Wonder

Alysia K. Butler trydefyinggravity.wordpress.com Last week was special in our house. Last week, my son turned five. So many of my posts are filled with how difficult life is for him.  How his autism and sensory processing disorder cause everyday activities to be so challenging. Not today. While I had a corn-free cake cooking in the oven, I wrote down all the amazing things about my son.  What makes him a rock star.  And what makes me proud to be his mom. He has the most amazing giant brown eyes, and when he looks at you, you get lost in them. His passion for Hot Wheels cars is unmatched.  He knows every single one that we have in the house.  We have a lot. His memory is impeccable.  Ask him what rides we did at Storyland last summer and he’ll tell you them all and where they are in the…

Rainy Days and Mondays

Alysia K. Butler trydefyinggravity.wordpress.com We had our first snow of the season this morning. When the kids saw it out the window they were beyond excited. I went out to warm up the car and brought in a giant snowball so they could all touch it. That started the mad dash around the house for the winter stuff. Luckily I’m disorganized enough that most of our winter coats, boots, hats and gloves were still out from last winter, so they were easy to find. However, being that disorganized also means that I have no idea what fits anymore. Howie was clamoring to go outside and play in the snow. Maybe clamoring isn’t the right word. Demanding? Insisting? Perseverating? It was 8:30 AM and I realized that Howie wasn’t yet dressed for school. We need to be out the door by 8:35 to get to school on time. I pulled him…

Lean on Me

Alysia K. Butler trydefyinggravity.wordpress.com One night two months ago I spent some time in the company of some amazing women. All mothers, all with school age kids under the age of ten, all of whom “get it.” Earlier this year, a friend and I had the idea to start a small support group, to gather mothers or fathers of kids on the spectrum. With the help of our school district, we reached out to parents to see if anyone wanted to meet, just to talk. Our first meeting was so nice that we decided to meet again. And that night two monhts ago, our group expanded. Friends brought friends who had kids on IEPs. Friends brought friends who had kids with diagnoses but couldn’t get IEPs. And as the sangria and wine and spinach dip flowed, we sat and just talked. Some of us were meeting for the first time.…