Wait and See

The Weeds

Life can be hard and the weeds can be tall. A few thoughts on how to look at weeds in our lives and see the beauty that lies beneath.

Halloween Tips | Autism

Man, halloween can be super stressful, but I'm hoping these few tips and strategies can make the festivities fun! 1.) Let your kiddo choose their outfit and try it out before the night of trick-or-treating. 2.) If your child is easily scared, talk about the scary things and remind them it's not real and you are there to help keep them safe. Also, go when it's light out to help with making it less scary. 3.) Take a picture of your child in their costume in case they get away from you. Also, have them wear some sort of lighting feature or place reflective tape on their costume. 4.) Exchange candy for books, toys or another non-candy reward. 5.) Get to bed at your normal time. This helps to reduce the chances of having a few hard days. I hope this helps make your halloween successful!

Parenting Talk | Respect, Obedience, and Self-Control

Good morning! I wanted to share a few things we are working on in our home. The summer has been hard with some different behaviors popping up, and we have decided to take a step back and focus on three important disciplines: Respect, Obedience and Self-control. I talked about ways we are doing it and the focus is not only on Colten's behavior, but our own! We love the beginner character cards from September and Co. They are a great way to help our kids learn character. You can purchase them HERE [https://septemberandco.com/products/sub-kit-sample?sca_ref=3156668.22uM9SID69]

Episode 17 | Dr. Edward (Ted) Maynard, MD and cCMV advocate

Episode 17 | Dr. Edward (Ted) Maynard, MD June is Congenital Cytomegalovirus (cCMV) Month, and I was so happy Dr. Maynard had time to chat with me about all he and the Colorado cCMV group is doing to bring change and awareness in Colorado and hopefully nationwide. Dr. Maynard recently retired after 25 years in primary care at Iron Horse Pediatrics in Colorado Springs. He earned his MD degree at Harvard Medical School and did his pediatric residency at Boston Children’s Hospital. He has served on the AAP Colorado board for the past 12 years, and currently serves as the Chapter’s President. Ted has been a champion on issues including tobacco control, healthcare finance, and congenital CMV infection. Loving retired life, you can find him hiking, skiing, rock climbing, mountain biking, or doing anything else that involves the outdoors. 1 in 150 children are affected by cCMV, but only 9% of women pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant have heard about CMV. This is devastating because so many children are born asymptomatic and then later in life have health issues and parents are left wondering why. The medical community believes educating women on CMV is burdensome and puts undue stress on the mother. What about the burden and stress on mothers of children born with cCMV? Education is necessary in the medical community as well so the diagnosis of children is not missed. I hope you enjoy this informative interview with Dr. Maynard. If you'd like more information on cCMV and what is happening in Colorado you can click the link below. I'm so grateful for everything the group is doing. Resource: ⁠cCMV information in Colorado⁠ [https://aapcolorado.org/congenital-cmv-infection-resources/] Also, one of the mothers of the group, Megan Nix, wrote a book Remedies for Sorrow [https://a.co/d/ieviNQ9]: An Extraordinary Child, a Secret Kept from Pregnant Women, and a Mother's Pursuit of the Truth. It's a beautifully written book! You can also listen to this short video of her speaking on why she wrote the book: HERE [https://youtu.be/a3UQNceUqyw]

Episode 16 | Ashlynn (Colten's Sister)

Episode 16 | Ashlynn (Colten's Sister) It's sure hard to get a lot of talking out of a 17 year old at 9:30 in the morning, but I hope you enjoy this short interview with Colten's older sister Ashlynn. She is a blessing to him and us. She loves him so well and is such a wonderful advocate for him. Siblings of children with disabilities and special needs carry the load in different ways and there needs to be support for them as well. Their life looks different than they expected and sometimes it can feel like the world revolves around the sibling with the additional needs. Often times they are left disappointed when they have to leave an event or activity early due to their sibling not being able to handle it. It's important as parents that we recognize these things and try to make time to listen and support them well. I also believe it's important to make one-to-one time and schedule events that you can go to without the other sibling. Sometimes that's difficult though due to the difficulty in finding appropriate child care. It's a hard balance sometimes, but it's important to recognize all the dynamics with a household with a child with disabilities or special needs. Photo credit: Carly Mitchell Photography [https://www.carlymitchellphotography.com]