JANUARY 11, 2012
Jan. 11th, 2012 08:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jenni_blogJanuary 11, 2012
This would have been my father's birthday, if he were still alive. I always felt it to be a special time of year in any case. The days are growing longer, there are lots more sunny days than not, and it's beginning to look and feel a bit like spring. It gives me the sense that it's a time of renewal, and there's a lot of hope in that feeling.
About Sean...well, living with an autistic child is always a challenge, but it does have its rewarding moments too. Rewarding in strange ways sometimes. Last night I was having problems trying to get to sleep and so was he. But finally, I managed to fall into a deep slumber around 11:30 PM, only to be awakened abruptly by my sweet child patting me on the shoulder. When I opened my eyes, I saw him standing right in front of me, holding a CD in one hand and his eyeglass spray and some kleenex in the other. I groaned, "What do you want?" or something like that, upon which he said, "Clean this disk for me," followed by, "Do it now, mom." One can only laugh, right?
It took me a minute or so to gather my thoughts, and after telling him that he should be in bed, fast asleep as I was when he rudely woke me, but cluing in from the wide-awake grin on his face that he was having one of those sleepless nights peculiar to autistic kids, I grabbed the disk, eyeglass cleaner and kleenex, and wiped the damn thing spot-free for him.
When I awoke this morning about an hour later than usual (6:25), I checked on Sean, and he was fast asleep, the Simpsons Movie DVD still running. And, as usual, he had no problems getting up when I woke him at 7:30. It's really strange how these kids can run for a few days on practically no sleep at all, but after 3-4 days like that, he'll crash. He'll either become sleepy and have naps after school, and fall asleep around 9:00 PM, or he'll get sick with either a cold or a stomach virus.
His diet has to remain the same all the time, otherwise he'll react in certain ways, and inability to sleep is one of them. I tried to think what he could have eaten recently that was different, and there was nothing. The only thing I could think of was that we ran out of oranges, which are a daily staple for him, and I gave him kiwi fruit instead. Otherwise, he had his usual breakfast of nothing except ginger ale, followed by a morning school snack of kiwi fruit, lunch of ham sandwich, followed by afternoon school snack of cheese and crackers. When he came home from school, he had popcorn and ginger ale, then dinner consisted of macaroni and cheese, half of a roasted chicken breast, blueberries for dessert, and he had an evening snack of peanut butter and raspberry jam on toast with a cup of tea. This is more or less what he eats every day. He is lactose intolerant and has a gluten allergy, so I try not to give him too much dairy and bread, but he does eat a bit of it.
Yesterday I went shopping for fruit for him, and bought a bag of his precious oranges, as well as blueberries, strawberries and plain tortilla chips (which he loves).
As for me, it's my day off, and I planned to busy myself doing housework, shopping, going to the post office, and running some errands, but since I didn't sleep very well, I might just spend the day watching a movie, perhaps catching up on my reading a bit, and on the computer. I have to finish an Andy Carroll/Luis Suarez fic that I started. We'll see how it goes. :)
This would have been my father's birthday, if he were still alive. I always felt it to be a special time of year in any case. The days are growing longer, there are lots more sunny days than not, and it's beginning to look and feel a bit like spring. It gives me the sense that it's a time of renewal, and there's a lot of hope in that feeling.
About Sean...well, living with an autistic child is always a challenge, but it does have its rewarding moments too. Rewarding in strange ways sometimes. Last night I was having problems trying to get to sleep and so was he. But finally, I managed to fall into a deep slumber around 11:30 PM, only to be awakened abruptly by my sweet child patting me on the shoulder. When I opened my eyes, I saw him standing right in front of me, holding a CD in one hand and his eyeglass spray and some kleenex in the other. I groaned, "What do you want?" or something like that, upon which he said, "Clean this disk for me," followed by, "Do it now, mom." One can only laugh, right?
It took me a minute or so to gather my thoughts, and after telling him that he should be in bed, fast asleep as I was when he rudely woke me, but cluing in from the wide-awake grin on his face that he was having one of those sleepless nights peculiar to autistic kids, I grabbed the disk, eyeglass cleaner and kleenex, and wiped the damn thing spot-free for him.
When I awoke this morning about an hour later than usual (6:25), I checked on Sean, and he was fast asleep, the Simpsons Movie DVD still running. And, as usual, he had no problems getting up when I woke him at 7:30. It's really strange how these kids can run for a few days on practically no sleep at all, but after 3-4 days like that, he'll crash. He'll either become sleepy and have naps after school, and fall asleep around 9:00 PM, or he'll get sick with either a cold or a stomach virus.
His diet has to remain the same all the time, otherwise he'll react in certain ways, and inability to sleep is one of them. I tried to think what he could have eaten recently that was different, and there was nothing. The only thing I could think of was that we ran out of oranges, which are a daily staple for him, and I gave him kiwi fruit instead. Otherwise, he had his usual breakfast of nothing except ginger ale, followed by a morning school snack of kiwi fruit, lunch of ham sandwich, followed by afternoon school snack of cheese and crackers. When he came home from school, he had popcorn and ginger ale, then dinner consisted of macaroni and cheese, half of a roasted chicken breast, blueberries for dessert, and he had an evening snack of peanut butter and raspberry jam on toast with a cup of tea. This is more or less what he eats every day. He is lactose intolerant and has a gluten allergy, so I try not to give him too much dairy and bread, but he does eat a bit of it.
Yesterday I went shopping for fruit for him, and bought a bag of his precious oranges, as well as blueberries, strawberries and plain tortilla chips (which he loves).
As for me, it's my day off, and I planned to busy myself doing housework, shopping, going to the post office, and running some errands, but since I didn't sleep very well, I might just spend the day watching a movie, perhaps catching up on my reading a bit, and on the computer. I have to finish an Andy Carroll/Luis Suarez fic that I started. We'll see how it goes. :)
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Date: 2012-01-11 07:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2012-01-13 11:39 pm (UTC)But his insistence of having the disc cleaned: yups, a one track mind like my kid. It just doesn't cross their mind that you were sleeping huh?
Kevin has no issues with his diet, but he loves his usual stuff. I hardly make changes in his lunch unless he wants to. Life for them is so difficult as it is, so I don't want him to deal with a let down that far away from home. He's so fond of bread, some fruit, a wee bit of licorice and oh caramel waffles. Every day when he comes home from school, he always has that same snack. Caramel waffle with juice. He just dislikes hot meals, he rather eats bread. Sounds familair? Was Sean like that as well?
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