School Holidays

20/2/14


So, it's been a while. I didn't forget, I've just been running out of time. I usually try to blog whilst Luke is in bed, but just recently he's either been going to bed late because he's been having quite a few bad nights, or I've been that tired that I've been following him to the land of nod shortly after him.


This week is half term, and Luke has been particularly difficult, because he's not in his usual routine. He loves nursery, and having time off for any reason really messes him up. He's hard to entertain at the best of times due to his short attention span, but when he's at home all day he really hates it. There's only so much you can do to entertain him. The weather has been pretty awful too, mainly rainy and windy, so unfortunately I haven't been able to take him to the park.


School holidays are usually quite difficult for Luke, and subsequently for me also. The summer holidays aren't too bad, after a week or two he sort forgets that he's supposed to be at nursery and calms down pretty quickly, gets into a new routine. The half terms and the two weeks at Christmas and Easter are a problem for Luke though, just as he's settling into a new routine it's time to go back to nursery. Holidays are difficult for every family, trying to juggle child care and activities and such like, but with an autistic child is so much more than that.


I don't recall if I've mentioned routines before, but they are a huge part of our lives. Not so much with set times, but in terms of first we're doing this and then that, and then... so on, so forth. Everything has to be structured to a certain extent. People coming and going also disrupts him, people pop up into our lives for a few weeks and then disappear, it's not fair to either of us.


People think I'm rude when I say things like that, but at the end of the day Luke is my main priority, and if you can't make time for us on a regular basis, then I'm sorry but I don't have room for you in our lives. Not only is a nightmare whilst people are there, he is the same for hours after you've gone. It doesn't stop as soon as you walk out of the door.




My boy is a genius. I know a lot of you will have preconceived ideas of what Autism is. Some will have heard of Asperger's Autism and some will only see the worst end of the scale. I'm truly lucky to be roughly in the middle.
Asperger's Autism includes the likes of Einstein, Temple Grandin (a very interesting woman who changed the way most of the world treat cattle), Mozart and even Bill Gates. It is said that every person who ever did anything that changed the world has Asperger's Autism. Aspie's are super clever. I don't mean necessarily they're are academically exceptional but in one particular field they will know everything there is to know. At the other end of the scale there are people (both children and adults) who can barely function properly. They usually have another illness or disability along side it, but it's still really sad.
But, back to Luke. I'm not saying this just because he's my baby, he really is super clever. He can hoover, he can work the washing machine and tumble dryer, he can load the dishwasher, he can feed the dog... All the things that 4 year olds can't necessarily do, Luke seems to be able to do. The usual things like dressing himself, eating a full meal without having to be prompted to take every mouthful, he's not so good at. Generally, he only has to be shown something once and he can do it. He hovered my front room for me today - it'll need doing again because it wasn't done properly, but at least he tried.


We're ok ish at the minute. We're having more difficulties with him being off nursery, but we're also having a lot more fun and achievements at home too.


Be grateful for what each of you have, don't dwell on what you don't :)