#30facesofautism 2021 - Day 1

 

Day 1 - It’s April 1st and #30facesofautism is back! April is Autism Awareness Month which kicks off TOMORROW with World Autism Awareness Day! I’d love to share Baby Girl’s village with the world! Text or DM me a photo of yourself wearing blue or sporting an Autism tee or rocking some puzzles pieces to include with my post tomorrow night! Let’s show the world we UNDERSTAND, ACCEPT and LOVE! 🌈🧩💙

#30facesofautism 2020 - Day 30

Day 30 - Well here we are! We’ve reached the end of another April, a strange and inside out April. This chick has had her world rocked amid this health crisis. Nothing has been normal or routine - but really when I think about it - is it ever? Being off schedule and slightly out of control is our “new normal” for now while I try to figure out what to try next to help her figure out how to function in it. The bottom line is we are together, we are safe and she is loved - and for her that’s good enough. 👍🏼 #30facesofautism

#30facesofautism 2020 - Day 29

Day 29 - Thinking about the future is always hard. None of us really knows what it holds. I never know from one day to the next what to expect. Baby Girl lives mostly in the now but she does have some aspirations! She’s ready to be a fourth grader, she wants to be a safety patrol one day and she wants to go to Clemson like her sister! Lucky for all of us those things are not entirely out of the realm of possibility, even college. Clemson has a program called Clemson Life that has been designed for students with disabilities that desire a post secondary education on a college campus and its AMAZING! Students live together in dorms with a resident assistant to help with independent living skills. Students learn about budgets and banking, functional reading and math, appropriate social skills, safety, health and skills for employment. Students even complete work internships.  They get to participate fully in all that campus life has to offer. The four year program is all about helping these students learn to be more self sufficient. Did I mention it’s AMAZING? The Grown Up Girl submits her very last college research project tonight meaning that our family will have its 6th Clemson alum. Could Baby Girl be lucky #7 a mere decade from now? You better believe it - because she sure does! 🧡💜🐅💜🧡 #30facesofautism

If you’d like to learn more about Clemson Life visit https://www.clemson.edu/education/research/programs/culife/

#30facesofautism 2020 - Day 28

Day 28 - I told you yesterday was a big day around these parts. Baby Girl had her school awards virtually and was celebrated for participating in Readers to Leaders, earning an A in Citizenship and getting AB Honor Roll! Her team of amazing teachers,  therapists, support personnel and family made some tough decisions last year about altering her academic plan to make it more appropriate for her. It has been the best decision ever! She is thriving while learning and able to show all the amazing things she can do academically. The highlight of the awards ceremony though was her recognition as one of the Soaring Eagles for her class! It is the highest honor a Creeker can get and is a student created award that honors those who exemplify the characteristics of a CCE Eagle. Baby Girl was chosen for the most perfect reason - being KIND! My heart nearly burst with pride. This video is worth the three minutes it’ll take you to watch it because it will remind you what absolute elation looks like and we could all use more happy right about now! 🦅 #30facesofautism

#30facesofautism 2020 - Day 27

Day 27 - Life with Baby Girl is full of ups and downs, kinda like being on a rollercoaster. Fast and fun. Scary and sickening. Exhilarating and exhausting. Predictable and unpredictable. Forwards and backwards. Some days we are right side up and on others we are upside down. Today was an up day - full of anticipation and excitement, celebration and smiles. As a sweet friend reminded me this morning - days like these are the ones we hold on to on the hard days. I’ll remember that the next time the rollercoaster starts to take us down - we’ll put our arms up together in the air and face the drop together.🎢 #30facesofautism

#30facesofautism 2020 - Day 25

Day 26 - with Baby Girl each day is such a wonder. I’ve discussed her picky eating habits before. Even though her palette has expanded over the years it is still limited. If we eat out I’m always having to think ahead about what she will or won’t eat. Earlier this year we ended up after a day of painting the house at a place she’s never been before. I didn’t have time to plan ahead. We sat down and she looked at the kids menu and proclaimed “I’m eating a burger”. 😳 I was in shock. I immediately started trying to negotiate something else for fear she wouldn’t touch it when it was delivered to the table. Nope. Her mind was set. Burger. She ate every single bite and loved it! Another reminder to never take anything for granted with her because just when you think you have it all figured out she ups and eats her first hamburger. 🍔 #30facesofautism

#30facesofautism 2020 - Day 25

Day 25 - While we are on the subject of felines it is time to address Kitty Queen, Baby Girl’s imaginary friend. She isn’t around 100% of the time but she hangs out a lot. Sometimes she goes to school or is available as a playmate at home. She even went to Disney with us last month - see her sitting right beside Baby Girl in this picture? Somebody is forever stepping on her or sitting on her which does not go over well. It seems that Kitty Queen is all the things Baby Girl knows she can’t be - her alter ego. Sassy mouthed, rude, loud, hard headed, and selectively deaf. She has done her fair share in time out and Daddy has threatened more than once to permanently send her to swim with the alligators out back! But - she is important to Baby Girl and is obviously a way she can sort out feelings that are in direct conflict with what she thinks she means and how she feels. The world is tough and confusing, even for me and I have lived in it a long time so if Kitty Queen is a necessary evil to help her cope then I’ll allow it! 😽👑 #30facesofautism