autismdadinthe603

I have been in a writing rut. I received an email informing me that I’m closing on one year of writing my blog. This was a kind reminder that I owe them money to retain my site. However, it made me read through all of my posts and made me question what direction I was going in. I’m talking two weeks of reviewing my own material.

I have spent nearly a year looking back into the past. I relived many moments of heartache and triumph. I thumbed through thousands of pictures in attempt to jog or jumpstart my memory. This is has helped me process years of being an autism dad. I have been honest, raw, and hopefully pure.

One thing I have learned this year is to focus on the now. The past has been written and the Sawyer of even a week ago is not the same. Understanding this has taken time. He isn’t 3,4, or 5 anymore.

He is a near 7 year old who is in first grade. With being this age, I tend to forget the small things that are truly big.

He was wiggling his first official loose tooth just about 2 weeks ago. He talked about it, hyper focused over it, and refused to let us take it out even though it was ready.

His face lit up with the idea of the Tooth Fairy coming to get his tooth though. In his words, “The Tooth Fairy will bring me something special.” This line was almost on a loop. You see, Autism and a new discovery can be a gift or quite possibly the most exhausting aspect of ones day.

We have had a bunch of conversations about the Tooth Fairy. Such as when she or he will come? Why it’s a he or she? What will he or she bring? Where will my tooth come out? Will it be scary? You name the question, Sawyer has asked it! Even Alex Trebek from Jeopardy would turn off Sawyer’s buzzer!

Two weeks down and Sawyer and I are out walking Oscar. Here is a snippet of our conversation as we walked back home.

“Daddy, I lost my tooth at school,” said Sawyer.

“Sawyer, let me see,”I yelled!

“No, I will show you when we get home. I will show you then Mommy. After that, the Tooth Fairy will bring me something special, he said.

So there we have it, my rut in writing was saved. The Tooth Fairy has come to the 603 and made me excited about the present rather than always reaching into the past.