Back To His Routine

It has been far too long since I posted, so I will try to make amends.Christmas, and alas Nathaniel, have come and gone. Shelley took Nathaniel back to MD and weeped all the way home. We know he is happy there because he usually asks for “Lucky House” about 4 weeks into his Christmas holiday. Get back to the routine he is comfortable with. We did have is semi-annual conference call with all of his care providers a few weeks ago. Our biggest concern (well, at least mine) is how to keep Nathaniel occupied when he is at his day placement and at his home. Parents’ you have to stay on top of this if you have your autistic child in a group setting outside their parent’s home. The staff can become very lazy when they have a child that doesn’t know how to ask to get involved. With Nathaniel, my concern is that he is OK with sitting in front of the TV watching Sesame Street. Even though there are two other special needs adults in the house, Nathaniel still needs some full time attention. His primary care provider loves Nathaniel more than her own child (Nathaniel does not talk back, doesn’t ask for anything, except a trip to MacDonald’s for a coke), and we are grateful that she is in Nathaniel’s life. She dotes on him and buys him wonderful clothes out of her own pocket (Nathaniel is the best dressed kid at his day placement). But I would rather have her buy him a pencil and sit down with him to draw than to buy the most expensive coat. You parents out there must insist on this. Read more!

Having a Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve. I sometimes wish I could get into Nathaniel’s head and see what he is thinking. Generally Nathaniel puts the past behind him as if he checks something off his list. But Christmas is different. Nathaniel still fervently believes in Santa Claus and puts up his stocking on Christmas Eve. Although he can't vocalize it, we can tell that he is excited. For one, Nathaniel sweats when he gets excited. He knows it means Santa and “packages” will be under the tree sometime soon. He might equate the reciting of “Twas the Night before Christmas with the coming event, but we’re not sure When Nathaniel was 3 years old (and for every Christmas Eve for the last 28 years) I recited T'was the night before Christmas. On his 4th Christmas he recited it with me. Yes, he remembered the words for a whole year! Pretty good, huh. He does like to look at the lights and, for some reason this year, wants to only watch Christmas movies. And we have lots of them! I have to admit that I get frustrated with him on Christmas day. He likes to unwrap the packages and is not all that interested in what’s inside. The unwrapping usually runs 4 hours; he not only likes to unwrap but also to strip small pieces from the wrapping paper. Very small strips! Well I hope that everyone has a good Christmas. Enjoy your packages. Read more!

Nathaniel has made it and Shelley has survived her trip to Baltimore to get Nathaniel. I told Shelley that there is nothing to do at this airport, but she only went with two books and a blanket. She expected 10 hours there while she waited, but as it turned out, the weather made the wait even longer. Nathaniel ended up waiting with her the last 4 hours (she should have taken the DVD player). So the trip began at 4:30 am Sunday, and the return was at 10:30. They got home at 1:30 am. However, Nathaniel still wanted his usual snack of cheese-crackers. Merry Christmas everyone. Read more!

Happy Return

With Nathaniel living in Maryland and since we live in Alabama it is always exciting when he comes down. This time, of course, for Christmas. To prepare, his mother, the Holiday Princess, has already finished decorating for Christmas, and it's only Nov 23. Shelley likes to have the house all dressed up by the time he arrives, which will be Dec 12. It is always a challenge with Nathaniel. Since he need full supervision, one of us has to go up to Baltimore to bring him back down. So this year, Shelley flys up in the morning, waits 10 hours for the next flight back to Alabama. About 2 hours before the plane leaves his care provider brings him to the airport (or as Nathaniel calls it, "Airplane!" The real challenge is to make sure that he sits with his mother both ways, but even more complicated is that Shelley must make a one way trip set for Dec 12 and return Jan 14, then two round trip tickets for her with Nathaniel Baltimore - Alabama for Dec 12 and Jan 14. Logistics the army would be proud of. Read more!