New blog, First post. A little about our journey through Asperger's.

     I've spent the better part of the last month mulling over what I could do with my spare time this summer, but I want what I do to matter, at least to me.  I've thought for sometime that I wanted to write a blog about my life and all it entails, but really, where do you start?  I am honest with myself that maybe no one will read it, but maybe, just maybe, at least one person will come across this and be inspired or be able to relate to it.  Really, that's all I can hope for.

     Now how about that starting point?  I'm a mom of two boys, Ryker is 5 and Cayden is 9.  I'm a full time college student and a wife.  But let's rewind a bit for some insight to how we got here today.  

     I had Cayden when I was 21 years old.  From the moment he was born we knew he was going to be different.  Not like weird different, but in that fascinating, intriguing, he's going to change the world some day, kind of way.  He was walking by 8 months, talking in full sentences by his first birthday, and escaping from all kinds of boundaries by 18 months.   By the time he was two, I began questioning his pediatrician about things that just seemed odd. He was obsessive about the way things had to be, each person had to drive their own car or he would get confused and upset.  Example, Nana couldn't drive Mom's car. And change, well, change was never an easy thing to deal with.  I was told he was fine and I needed to be more consistent.  Ha! Me? More consistent? I couldn't have been more consistent if someone forced me too.   By the time he was three I found myself traveling over 100 miles to a specialist for a second opinion, which turned to third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and finally our seventh.  We went through a lot of channels, good and bad psychiatrists (a long story for another day), tons of money, and even more time, to finally get the diagnosis that made sense.  Congratulations, your child has Aspergers! It was like a light bulb came on and everything suddenly made sense.  It was almost like a rush of relief, I wasn't crazy and neither was he.  It wasn't scary any more, it just was.

     The road here wasn't an easy one.  Any change to routine causes turmoil, for instance a substitute teacher instead of his regular teacher, the beginning of Summer or Spring breaks, moving, any disruption of our daily routine.  The constant bullying my son endures because he lacks social skills are ongoing, but that's getting better.  We made an inconvenient move about 30 minutes from where my husband works and I go to school because we fell in love with the school district here.  The ENTIRE school has been so patient and so willing to help him, even though it feels more than they bargained for at times.  

     Because of the lack of social skills, Cayden doesn't have any friends.  We have found though, that he gets along well with kids a few years younger than himself.  So the school set up a "tutoring" program for him.  Once a week or so, he would go into the first grade class room and help the kids with flash cards and such.  Boy did we see a big boost in his confidence.  There's still a few boys in his regular class that are just relentless and seemingly hell bent on making his life harder than it has to be.  Part of the problem is, Cayden doesn't see through the sarcasm and set ups from his peers.  He blurts things out without thinking and comes unglued if the other kids aren't following the rules.  The combination isn't exactly the best for making and maintaining friends.  

   All that aside, he's so bright and inquisitive.  His memory is astounding and extremely long spanned.    Which is frustrating and wonderful at the same time.   

    So now that you know a bit about us, come back and read again....It's bound to get interesting....