Thankful that we survived
We had what passes for a good Thanksgiving. For us that means that we managed to contain son Tom without losing our minds, long enough to get dinner appropriately on the table. We even managed to get him out for a walk between dinner and dessert; he had tried to get in the car, and the group home was not ready to have him back yet.
Tom is autistic. He is almost 22. He is six feet tall. He has little functional language; "I want potatoes please" is a very good effort on his part. He has an incessant desire to eat, whether or not he has just eaten, and few other ways to amuse himself. He needs everything his own way, all the time.
We usually see him once a week to go out to dinner, and that usually works very well, because it is a routine. But, having him in our home is exhausting.
Last year he got up at 3:00 AM and would not go back to bed. We are thinking of doing Christmas Eve without him, and getting him in the morning for breakfast. I feel horrible about it, but it's been years since Thanksgiving or Christmas was anything but an ordeal for us.
Some of the guys at his group home went over to a sister home for Thanksgiving. Maybe next year Tom will go with them...
Tom is autistic. He is almost 22. He is six feet tall. He has little functional language; "I want potatoes please" is a very good effort on his part. He has an incessant desire to eat, whether or not he has just eaten, and few other ways to amuse himself. He needs everything his own way, all the time.
We usually see him once a week to go out to dinner, and that usually works very well, because it is a routine. But, having him in our home is exhausting.
Last year he got up at 3:00 AM and would not go back to bed. We are thinking of doing Christmas Eve without him, and getting him in the morning for breakfast. I feel horrible about it, but it's been years since Thanksgiving or Christmas was anything but an ordeal for us.
Some of the guys at his group home went over to a sister home for Thanksgiving. Maybe next year Tom will go with them...