{"id":394,"date":"2015-01-29T11:00:54","date_gmt":"2015-01-29T11:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/twinmommeetsautism.com\/?p=394"},"modified":"2015-01-29T11:00:54","modified_gmt":"2015-01-29T11:00:54","slug":"push-it-push-it-real-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twinmommeetsautism.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/29\/push-it-push-it-real-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Push it &#8211; push it real good"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/twinmommeetsautism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Push-snow-smaller-for-blog-01-29-15.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-395\" alt=\"Push snow smaller for blog 01-29-15\" src=\"http:\/\/twinmommeetsautism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Push-snow-smaller-for-blog-01-29-15.jpg\" width=\"240\" height=\"320\" \/><\/a>\u00a0Snowmageddon 2015 here in New England\u00a0continues, and as\u00a0special needs parents know, it brings change in routines as well as opportunities.\u00a0 Amazingly we weathered the storm better than anticipated, and as always these moments bring aha moments that point the way.<\/p>\n<p>The snowiest, most locked in day went along better than expected, thankfully with our power and heat supply unaffected, and the boys tolerating indoor limited play options\u00a0very well.\u00a0 With &#8220;push&#8221; and &#8220;pull&#8221; concepts among the boys&#8217; speech goals lately, the snows provided a great opportunity to &#8220;push it &#8211; push it real good&#8221; as the silly TV commercial says.\u00a0 I was surprised how well both boys pushed and dumped the extra inch of snow left over after the hubby and I had plowed the first 30 or so inches before nightfall.\u00a0 They worked on\u00a0snow shoveling very briefly last year with a skills trainer.\u00a0\u00a0 Either they remembered well, or maybe it just came naturally.<\/p>\n<p>We also got lucky in that the roads were cleared pretty quickly here, so by noon on Day 2 we were out and about in search of a snowshoe location and a lunch-out treat.\u00a0 Car trips have always been our salvation, so when they&#8217;re not an option, I personally get squirrely.\u00a0 So here on Day 3, when W. doesn&#8217;t have school but J. does, I&#8217;m breathing easier knowing at least we can get out and about.<\/p>\n<p>After I weather a storm of any kind,\u00a0 be it parental, personal or even professional, I find it helpful to step back and assess.\u00a0\u00a0 Snowmageddon showed me yet again the many wonderful things about my guys.\u00a0\u00a0 While their interests are proscribed and limited compared to a typical peer, they have pursuits they love, and a far better ability to roll with change than most profoundly affected autistic individuals &#8211; probably even better than me.\u00a0 We had some magical moments at night where J. in particular rediscovered needlepoint and I was so impressed with the uptick in his visual perceptual abilities to place the needle where it belonged on the next stitch.\u00a0 W. on the other hand, has finally realized that to get what you want, you need WORDS.\u00a0 And a slap on the head to Mom if she is not paying attention, although last night it was actually a stare in the face 2 inches away from me, without the slap.\u00a0 He still struggles to get beyond a repeated &#8220;I want&#8230;&#8230;I want&#8230;..&#8221; verbally, and we still are working on the best prompt to get out of that &#8211; but for us, it&#8217;s progress and I&#8217;ll take it.\u00a0 We all baked too many cookies,\u00a0fired up the crock pot so that the scent of something rich and wonderful wafted through the house all day long,\u00a0and played Uno games and old family fun that makes me smile just thinking about it.<\/p>\n<p>Pushing it here for me has meant driving the clutter out of my life and\u00a0setting work hours and work life so that there&#8217;s actually room for something else.\u00a0\u00a0 Snowstorms have a way of imposing other life priorities, although technology makes it so we can never truly get away.\u00a0 I struck a reasonable balance, better than sometimes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A recent work setback has me grateful for doing this even more.\u00a0\u00a0 While I really love what I do for pay, I&#8217;m crappy at setting limits in a &#8220;jump-how high?&#8221; profession.\u00a0 I so loved being forced, if you will, to hang out with my guys, come up with ideas for a few new speech programs based on their challenges, and marvel at how they are so very patient with their distracted, always waylaid mother. They teach me about consistency and love, more than anyone knows.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m\u00a0visualizing that\u00a0snow shovel photo above and the &#8220;push it&#8221; metaphor\u00a0as I segue into the day&#8217;s work.\u00a0 Clearing the path of the snows in my life was easier than expected this week &#8211; and is setting me up for the next opportunity from tomorrow&#8217;s oncoming\u00a0storm &#8211; literally and symbolically.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0Snowmageddon 2015 here in New England\u00a0continues, and as\u00a0special needs parents know, it brings change in routines as well as opportunities.\u00a0 Amazingly we weathered the storm better than anticipated, and as always these moments bring aha moments that point the way. The snowiest, most locked in day went along better than expected, thankfully with our power [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twinmommeetsautism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twinmommeetsautism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twinmommeetsautism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twinmommeetsautism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twinmommeetsautism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/twinmommeetsautism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twinmommeetsautism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twinmommeetsautism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twinmommeetsautism.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}