Eye Contact
Looking back, I now realise that from a very young age, Aidan was more focused on household objects, toys, and on what he was doing, than on people. I can’t ever remember him gazing up at me and studying my face, like most newborn babies do. I have a bajillion pictures of him from birth […]
Bubbles!
Without doubt, one of Aidan’s favourite things in the whole world is… BUBBLES! From a young age he has been utterly captivated by them. He loves watching them take form on the wand, he is breathless with anticipation as they take flight, he is delighted by the way the breeze catches them and sends them […]
The Leviathan
As early as 65 B.C., the Roman poet Horace, wrote about the “Black Dog” of depression. And the image of a sullen black dog, shadowing your every move is an extremely vivid one that many depression sufferers can relate to. Winston Churchill found the description so apt, that he later adopted it himself. Though he […]
Tossing & Turning
If you’re the parent of a newly-diagnosed child, the “who’s”, “how’s”, and what ifs” will definitely be keeping you up at night. A million questions churn through our minds as we contemplate a different life than the one we expected. It takes time and processing for us to realise that while our parenting journey may […]
Beware the Bullshit
When you become a special needs parent, many things don’t make sense to you until you begin to realise what your unique trajectory is. Your baby isn’t having expected responses to certain things, or isn’t feeding happily, or sleeping well. And as time passes, you begin to pick up that they’re not hitting milestones as […]
Sisyphus
The Greek myth goes that Sisyphus was condemned by Zeus to roll a massive boulder up a hill, only to have it roll to the bottom again once he got it to the top. Sisyphus had angered the gods with his hubris, cheating death, and causing a big kerfuffle. But it’s not his crime I […]
Throw Out the Baby Book
I almost named my website, “That’s Not What I Ordered”, because that’s what ran through my mind when I became a new mom! Just a giggle really, but true nonetheless. A close friend of mine had had a super low-maintenance baby girl, who was sleeping fully through the night by her fourth week, three weeks […]
Not Special
I don’t believe autism is a gift or a curse. It just… is what it is. I believe it’s genetic and not as random as some might suppose. But I also believe that despite that, it’s still a roll of the dice at the time of conception. Many families are made up of both neurotypical […]
Correct Terminology
Before you become an autism parent, you have no idea how much words matter. Learning and using correct terminology is so important, not just for parents but for your extended family and friends as well. A throwaway comment can sting and stay with you for a lot longer than anyone may realise. But it can […]
Silent Reflux
Aidan’s earliest symptom of silent reflux, was evident on the day we got home from Life Kingsbury Hospital. He was three days old. I had popped him down in his brand new bassinet and my brother-in-law observed that he had hiccups. In new-mom-mode, I looked up whether or not that was normal and it didn’t […]