It’s all about the experience. Eric has a few borderline obsessive compulsions. He loves to go to Target, Walmart, or BJ’s to buy a toy. What kid doesn’t, right? But, Eric specifically only wants to buy “Cars” characters. Yes, he has several dozen of each of them. We kind of just went with it for ...
Last month Mr. Bacon and I were blessed to be able to go away on vacation without the kids. (Thank you Grandma and Pop Pop). We needed the break. REALLY needed the break. We have been to this place before with the kids back in 2012. So I found myself “seeing” the kids in different ...
Yes, you should be expected to put the needs of your children first. Yes, you should be expected to sacrifice greatly for their happiness. No, this does not mean you should be expected to feel guilty about, or bury your valid, honest emotions. No, you are not a bad parent for taking time to process ...
I’ll admit I’ve always hoped that Eric would “blend in” to the crowd; conform to publicly acceptable behaviors. It’s taken me many, many years to be OK with his noises and quirky movements that are an extension of his communication abilities. Last week in BJ’s…we both had a breakthrough. As I was packing up the ...
Brothers and sisters, we are losing. We can argue about the reasons why (reality vs. perception); we can argue about the biased media; unreasonable expectations; poor self-promotion. But, the brutal truth is many special needs individuals and families are afraid to call us when they need help. They are afraid we will hurt them. They ...
My 20 Rules for the New Autism Blogger (or anyone thinking about becoming one): 1) Don’t chase “Likes”. You’ll end up sacrificing your core principles. 2) Know where you stand on tough issues, even if it’s in the middle. 3) Eventually, you’ll piss off 50% of your audience. If you have remained true to Rules ...
I know I’m fighting an uphill battle. The things I’ve read in recent days– the anger and bitterness I have heard– leave little room for optimism. I’m going to try anyway. I understand the fear. I understand the anger. My biggest fear is that my son will soon meet a police officer who will misunderstand ...
It’s been 9 days since it happened. Somehow the emotional scars seem to heal quicker than the physical scars. We left the local aquarium because Eric started screaming really loud. After sitting in the car seeing if he would settle down enough for us to go back in, I decided to head home – and ...
I ran my first marathon about a month ago. Twenty (freaking) six point two miles through the heart of Philadelphia. It was everything they said it would be. The thing that sticks with me was the spectators: Thousands upon thousands of friends and family and strangers lining the streets of the city to watch and ...
This past weekend, we hauled all the Christmas decorations down from the attic. To be honest, I dread doing it every year. I wasn’t always like that- but somehow along the way, I’ve lost my Christmas magic. Our daughter was so excited to do it, that we took advantage of the long holiday weekend and ...
