April 29, 2015 – Autism Awareness Month, Autism Truths #29 Most mornings are a mad rush of arms and legs, cereal bowls, packed lunches, backpacks and last minute signing of forms. Once I get the younger two out the door — either on the bus or with their Baba — I turn my attention to D, who usually is up by the time and playing around, waiting to get ready for school. I assist him quickly, using the time we have together... Read more
April 28, 2015 – Autism Awareness Month, Autism Truths #28 I was face-timing with my daughter tonight, helping her complete an English assignment. She and the her siblings are at home with their Baba and grandparents, and I am out of town and spending time with my father, who had surgery today. In the background, I heard the voices of D loud and clear. A was in the study working, and when it got too loud where she was, she... Read more
April 27, 2015, Autism Awareness Month, Autism Truths #27 At a birthday party we attended yesterday, the theme was superheroes. The kids were running around in padded superhero costumes, some with capes flying out behind them as they darted in and out of the house, bobbing and weaving through the adults. Teenage girls, the friends of the birthday boy’s older sister, were also decked out in teenage-versions of superhero costumes. They were giggling, laughing, taking selfies and scarfing down pizza.... Read more
April 26, 2015 – Autism Awareness Month, Autism Truths #26 Sometimes it all feels so fragile — life held together by bits of tape and pieces of string, with prayers and promises. The slightest quiver in the universe and it all falls apart, despite all our planning, all our praying, all our hopes for the future. We can try and secure the future for our loved ones as best as possible. We can try and keep them safe. But nothing is... Read more
April 25, 2015, Autism Awareness Month, Autism Truths #25 D brought his iPad to me just a few minutes back to request something to eat. We discovered something new with his ability to make choices a few weeks ago when he requested chips off his iPad – that all chips are not the same. A few weeks back, he pressed the button for “I want” and then pressed “chips,” saying kippa to us (his verbal approximation of the word, chips).... Read more
April 24, 2015 – Autism Awareness Month, Autism Truths #24 It’s time to write this post, and so I ask my family tonight what I should write. The husband says – let’s all give our perspectives tonight, and you write them down. But before we can wax eloquently on #autismtruths, D pulls H to the sofa for a tickle fight. Dadima (their paternal grandmother) is sitting at the edge of the sofa, reading her evening Quran, and the H gets... Read more
April 23, 2015 — Autism Awareness Month, Autism Truths #23 It seems like we are always living waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even when things are relatively smooth and good, we wait, wondering when it will all fall apart. It’s falling apart in front of my eyes. Something is distressing D right now, at the end of the day. Distressing him pretty badly. Something internal, perhaps something external, something I don’t know how to fix. The shoe is... Read more
April 22, 2015 – Autism Awareness Month, Autism Truths #22 At dinnertime this evening, my seven-year-old son H laid a good one one me. His older brother D, who had been sitting with the six of us at the dinner table plowing through his dinner, got up and left the table with a few more bites to go. We called him back – D, come and take another bite! He came back and protested, pushing my husband’s hand away as he... Read more
April 21, 2015 – Autism Awareness Month, Autism Truths #21 When I picked up D today from school,, his lead teacher escorted him to my car (usually it’s one of the teaching assistants). She tends to come out to the car line usually only to tell her students’ parents something great that happened that day — or something bad. Great, not bad, please — I said to myself. She started with the great – D had a great day today.... Read more
April 20, 2015, Autism Awareness Month, Autism Truths #20 He grows sleepy, trying to find a comfortable position in the uncomfortable waiting-room chair as the medicine takes it’s effect. I put his head on my shoulder, but in a few seconds he moves it away. I put my arm around him so he can lean on it, but he shrugs away. D’s never been one to lean on anyone too much. He seeks out foot pressures and back rubs sometimes,... Read more
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