Parenthood

The Parenthood that I am referring to is a Television show on Tuesday nights. Every week I look forward to watching and every week I end up crying through the majority of the show. The reason is one of the families have an Autistic son. He has Aspergers and is a little older than Robbie, but I can relate to the struggles they are going through. The episode that aired last night is already all over the Autism Speaks blog. The son "Max" over heard his father saying he has Aspergers and wanted to know what that meant. Personally, we are not at that point yet. We are still trying to get Robbie to answer basic questions consistently- What is your name? How old are you? How are you? The portion of the show that really hit home was when the Dad took Max to an amusement park, instead of following the routine and going to school. As you can imagine- chaos ensued when the ride Max wanted to go on needed to be repaired. When they got home- the Dad explained that he just wanted to have a fun day with his son. Create a memory. Feel like a "normal" family- whatever that means.

I had a similar conversation with my husband this past week. It seems like every time Robbie makes progress, we start to do "normal" family activities. Got to walmart, go out to lunch, go bowling. I love doing this things together. Then something happens to remind us of the challenges Robbie faces. He is allergic to many things- so going to restaurants is difficult- unless we plan and bring food. He develops a new behavior that is odd and people stare. It shouldn't bother me- but like the father in parenthood- it does. I see my beautiful baby boy struggling to feel comfortable in his own skin. It is crushing because it seems there is little I can do at those moments except hug him.

In the past week I have placed 4 calls to our neurologist- made an appointment for June (the earliest I can get in). Made an appointment with the developmental pediatrician for April. Made an appointment to have additional ABA therapy in the home. Spoke with the Allergist twice. And cried a lot. Two steps forward and three steps back and still no answers. Last night Rob told me Robbie recognized the words Robbie, Lexi, Daddy and Mommy. He could pick out which was the correct word association. That is awesome. Last night I asked Robbie a simple question at dinner. One we have gone over hundreds of times. "What is your name?" "I'm four." "What is your name?" "I'm fine." "What is your name?" The final answer was something I couldn't understand. Meanwhile Lexi is saying " That's Robbie. My name is Lexi. You're Mommy. I'm two- Robbie is four." Etc.

So today we get right back into our routine. Some OT in the morning and afternoon filled with private ABA (because school is cancelled for parent teacher conferences). Followed by jumping on the trampoline or moon bounce that occupies the space that once was a dinning room. Swinging on the swings and doing some craft project to keep the hands busy. Having a dairy free, egg free, soy free, milk free, pineapple free dinner and back to bed for the night!