The answer should be yes. Not "how can I get my loved one help?"

Category Archives: asking for help

Dad, I killed the car!

Another day done. For the most part, I would call this day a success.

My girls, who have both been licensed to drive for less than 6 months killed the car tonight. They thought that they were in trouble, because it wouldn’t start… They walked home, then we went and got it after mom got home. A simple jump start cured it. Probably a weak alternator belt isn’t allowing enough juice to be generated, coupled with someone not shutting the door all the way and an interior light blinking occasionally. No big deal. And even so, if they had wrecked it or something, a car can be replaced.

Lined up another IEP meeting for our oldest boy. Next week unless something shakes loose in the schedule this week. Tomorrow, our youngest son and I are going into the city for a psych consult. Hopefully he can get back on the med that they took him off, clorazil.

Overall, the few times that our youngest was misbehaving aren’t worth noting. There has to be a point where some of his beavior is just because he is the baby in the family and acting as a 10 year old boy. Life is good.

That reminds me, I need to follow-up with the people regarding Respite care for our youngest. That will help alleviate some stresses in our family.

This weekend I am in Bismarck for a class, and he will get to spend a couple of hours with his mentor, and then his Aunt.

Waiting on a call from Department of Public Instruction regarding the facilitated IEP request that we made.  More tomorrow. 🙂 Cheers!

Day 9 ~ A long night, a short day, exhausted

David, our youngest was up and down most of the night with his cough.  Poor guy sounds like he is going to cough up a lung or something.  So I spent the night monitoring him to make sure he was ok.  Long night.  His breathing finally calmed around 5 am so I got to sleep a bit.

You forget how quickly 6:30 comes until the wife turns on the light so she can get dressed for work.  So I was up and about, got all of the kids off to school this morning, and then laid on the couch.  David woke up briefly, long enough to eat something so that he could take his morning pills, and some cough medicine.  Then he sacked out again.  So I snoozed as long as he was snoozing.  Had to lay some noise traps around his bed so that I would wake if he did.  (he can be sneaky, if he thinks he can get away with something, he will try.)

Four hours later, I am up and about, feeling more rested.  Coffee in one hand, shame it’s decaf, and a diet coke in the other.  Bring on the day!!!

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Completed the paperwork for requesting a Facilitated IEP.  We will see how that goes.

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I am thinking about writing an article about auto-immune disorders and how they affect men with special needs kids.  So if you have an auto-immune disorder, and you have special needs kids, and are willing to answer a few questions, please let me know.  You can send me your information through the contact us page.

Day 6 ~ Repast, a question, and a comment on the day

Evening of Day 6.

We had our evening meal, which was, pork with a creamy tomato stroganoff over egg noodles. I liked it, as did most of the family.

Our youngest, David, took one look at it and said “I don’t like chicken.”

“Never made this dish before, and it isn’t chicken.  Taste it, ” was my response.

In the end, he didn’t eat anything except noodles.  How can we get him to not force himself to gag every time we try a new dish?  He isn’t lactose intolerant, and doesn’t have any food allergies that we know of.  But, put something in front of him that he doesn’t even want to try; you can feed it to him, and he still won’t eat it.

Keep in mind, he has facets of Autism, OCD, ODD, severe ADHD, pediatric bi-polar and conduct disorder.

The rest of the day has been a conglomeration of negotiations and refusals.  I am working on following the 1-2-3 Magic doctrine of discipline. One thing to be clear of is, we do not do “Power Struggles”  we don’t practice a battle of wills.  It is counter-productive with David.  He can be obstinate enough to never give in, and will make himself physically ill in the process.

Don’t get me wrong, he is a joy to have back at home.  All be it, a frustrating joy at times, but a joy none the less.  On a positive note, we gave him a chore to complete, and he did it without complaint.  His job was to sweep the stairs using a hand broom, which he seemed to enjoy doing.  So tomorrow will find another “little chore” for him to do, and we will try that everyday to see how he responds.  We aren’t looking for a permanent slave.  But if chores are a way to reward him for positive behaviour or with positive attention, then that is what we need to do.