Miles To Go

      Miles is my youngest of three boys. He is the light of our lives. He is happy, joyful, and intelligent. He loves music and can memorize an entire song after just hearing it a few times. He is active, energetic, and playful. His laughter fills our entire house with joy. Miles is also autistic. We have officially been on this journey for one year, but unofficially began seeking answers to questions about his communication and behavior about 2.5 years ago. Miles's pregnancy was the easiest of all three. Aside from an early hiccup we went virtually nine months without an issue. His delivery was quicker than the others and I only labored for about 8 hours. Delivery was briefly very scary as they lost his heartbeat for a time after my water broke, but they soon realized it was likely due to his position changing and not a medical emergency, and after only a few pushes he was here and healthy as could be! He was by far the easiest to care for of all three of the b...

April is Autism Awareness Month.  As I was perusing through autism support groups recently, looking for advice on potty training Miles, I came upon a woman's letter to herself on the day her child was diagnosed. It was very empowering and she challenged all autism parents to do the same thing. I found this exercise very cathartic. We have been in the middle of a mildly bumpy patch with Miles and autism behaviors lately, and this activity helped me to put into focus how far we have come and how many things are going so very well. This post is in no way seeking out sympathy for our situation. I don't know about other autism parents, but sympathy is the last thing I want. We love our autism angel just the way he is. While his upbringing and challenges may be a little harder than with neurotypical kids, the good outweighs the bad every time.  This is just a glimpse into the last year of our life. While I feel very vulnerable in posting some of my deepest feelings on the subject ma...