When Your Tired and You Know it Snap Your Fingers??

He's been crying for 45 minutes, straight. This is the point in the day when Momma starts to get a little wiggy. DD (dear daughter) is whining for everything under the sun, Zach is tired and not liking the demands placed on him by the speech therapist, Momma went to bed late last night - so we basically have a house full of cranky people right now all trying to coexist. How do you think that works? Not real well.

We have discovered that Zach can indeed meltdown. He has had little tantrums in the past - I would say nothing more unusual than another typical child his age, with the exception of he cannot tell me specifically what has his goat. Then came Friday the 10th. And that afternoon we had 1 hours and 25 minutes of straight crying - big tears, sobs, so loud, especially for my little man, and he would throw himself into the couch (you know the big billowy stuffed one that he spread peanut butter over a few times these last few months) face first so that his sobs would be muffled. I swear he was trying to spare us from his agony. I am afraid it didn't work as the next 20 hours were spent with him miserable - although the crying did eventually cease.

At times like this it is difficult to write those fluffy little posts that, although real, don't permeate quite as deeply into the crevices of what are life can be like at times. Exhaustion. Fear. Sorrow. All mixed together. And unlike so many other things that cause those feelings, there is no cliche that applies to help get us through.

The cliches I grew up with are likely different than the ones you did - I think each person clings to a set of them that combined become a mantra for living. Maybe it is a great philosopher who goes deep into places you wish you could - sure they might appear scholarly, after all academia thinks so. Personally, I think a lot of them did a little too much me time and not enough hard living.

Some cliches run in families. People seem to like to recite what was once told to them. This is true in my family and my husband's. In my family a few come to mind at the moment: "Little children, little problems. Big children, big problems." Nope. Doesn't apply here - autism changed that. My personal favorite: "This too shall pass." What a crock. Autism certainly blows this one outta the water. Ask any caring parent to an ASD child their biggest problem - the fear of what will happen to their child once they are gone - time does not take care of this issue. Time exacerbates it. While some people are not as profoundly affected as others, for those of us who are looking at a lifetime of autism that will require support, we get scared. I've seen the injustice of Zach not receiving the services and care that have been contractually stipulated for him and I am a fairly strong advocate. What the heck is gonna happen when I am not here?

So amongst the flow of muddy waters we are now treading - Zach has acquired a new stim - he has begun to snap his fingers. On his own. Not having ever been shown how to. A skill, I might add, that is usually developed between the ages of 6 and 8. *sigh*

He is reading a few words now although getting him to learn the Dolch sight words (the, and, I, me, my, him, make, etc.) the school will be working on is of little interest to him, and thus, is not something he is picking up on quickly.

Going off to sleep now. The cries have subsided for now. Time to make hay...