19 April 2017

Autism Awareness - #YourJourneyMyBlog - Life In HD

The month of April is best known for the explosion of Easter Bunnies, obscene amounts of chocolate as gifts for children and a magnificent feast to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. To many people April is Easter, They plan, they organise, many months in advance sometimes, Children have the time of their lives, gorging on chocolate, receiving gifts from extended family members, but to me, April is Autism Awareness month.

So to celebrate this, I am going to dedicate my blog for a whole month to families who wish to share their Autism Journey with you. Some of these people have autism themselves, some are autistic parents to autistic children. We have teachers with autistic students and even Bloggers who want share their journey with me, which I am very grateful for.

Life in HD | To Aufinity and Beyond

Sonny is just 5 years old. He is my middle of three young boys, beautiful, kind hearted and caring. He's dainty and adorably uncoordinated with a mop of fine blonde hair and eyes big and blue enough to make anyone fall hopelessly in love.

He is empathetic and my gosh is he clever, but from an early age Sonny struggled.

Sonny when teeny tiny, was a happy little thing, sociable and bubbly. All was seemingly well. Things began to change and as time went on meaning everyday activities became impossible. Life as we knew it now, wasn't the same as it once was. We avoided places we loved to visit and stopped doing many of the activities previously enjoyed as a family.

I became a little withdrawn in myself.

With every public meltdown I worked tirelessly to diffuse, I could feel the gap between my friends and their children widening world-width-apart. It was then it dawned on me we didn't do ordinary very well.

My son is sensory sensitive amongst other additional needs and finds the world an overwhelming place to be. Understanding and accepting ASD was just the starting point for us to move forward together as a family.

We are just beginning our Autism journey, still awaiting his formal diagnosis appointment. I started blogging our experiences and what we get up to just 5 months ago and have been welcomed so warmly into a community of like minded people.

I don't feel lonely anymore.

I feel empowered and passionate.

And while every aspect of our life is considered intense to most, I've come to love it that way. It's okay that we don't do 'ordinary' particularly well because we do extraordinary exceptionally well.

We move a little more clumsier and can often act a bit riskier. We can play a little rougher but as a family we are much closer.

We squeeze a little longer and have things we're pretty fond of. We shout a little louder and cheer a little prouder.

Since the pieces of our life have fallen into place, all is so much clearer.