We tried doing this activity with him the other day and it ended in a huge melt down. It went wonderful yesterday and he was interacting with his sister.

Hello, and welcome to my blog. My name is Charlene and I am 31 years old. I love photography and started this blog to write about my journey into another world. I am a single mom of four wonderful sarcastic monsters children.

 Krystal is a twelve year old girl who can sing like an angel. Jocelyn is a seven year old girl who is very smart but sassy. Jacob is six and loves Mario. Lastly Charles who is a four year old boy that has changed my entire world. You see, after having three children, I thought  was well prepared when I had my fourth. Hold them, rock them, play with them, teach them, love them, change their diapers. That covers the baby stuff right? Nope!!!!

What if your baby doesn't like to be held, doesn't coo, hates diapers, and the only thing you can do right is feed them? I was so lost. My son Charles has Autism Spectrum Disorder. He never cooed or wanted to be touched. There was no connection, and as he got older he just wasn't meeting his milestones. He didn't walk tll after he turned two and didn't speak until he was three(even then you couldn't understand him). So much for being prepared eh?
Image by Frozen in Time Photographers via Flickr
I felt as if the whole planet had tilted and I dropped off into orbit for a while until I finally landed on a planet we call Autism. This has been a rough road and not just for me but for everyone involved in my life. Family that can't seem to wrap their heads around the idea. It is hard to connect with a child that seems to have no motivation to connect with you. It just takes more effort though. He is an amazing young man but our days are long and don't forget there are three other children involved.

This has been a big adjustment for them too. We used to be able to have big family gathering and go all sorts of places but now these things are limited. They have to tolerate the screaming for hours that I myself have a hard time dealing with. I invite you to join me and my children on our exciting, odd, enlightening trip on the planet Autism. We welcome you into our world.

TSo, We did it!!  We survived the whole day and I am alive, with hair!!! Charlie really tried to sit at the table tonight to eat but well, that did not work. So I had him sit away from the other children,but with me!! He loved the sweet potatoes and stuffing. He only ate a little turkey. It was a big step though. He tried the corn but says he doesn't like it anymore. I don't understand it, but maybe it is a texture thing. It went pretty good. I wanted to start by sharing the video of my children and what they were thankful for. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.


There were a couple spills and a lot of craziness but I chose not to have any family over because it always seems to overwhelm my son. The other kids were a little disappointed but I am sure they appreciated not having food fly or shrieking shrills through the house. It just gets pretty crazy. I do feel guilty at times for the other children but I think that is better than them dealing with the behavior that follows over stimulation.

All of the children seemed to be very content and happy. I mean we had our fights over Mario Brothers and who was gonna be first, but that is normal. Then we had a couple melts over little issues that were easily resolved and then well.... Then we had the topper of the evening.

Charlie and Jacob had decided to carry moon sand from one room to another and had it everywhere. What a mess but I cleaned it up and Charlie and Jocelyn helped me too. It wasn't that bad. So... looking at my day this year and remembering my day last year, ummm... I think we had an extraordinarily Thanksgiving. So, What do I have to be thankful for?

If I had been asked this question about a week ago, I would have laughed. Thankful, yeah right!! But looking at my children today and hearing the laughter in their voices made me think about this. I asked my children at mealtime as we do every year. My daughter said she was thankful for me and that just made my day. While I do have my bad days it is days like this that make it all come together. Days like this that make me remember why I accept the title Mom. Looking at my children and knowing I do have a lot to be thankful for.

I am thankful for lasting through each day, sometimes I don't feel as if the end will come. I am thankful that my youngest son is who he is. That might confuse some but I don't want a cure for his autism. I want people to accept him for who he is. He wouldn't be him without his quirks. I am thankful to have two wonderful little girls. They are complete opposites so I get the best of both worlds. Although both of them are moody as hell and have a nasty attitude when they get upset. I am thankful for my son Jacob because he makes me see the sensitive side to life and his sweet eyes lighten my heart when I feel like everything is crazy. Lastly I am thankful my sisters, those whom I recently came in contact with again as well as all the others. It was my first Thanksgiving that I said Happy Thanksgiving to my sister in over 6 years. It was definitely a great feeling. It is nice to have family and friends who will stick by me no matter what I am going through. Thank you to all who have helped me and those who continue to help me jump over the hurdles of motherhood and life. Motherhood is not easy but it is wonderful to have people supporting me on my journey on another planet.

Today was a busy and exhausting day. Typically I spend my days with about 4 hours filled with screaming, crying or tantrums. Today we hit an all time high of about 7 hours of insanity. When you have a special needs child, of any disability, it puts a strain on all the people in the household. The other's involved most often feel as if they never have your attention or time. This can be heartbreaking and also trying. You see I have tried to give my oldest daughter some individualized time and while she loves it when it is occurring, the novelty dies quickly. What I mean is that even after spending an hour with Krystal on her skateboard she still felt compelled to interrupt when Charles needed some sensory input. This made the situation 10 times worse as then not only was he upset but he started getting physical with Krystal. While I know that I need to be stern and have consequences for his behavior I also know that she tends to egg him on and tease. If she sees he is getting upset with what she is doing rather then try to prevent it from escalating she continues. I know what you are thinking, She just twelve and maybe she doesn't understand. But, she does and we do talk and I allow her to be helpful although there are times when he needs his space. I feel that she should respect that. I guess I probably sound like a completely frazzled mom who doesn't know how to parent and trust me I do feel that way sometimes. But, as much as she is learning so am I. I guess I just have to admit that I am only human and I do seem to be less patient at times with her than I am my youngest. Beyond that situation my son decided that he didn't want to leave the house. I had set the timer gave him a warning about us leaving, tried to help him get prepared and to no avail he was not thrilled about it or ready. He was kicking crying and spitting on the floor. The spitting is a new behavior and I told him it was totally unacceptable. I cleaned up his mess, coaxed him to pick a few toys to bring and scampered out the door. The rest of the evening was pretty smooth aside from him running towards the lights(traffic lights that is!!!). What a scare. Well, bedtime went smooth so smooth in fact that I fell asleep with Charles at around 8 pm.