It seems that three years old is the Age of Holidays for Cordy. Before this time, each holiday was nothing more than a disruption to her schedule, followed by a crush of relatives she saw once every few weeks or less. No big deal for a typical kid, but Cordy's autism guaranteed that any holiday was generally an unpleasant experience. Presents did little to comfort her during these times, too. I had to be the one to open all of her presents, as the sensory overload of the entire experience sent her into shrieking fits, running away from the crowd.

Now, though, with her progress in therapy and a healthy dose of simply getting older and maturing, she's starting to like holidays. Halloween was a lot of fun for her. Christmas was a little more difficult, but I think part of the stress was due to being sick. Valentine's Day is still talked about lovingly here, with the occasional "Happy… Read More

It would seem that the mega-virus of the year has descended on our household. It started innocently enough over a week ago, when Cordy had a little cough. Most of her class had been sick, and while I knew kids share germs more than they share anything else, I still held out hope that maybe my preschool daughter wasn't as popular as I thought she was, and therefore had not been touched or breathed on by her classmates. No luck.

Soon… Read More

I love St. Patrick's Day. I've already got my round loaf of Irish soda bread ready to eat, along with the corned beef and cabbage. Yum - comfort food at its best.

The girls each have their St. Patrick's Day outfits picked out and ready to go, too. Mira will be wearing the dress that I sewed for Cordy three years ago. I'd like to make a dress for Cordy this year, but time is preventing that, so she'll have to… Read More

This weekend my husband and I celebrated our five-year wedding anniversary. We had a grand weekend planned, involving one night at an indoor waterpark resort, followed by a party with friends the next night. Best of all - no kids. It was the first time since Mira was born that I would be able to spend a night childfree and sleep until I felt like waking up.

So you can imagine my panic when the snow started coming down heavy on… Read More

I was in charge of putting Cordy to bed tonight. She has a set routine that she follows nearly every night. First, she picks out a few toys to take up to her bedroom (a few will come back down with her in the morning), often asking me to hold one or two. Then we slowly go up the stairs and she turns on all of the switches in her room: the overhead light, the nightlight, and the ceiling fan.… Read More

Last week we met with Cordy's preschool teachers for the standard parent-teacher conference. They told us they were so impressed with the progress she has made at school, and beamed about what a different child she is now. She is responding to her therapy and coping better than ever. Where she used to have three or four major meltdowns a week, she now has one or two a month, at most.

We've noticed the changes as well. We had a very… Read More