring the kids to the Magic Kingdom.

We were thinking that we wouldn't be able to bring them because my son is still young (4), and has special needs (as you know if you read the blog regularly). However, I remember travelling to Puerto Rico when I was 3, and my nephew who also was a special needs child remembered many experiences from his early childhood.

I have been doing research, and have found a wealth of information about special accommodations for children with special needs traveling to Disney.

For example, there is a Guest Access Pass available that allows certain alternate access to different quiet waiting areas, and other services that can only be accessed by persons with special needs. So, we're excited.

We're not ones to eschew an experience just because it's challenging. We hope that by exposing our son to lots of different situations and having reasonable expectations of him that he can meet with success, we will be helping to set him up for a happy future.