A typical up and down weekend

This weekend with Liam on his new dosage he has been much the same. He continues to have periods of high anxiety, worry, and have fits. This pattern repeats itself over and over each day. Some days are worse than others. Saturday was a good day for Liam. We went to Seamus’ soccer game where he was very good and enjoyed himself. After the game, we were invited to see a friend play in a Gaelic football tournament. Jill had to work so it would be me alone with the 4 boys. I knew there would be other kids for the boys to play with, but as always, what Liam would do there. We got there and started watching 2 games that were in progress and Seamus decided to go play with some of the kids. Liam in turn wanted to go. Since I could see where they were I felt comfortable, plus we were not near anything that could pose a danger. All the boys played a while and then came over to watch the game we came to see. They all had juice boxes and snacked on pretzels while the game was played. We watched St. Jarlath’s team win its third game in a row. Once that game was over we had to head to the Irish Heritage club where the rest of the teams were to finish the tournament. The boys were still doing great despite being out in the sun for a few hours already. We watched a couple more games before St. Jarlath’s played again. Liam was tired and wanted to take a nap, so I laid a blanket out for him in the shade. He slept for about a ½ hour. He woke up and wanted to go see Brad and Ryan. We were to go over my cousin Mike’s house for a cookout and Liam remembered it. I told we were going to stay and watch the rest of the games and Liam got upset. He wanted to see Brad and Ryan. Liam was simply reacting to the schedule I told him we would have earlier in the day. He was quite upset up until the time we got in the van to leave. Once in the van and on our way he became happy and was excited to see Brad and Ryan. After we stayed for a while it was getting close to bed time and the boys were tired from being out in the sun most of the day and running around. We went home, they bathed, and were quickly asleep.

Seamus’ soccer game was another huge success for him. He scored 7 goals and played great at goalie. Seamus even scored 1 goal kicking with his left foot. This was something his coach and I had been telling him to do for several games now. Seamus continues to have an excellent season and Jill and I are both so proud.

Sunday we took all the boys to Petiti Garden center to look for flowers outside the house. It was quite and adventure. Aidan, Brendan, and Liam, all acted like the 2 and 3 year olds they are. They couldn’t sit still and wanted to just run around. Once we got what we wanted, I took them out to the van where Liam fell asleep quickly.

When we got home we made dinner and Liam had fits a few times because he wanted to do things that we would not let him do. Once dinner was through Jill had to run to the store get a few things. Liam had a fit because Jill did not take him. Liam was crying at the front window where I could see him picking at his gums as he cried. I had to hold him for a few minutes and talk to him to get him to stop. He would not settle down so I had to let go for about 15 minutes when it ended. Liam came out of it and started playing with his brothers before bath time. I had the boys all bathed and in bed by 8:30. They had a busy weekend and were all exhausted. Liam fell asleep without taking his nightly dosage. We’ll see how Monday goes!

Sunday, CNN had a special on about Autism. It was a documentary by Susan Rubin who is an adult with Autism. Her verbal skills were not very good so she had to use a hand held device that said her words. There were so many parallels with Liam that we saw. Her parents spoke of the same challenges every day that Jill and I face. It was quite moving to hear and see someone else talking about the same things we go through every day. It is a further reminder that Autism is something Liam, us, and his brothers are going to deal with every day for the rest of our lives. Looking into the future it looks like such a difficult challenge. So many questions remain about the future. Like, when we die, will Liam be able to care for himself, will he need to live in an assisted living home, or will he have to live with one of his brothers. It’s a scary thought. Jill and I are doing our best to help Liam now and prepare him for the future. Are we doing the right things? Are we doing enough? What else could we do? I am not sure if we will ever know for sure, all we can do is hope. Hope, it seems like that’s all there ever is.