Thank Goodness for Lucky Charms

You know, that cereal with the little dried out marshmallows in it. Without that I don't know what my kids would do for breakfast. Except my daughter, who can put away six fried eggs if you let her. But Mr. Energy refuses to eat anything but cereal and his favorite, you guessed it those dried out marshmallows.

He just climbs into a chair by the table and sits and waits for his bowl. He doesn't talk but I know what is on his mind. And then he sits there, as quiet as he will ever get through the day, munching cold cereal and smiling like a fool. Breakfast is a happy time.

Indoor Play Structures

Indoor play structures are a real life saver when you are looking for an inexpensive outing with the kids.

This is one of our favorites here. We like to take our kids and get them a kids meal, or even just a 99 cent burger or an ice cream and then let them play for a while. This one in particular is really nice because there is also a television where I can kick back and relax for a bit.

Whenever we go to town this is what the kids ask for. I like to think that maybe we are making some happy memories for them. I know that I enjoy this time with the kids as much as anything else I do.

The Merry Go Round

A lot of parks these days no longer have any fun toys for the kids to play on. Mostly you will find a plastic play structure with a broken slide and barkdust covering an old parking lot. Better than nothing, but still not as cool as a merry go round.

All of my kids really love the merry go round, but when I want to calm Mr. Energy down this is where I take him. That's him there in the green hat. He loves to ride the merry go round. He will stay on it for an hour at a time, even if it isn't moving.

But he really loves when it spins just as fast as I can get it spinning. He just stands there and smiles and giggles and laughs. The other kids all eventually get dizzy and threaten to puke if I don't stop it but he just laughs and wants more.

I don't know why he loves it so much, but it makes for an easier afternoon when he gets his merry-go-round fix.

T.V.

Mr. Energy, as I like to refer to my autistic boy really doesn't like to watch television, except for a few movies that he really, really, really likes.

One expert warned us that if we weren't careful he would be much more likely to sit and watch T.V. for hours on end than the rest of our kids. So far this has played out completely the opposite. While the other kids sit glued to a show he will be bouncing from place to place and room to room gladly ignoring the show.

I am still unsure if this is a good thing or not. On the one hand yes I am glad that he will not be turning into a couch potatoe anytime soon. On the other hand it means that I can't just pop in a DVD and go and work on whatever I think I need to work on for a few minutes without worry. Those little parenting breaks are something that I need in order to keep my sanity, but they come only very intermittently with Mr. Energy.

The Moneky Harness

The Monkey Harness is an indispensable tool in our arsenal to keep our kid safe. We actually have another harness which is a puppy, but we like the monkey harness the best.

He wears it on his back like a little backpack, and the tail is a leash. We never really used a harness with our other children, but with little mister energy it is absolutely necessary.

We send him to school everyday with his little harness on so that his older brother can hold onto him and keep him from running off until he is in the safe hands of his teachers.

At stores, most of the time he still rides in the shopping cart, but for those times when he just won't cooperate the monkey is a life saver. He is getting to where he wants to do more things that other children do and this is one way to allow him those experiences without having to worry if he is going to be off down the street in another three seconds.

Learning To Sign

About a year and half ago we started to learn sign language with our boy. In all honesty it didn’t take the first time. In fact it didn’t do anything at all except frustrate us and him. He didn’t understand what we were trying to do and we ended up quitting.

I think that at 3 years old he was just too young. All children develop differently, and that holds true for autistic kids as well.

We tried again about six months ago, and what a miracle. Our little clam has opened up in ways that we never expected. He has gone from not understanding or at least not being able to communicate what he understands to having some semblance of normal communication with his parents and siblings.

We made the plunge and spent over $300 and got the “Signing Time” DVD collection. Now I’m not selling them and I could care less if you run out and buy them or not, but they have literally opened up a whole new world for us.

We have two other children, one nine and one four. All of the children love the videos and as parents we are learning the signs as well. Now our little boy can identify all of the foods he likes, as well as a variety of other activities and objects. It is so much easier to be able to say it is bed time than to have to show him the bed etc.

I know that for us learning sign language has been a huge bonus.

A Day At The Park

My boy just loves the park. He loves to swing and he loves the merry-go-round. He really enjoys the motion and the senstations of freefall.

In a lot of ways he is very fearless (which can be quite dangerous). He has no qualms about jumping off of a spinning merry-go-round.

Oddly enough he doesn't run off as much as he used to, which is very nice because this particular park isn't fenced in. For those of you out there dealing with flight risk children, might I recommend scouting around for parks with fenced in areas. They really are very nice because the kid gets to play without you having to be the virtual fence.