The good days

The good days seem fewer and farther between than I imagine they should be; but they are there. They're the rays of sunshine on your face after a particularly bad downpour. They're definitely much needed, a reminder that all the work, all the stress and the tears and the fear that we experience as autism parents, it's worth it. Every single second of it, though sometimes it feels like torture for us and for our children.

No one around here has been feeling the greatest. I ended up at the emergency room over the weekend because I was dehydrated and it had turned into splitting pain in my head. They gave me some anti-nausea meds and 2 litres of fluids and sent me on my way. The twins and Pricklypants didn't have it that bad, but they were all still not feeling the greatest. I kept Gage home from school to give him an extra day to get back to his usual overactive self, apparently that's how the school likes him.

So when today was one of those good days, it was a pleasant surprise. A much-needed bit of warmth to ward off the doldrums of a couple of chilly, sickly fall days.

First off, the twins slept all night, until 7 a.m. I didn't sleep well, but I wasn't upset about it, even though I knew a nap was unlikely, with keeping Gage home, because it meant that they slept well, and were hopefully feeling better.

We got up, the boys ate breakfast, then I threw together Gamble's lunch, got him ready and off to school.

Came home and had some cuddles with Gage, worked on ABC's and played a couple of games on the iPad. I left him to watch a cartoon while I did some things (mostly Facebook, let's be real - there was some laundry, but not much else). Then it was lunch time, so we shared some ravioli and a PB&J. Got cleaned up, more cuddles - it was a dreary, gray rainy day here, what better than cuddles and cartoons for a sick day? (It was supposed to be the twins' make-up field trip day...I'm not looking forward to when we actually get to take that field trip.)

And then, of all things unexpected, Gage got on the couch with me, and took a nap. I may have caught a catnap before I got up and went to get his brother from school.

Get to the school and Gamble's Mr. Bigman with his glasses on for 45 minutes, no fuss!

So he wears his glasses out to the car, to the grocery, through the grocery while he pushes the little cart (with lots of assistance, but it was his first try!) - he did so awesome, I was one proud mama!

He finally took his glasses off on the ride from the store to home, but when we pulled into our driveway I put them back on, massaged his hands and got him out of the car...he lasted another 15 minutes at home, but took them off while I was cooking dinner, and has refused to let me put them back on (maybe because when I tried after dinner, Gage walked up to him, gave him a head tilt like 'wtf?' and walked away...). But he still did great today!

It's been low-key, but those small successes, and the one-on-one time with Gage all day and Gamble at the grocery, made this a great day. In autism life, it's the little things.