Autism Literally Bites!

I am usually so upbeat and positive about Autism, that sometimes I get on my own nerves. In all seriousness though, I feel it doesn’t pay to sit around and dwell on the what if’s and why us. I feel if I go through every day with a positive attitude then that will reflect on LJ and maybe make his days will be a little easier. Let’s face it, we all know if mom’s not happy, NO ONE is happy!

Well today, I give autism the middle finger. Yep, I sure do. You see, autism has a way of creeping into your day and turning it upside down, without notice. Autism is a sneaky turd!

My day started like any other. Coffee, facebook, peace and quiet. Liam was up super late, so he was in bed later than usual. Yay me!!! Finally I heard him yelling for me. No “good morning momma,” but “MOMMMMMAAAAA I NEEEEEDDDD YYYYOOOOUUUUU!!!!” Ugh! What could it be????

It was nothing. Nope, nothing at all. It was a waste of walking into his room just to hear him say, “momma. I don’t want to do school today.” Well! I don’t want to wash your laundry, do your dishes, clean up your messes, and so on! (Of course this is what I was thinking.) What I said was, “I’m sorry buddy, but it’s Wednesday, a school day. Now let’s go and get it done, it’s gorgeous outside!”

What followed was hell. Pure hell! I literally was waiting for him to puke pea soup on me, and to see his head spin around on his shoulders.

Instead he tore through the house screaming at the top of his lungs, “NO SCHOOL!!! I WANT HARRY POTTER!!! YOU SAID I COULD WATCH HARRY POTTER TODAY. I WANT HARRY POTTER!!” Yep, I said that, guilty as charged, but I told him last nite, he could watch it today AFTER school. When I told him this he got more angry. He grabbed the movie, I took it from him. He went into his father’s room (where I put it on the highest shelf (I could barely reach it), and proceeded to scream in there. When hubs held out his hand for Liam to come over and attempt to calm him, Liam hauled off and slapped him, not once, twice. Wow! Someone was feeling brave! He then tore out into the entryway, grabbed a flip flop and took off. I knew what he was thinking. He was gonna go throw it at his dad. I took it. He threw himself on the floor, smashing his head. He didn’t notice. He got up and  just started running through the house screaming, grabbing whatever he saw and throwing it. Now, I normally tell him to calm down, and let him kind of wind down, but this was the worst meltdown he has had in a few weeks. So instead, I finally got a hold of him. Now this is where momma got brave….

I got him to sit on the floor, in a calm voice I just said, “let’s sit, we will rock.” He did, so I managed to get my legs over his, and cradle him in my arms, and I started to rock him. For about 10 seconds he went with it. I thought, “oh thank God, it’s gonna work.” Boy was I WRONG!!!! Next thing I knew I had teeth laying into my arm!!!!! You guessed it, he bit me that lil booger!!!!!! Then he started to arch his back and I let his legs loose, and then the kicking started. For my own safety and his, I backed away. I let him lay there and kick and scream and in a few moments, he stopped. He got in the rocker, and finished rocking his melt down away.

yep, still hurts :/

He stayed like that for about 30 minutes, just rocking, staring into space. Almost as if in a trance. Then, out of now where, “Momma, can we do school now?” Ummm, yeah buddy! We were able to get his 3 core subjects done. He had a phonics test, scored a 94% and only got angry over it once. (he hates tests!) So I let him skip history and instead of their art lesson, we did a sensory craft.

As I write this, he is with his daddy. They went to the campground to pick up his wooden snakes. (That was another day, another meltdown~ when Josie ate the ones he had. Thankfully, the owners of the campground are so nice, they went to another campground, and picked him up some more.) Hubs took the camera, and they are gonna take some pics of the fall colors while they are gone. As for me, I am enjoying this peace and quiet. I would love to nap, but I hear the laundry calling my name……

I just wanted to share this moment, to let you all know, you are not alone. Autism sneaks up on us all every now and then, knocking us to the ground. Our job is to get back up, and not let it win!!!!

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Courtney

A Legion for Liam

I am a SAHM. I prefer domestic goddess, but whatever. My son Liam is autistic and is the child I was told I would never have. He is MY MIRACLE! These are our stories.