Sometimes, I'm not so tough. Yet, life it seems, always is...

  This quote above is my life story. I learned early on not to show pain. In my mind, showing pain was showing your weakness. People take advantage of those that are weak....
  As a special needs momma, this held true as well. Once the shock of the word Autism wore off, and it came time to get my little man what he needed, the warrior in my soul came out. This is when I truly believed I couldn't let anyone see me cry. I couldn't let anyone see my weaknesses. Now, more than ever I had to be strong for my son, for my family, for myself. 
  I dove in head first. I fought the school. I made phone calls, sent emails. When that didn't work, I started The Legion page. I wanted a voice. I wanted to tell other momma's that Autism isn't the end of the world. It won't kill us. It will make us stronger. We Will Get Through It Together. 
  I also believed that if I see it in a positive manner, it couldn't get me down.....I was wrong. It will get you down. It will kick your feet out from underneath you. It will punch you when you're down. It will knock the wind out of you, make it hard for you to regain your breath. It will TRY to get the best of you.......
  Autism is sneaky. Autism is heartless. Autism can take a good day and make it hell. BUT.......It can also be fought.
  Yesterday and today, Autism did all these things to me. It took me down. It made me cry. It made me question my life, our life, our purpose.
  You know what else it did??? It made me stronger. It made me realize we all have these days. It made me realize I will NEVER give up. It made me realize that this fight is worth fighting. It made me realize that my son, and your sons/daughters need us to keep on fighting for them. If we don't, who will? 


It is some relief to weep; grief is satisfied and carried off by tears.  ~Ovid

Let your tears flow and where they go, let your sorrows follow.  ~Dodinsky,

Halloween Social Story

With 22 Days until Halloween, and about 2 weeks until our kiddos are Trick or Treating, I thought now would be a good time for a Social Story. Here it is, feel free to share.

Rustic 2x4 Pumpkins

  


  Okay, I know, this isn't a sensory craft, or Autism related, but I am a Fall Freak. Halloween is my favorite holiday and I love making Fall Crafts. So when I saw this idea on Pinterest, I HAD to make it myself! Before I go any further I want to link credit back to where I got the original idea. So if you want to see the original ones, head on over to Totally Fabulous Finds, and check hers out. Her's are a bit more fancy, but I made mine for $.99 (cost of paint) so I was going for the cheaper way to re-make them.  


                                                             Here's What I did:

     First, I dug through Hub's scrap wood pile and found a 2 x 4. Then, I got hub's to cut it for me. He cut mine in three pieces. One 9 inches, one 6 inches, and one 3 inches.

     Next, I got out hub's files, and filed all the edges off the wood. I also sanded the rough parts. I didn't make them completely smooth, (I like the rough kind of look) but I took off any slivers.

     Then Hub's and I found a thick branch, and he cut me off 3 stems. (He doesn't trust me with the table saw, (he's smart!)) 

      Time to paint. I bought tiger orange (it was all they had) then I mixed it with a bit of brown until I got a muted orange. I then added a few brush fulls of water, and mixed it well. I didn't want a thick coat of paint. I wanted them to look like they were stained orange. 

       Once the paint was dry, I got the files back out and re-sanded the edges. Make sure to get off any orange paint. (You want to see the wood) I made sure to round the corners a bit too.

       Time for the fun part. I used hot glue to attach the stems. I found some raffia in the craft bin, made little bows and glued them on. That's it. Easy peasy!!

         Now I have a great decoration for Halloween and Turkey Day. The best part, it only cost me $.99!!!!!!!
                                                                        <3<3<3<3

Autism Bites! No Literally.....it does!

  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!!!!
                                               <3<3<3<3

DIY Halloween Sensory Bags

Instead of the curriculum art, today we did something more festive for Halloween. We made Halloween Sensory Bags. Very easy to do. I can't however take ALL the credit. I got the idea from Hands On: As We Grow while scrolling through my Pinterest. We made one like hers, but Liam wanted to green. Then we did our own using bugs we got in the Halloween section at the Dollar Tree.
Ours look like this:

Ready for the how to???? It's super simple

NEED:

Hair Gel (can be found at Dollar Tree. One bottle made 2 bags)

Ziploc Bags Sandwich Size (we used one regular, and one Halloween bag

which we purchased at the Dollar Tree.)

Googly Eyes (you guessed it! Can be bought at the Dollar Tree)

Various Bugs (again, thank you Dollar Tree, you ROCK my world!!)

Food Coloring (Dollar Tree, you're the bomb!)

DIRECTIONS:

Open bag, squeeze in about half of the hair gel. Add a few drops of you coloring choice. Close bag, smoosh around to mix color. Add in googly eyes, bugs, what ever you choose. (we even added some sequins) Now, close, all but a small bit and carefully squeeze air out without letting gel out. Seal and VOILA! Home made sensory bag! Great for tactile input and cool to look at as well. (NOTE: my son gets into everything, I add duct tape to the top of ALL his bags so he doesn't get into them!)

Hope you enjoy making this with your kiddo (s). I know I sure did :)

<3<3<3<3

We Will Not Be Silent!!!

It's up!!!!! Please head over to this link where you can purchase a "WE WILL NOT BE SILENT" Autism Awareness Tee! A portion of every purchase goes to Liam to help him reach his goal of an ipad and other therapy items ♥ Please share this with as many people as you can, and help Liam get the word out!

We Will Not Be Silent

here is what it looks like

Get yours today and show your support for Autism Awareness <3

Invasion of the Sleep Snatchers

What a fitting title for the first of October, and night of hellish sleep!!! To start, Liam was a motor mouth until 1 am. I repeatedly shushed him, and he still kept jabbering away. I feel bad, he was trying to talk to me and tell me stuff, but gees kid, there are better times than when momma is tired! He told me about what he wants for Christmas. Then we moved on to him wanting more friends. I tried to explain to him quality vs quantity, he didn't care. He wants 50 friends to play with, so every day there is someone to play with!! Then we talked about his friend yesterday telling him he was weird. This bothered him, he brought it up a few times in the evening, and hubs and I reassured him, he is fine the way he is. We are all a little weird. I think I finally got that thru to him, and the rest of the time, he laid there humming.
Great, now cue the fur kids. Between them playing at 1 am, then trouncing across my bed, I was ready to freak. When Josie decided it was time for her to go to bed, she rooted thru my blankets like a pig rooting for truffles! She uncovered me, ran he cold nose into me, and really irritated the hell out of me. I fell back to sleep. Kottie decided now that I was sleeping again, she would sharpen her claws on the rug in the doorway. I wake up, quietly yell at her. She leaves, goes into the bathroom and does it in there. I get up, chase her out.  Now Josie is uncomfortable, she waits til I get back in bed, then re-roots herself under the covers. This went back and forth til about 4 am. At which time, I was FINALLY sleeping soundly, and Liam wakes up. He is sweaty and needs to pee. Okay. Now he needs to change his undies because they are damp (sweat). We get back in bed, get comfy, Josie gets comfy and we're off to sleep. Now Kottie decides she must sleep on my head. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? After 5 failed attempts, she decides by my head is ok. It is now 530, and they are all sound asleep. Momma is laying there stewing and secretly wanting to wake them all up! But I settle for going back to sleep myself. That was my night with the "Sleep Snatchers!"

I get up this morning at 730. Hubs made coffee last nite for me. I go to get a cup, no coffee. He forgot to set the timer!!!! UGH!!!! IT IS DEFINITELY MONDAY!!!!!! Here's to a better day!!!!

And with that, I leave you with the Mamas and The Papas :)

<3<3<3<3