She had pox, Autism

Monday was one of those days where you just look at your life and think, well, that's interesting. And that's the way I felt when Doodle got off the bus. Covered in spots. Telling me she was sick. I'm thinking she was ready to not go back to school the next day. But as I approached the door of the bus, her saying, "Momma, I sick!" I just stood there and stared at her for a moment.  Taking in the whole image of what I was seeing. Both her arms and hands covered in dots. Red and black dots.

I wanted to laugh but the mother in me knew better. I have to be a bit strict. I have to stand firm because I've let a few things slide and picture day was fast approaching. "You aren't sick. You did that to yourself."

That's when the bus driver informed me that Doodle kept saying it was skittles. I standing there thinking she made those dots with skittles? I'm impressed. Nope, it was marker. Doodle was telling everyone that she had skittles box.

That's it's the child has too much time on her hands at school. All of her teachers, cause she has three this year, say that they make sure that she has plenty of work that she has to do. They keep her busy or else she will go wild in class and start messing with everything. And coloring and drawing on everything. Yeah, that sounds about right. I made Doodle head straight inside and wash her skittle pox off.

Tuesday I headed into work and bought a few more items for Halloween day. Yeah, I know I'm super early on class gift bags but I would rather be early then late to the party. And that's what happened last year. It's about remembering that I won't be sent a message home that I need to send treats to school. That other parents will send them and the kids will have a good time. And since Michaels was having a 50% off all Halloween goodies I stocked up. I got two bags full for under $20.00. My employee discount really helped out though! And just like that I realized that I needed to buy some classroom crafts. Cause my child has way too much time on her hands.

Banners and bookmark crafts. And just for the heck of it, pipe cleaners and pom poms and googly eyes. Cause hey, you never know when you need a good pipe cleaner craft.

The good news is that she didn't come home with any other illnesses until Thursday. She was turning into a zombie that day. And I'm hoping pictures had already been taken when she markered herself up again for the second time this week. If not the pictures will be really interesting.

We had a really bad sensory meltdown that afternoon. Took a bit longer to get her to calm down but I was able to shop through Publix without any incidences. Her hearing sensory is getting worse. That I'm noticing. It's something that we are going to have to work through, little by little. But we will get there. Everything in her life has to be taught. But I'm patient enough to work with her. Heck, Rome wasn't build in a day.

Great news is I finally got the magazine finished. Bad news is when I sent it over to my computer guy to get it put on the site he said I needed to have an over haul of my website. Duh, I've needed that for awhile. I picked new templates and everything but couldn't figure out how to activate them myself. So the website is still left in the "stone ages" for right now.

And on that note, because there is still so much to be done. I'll see you on the flip side.

It's coming along Autism

Well, it's Friday night where I live and nope, I haven't worked on the blog at all this week. It's been one of those busy busy weeks for me. Being an instructor for a major craft store means that yeah there is a lot of work to do and a lot to prepare for.

I got a few things for Doodle's Halloween costume. I'm on the hunt for a pea coat. I will so rock that thing. I have a few items left to get for Doodle's Christmas and then I will be done with Christmas shopping.

We had speech homework that came home last week and I needed to buy the books this week. She's to read. That's her homework for this month. Read about 5 books. One thing I have noticed is that her reading is very slow now. Which is good because she's not over looking the words. So we have progress in reading. She not skipping words and she's actually taking the words on the page in. That I am very proud of.

This morning as Doodle and I were brushing our teeth I thought I heard what sounded like the bus. Once we were done we were running out the door. That's when the phone started ringing. It was the bus driver wondering where we were. Um trying to get out the front door, that's where we were.

It was a new bus driver and I wasn't expecting anyone that early this morning. Not for a Friday the 13th. And no I didn't have a chance to do laundry this week being so busy, so Doodle wore her Friday shirt from last year. But that's okay. I try to be the best parent that I can possibly be and sometimes that means I won't be able to get it all done. Side note, new bus driver today.

Don't ever beat yourself up as an Autism parent. If you are doing everything for your child and stretching yourself 3 ways to Sunday. It's okay. The world will continue revolving and life will keep going. Just set aside some money for take out or fast food during the week. Cause it's all gonna be fine. You are only human and not super human. Learn to tell people no. That's what I'm learning this week. Also take time to nap. It's worth it!!!

See you guys on the flip side.

Something happened, Autism

So it's Thursday and today is the day the magazine is to go live. I'm not done with the magazine and I am going to be busy all day tomorrow so there will be no blog post so it has to go up today. I really feel stretched again. I should have been done with the magazine two days ago. But work needed a poster and I'm the graphic designer and artist of the store so it fell on my shoulders. The only problem is that they gave me less then 24 hours to get it together. All night Monday I worked on the image. On Tuesday the file in Photoshop became corrupt and wouldn't print. And I had to get the poster into work by at least noon.

I don't work well under stress but that is how it all boils down. Last minute for everything. So there I was sitting at the computer huffing under my breath that this 27.2 X 17.2 image wouldn't print. And I had to redo the whole thing all over again, from scratch at 8 in the morning. And that's when the school called. There was a bruise on Doodle's face. Now on Monday afternoon when she came home from school the bus driver informed me that Doodle had hit a child on the bus. The child went to a different school. Which didn't make sense, as the other school doesn't get picked up until after they drop Doodle off in the afternoons. Nothing seemed right about how exasperated the bus driver was and the whole situation, and Doodle having a fresh section of skin missing on her face. So I sent Doodle's teacher a message about it. Because it's best that her teacher be made aware. This is a safety issue and it really needs to be addressed. Yes, a safety issue for other children on the bus because hitting other kids just isn't cool in my book. Even if my child is being the aggressor. It's just not cool.

Doodle lost the iPad, which is her most favorite thing in the world. I got to ride the emotional roller coaster until it was bedtime all while trying to get my graphics together for the poster for work. When the poster was completed and drying in the car as I rushed into work. I was just sick to my stomach over this situation with the Doodle and the bus. She knows better not to hit anyone. And I have never personally seen her hit another child unless she was in full blown sensory over load. That's also when she tries to rip her skin off. Which I assumed had happened. Doodle is a self harmer. But only during sensory meltdowns.

After I left work my next stop was to the school. And I wanted to speak with the principal. I met with her and told her of my concerns. And she called in the vice principal who is in charge of the buses. When he came in he said he had become familiar with Doodle because of the phone issue on the bus. Wait, what??? The only thing he was made aware of was not about Doodle hitting another child but the bus drivers phone coming up missing and they believed it was either Doodle or another child on the bus. The other child in question was the one who Doodle hit. After my meeting with the principal I requested to see Doodle. When she came into the office, yep you could see a bruise on her cheek right under the mark on her face. Like I said in my last post, bruises take time to come up.

Well, this is becoming interesting. By the time Doodle got home that afternoon the bus driver was again flustered and asked me did I know what happened to Doodle's face. I told her no, that she got off the bus with that scratch. She then told me that I needed to ask Doodle, that she would tell me. Okay, that's the funniest thing I've heard my entire life. My kid mimics what she sees and it's usually a video on YouTube that she's seen thousands of times. The only time that she can honestly answer a question is if the question is How are you? And her automatic response is good, how are you. And she will answer yes on cake and ice cream. But hey I do too. I love a piece of cake twice a month.

I really don't understand how a child that doesn't understand questions can answer questions. I did ask and her responses were playing Mar Mar. And she also said ant bite. I had also been informed by Doodle about a child in class hitting the teacher. And last night which was Wednesday the vice principal called to let me know what all he had found out about the incident of hitting. I could care less about the phone at this point because the phone has nothing to do with me. It's not in my house, Doodle didn't take it, which I know my child. When my friends drop their phones she picks it up and hands it to them. She doesn't try to take off with it. She's pretty honest when it comes to it. Anyways, he informed me that Doodle got on the bus Monday morning with that scratch on her face. Um no, she didn't. She was perfectly fine and had no markings on her. Because she is on my watch and if she acts strange I am the first to try to identify the issue. So this is boiling down to a he said she said issue.

My problem is I can make sure my child is safe by taking her to school myself if she is having issues on the bus. And it will also make sure that other kids are safe as well if she's trying to be Mike Tyson again. I want the other kids to feel safe and I want Doodle to feel safe. So this is where I am at. If someone thinks they can slander my reputation on my child I will make sure someone looses her job, cause I don't play. When Doodle gets in trouble I get her right with what she loves the most. The stuffed animal or the iPad. Those are the two things that I will take away. That gets my point across the most and that's how she learns. I don't have to spank my child. Timeouts with objects she loves more then anything work way better.

And now that I've procrastinated enough I need to get back to work. I have 5 recipes to write down and two craft projects to finish up. And then the proofing of all the info and from there it gets put where it goes in the magazine. So back to work before a three day weekend from the neither world. This is not gonna be fun. If you are interested in the magazine you will be able to see it for free at jsncreative.com/ezine. This is where the magazine will be located. If it doesn't go live today, then it won't go live until Monday, my only day off.

See you guys on the flip side.

After I left work