Thanksgiving from a Colby Point of View

For many American's, Thanksgiving is their favorite holiday, but I thinks Thanksgiving is terrible. To me, Thanksgiving is the worst holiday of the year. Mom spends all day cooking, and it is nothing I will eat. I have to wait until the turkey and the ham are done before Mom can cook my french fries. Some of my favorite people come over (like Uncky Ed), but instead of doing what I wants to do, they yell at the TV. That actually rattles my nerves slightly...I know they are mad, but are they mad at me? I want to hang out with everyone, but with all the different conversations going on, I can't keep up.

Ok Good, my french fries are finally done. I think I will go to my room and watch TV.  

I hope you all have a

Chocolate, Tea , a Shrink...

...Or maybe just a GOOD STIFF DRINK??? 

Like this Pisco Sour???

. 

Actually, they all sound good right now, but since I have no pisco to make any pisco sour (and I am refusing to buy any until Thanksgiving), and I do not have any chocolate (besides baking cocoa), and I do not have time to see 'SOMEONE', I guess tea it is. 

Our Idea of a Decent Day

Our Idea of a decent day is not that of a normal family. Most families think a 9 year waking them up multiple times a night and getting up for good at 4 am a BAD thing!  Most family consider tantrums VERY BAD!  Most families considering hitting, kicking, screaming, biting, pulling hair, and talking back, all REALLY VERY BAD!  We consider all of this bad as well, but we have to look at it relatively.

Did Colby go back to sleep?  Was there a reason he woke up (he is terrified of thunderstorms)?  Was Colby angry?  Why was he angry?  Did one of his siblings do something to him (they have been known to do something they are not supposed to do)?  How many times did he lash out?  Why did he lash out?  How long did the tantrum last?  Was he playing or was he trying to harm (he does not know his own strength)?

Our idea of a decent day is:
Waking up only once in the middle of the night, and I (mom) do not mind the 4 am wake up call.
A tantrum lasting less than 20 minutes is good too.
Hitting (kicking, biting, etc.) a family member only once.


Our typical day is not at all typical, but life is never boring!

My BFC (Best Friend Colby) By Patrick

The outsiders view of Colby:


Since everyone else is writing a blog about our monkey-doodle, I thought I would say some things about him as well.


As some of you know, I came into Meliah's life late and to Colby's even later.  Although Meliah, as any parent should, had reluctance at the idea of me meeting Colby (when she and I were still dating), she eventually relented.  I remember my first meeting with Colby; a sweet kid, who loved McDonalds.  That is where we first went to meet...the McDonald's on Charlotte.


From there, Colby and I became inseparable.  I don't know what it was, but that little guy changed my life and my relationship with Meliah.  I loved Colby as my own and I still do.  He is my other son and he calls me Dad.  Don't get me wrong, Colby can be a handful, and he can drive me nuts.  But, he is also sweet and caring and he now realizes that Meliah and I are not leaving him, no matter what he does at home.


I will write more as I can, but Colby is my sweet boy.  He is my "monkey".  I love him as my son and I look forward to watching him grow up.  And no, I will not let Meliah take pictures of me as Buzz Lightyear ;-)

A Little Background on Colby and His Family

As you have learned from the "About this Blog" page, Colby has Autism, and we are Colby's family.  We are all learning about how to live with autism.  Colby was diagnosed with autism 6 years ago, but every day is different from the one before.  Like AA, we take this life one day at a time.  Colby is a very hyper 9 year old boy.  We have a blended family.  Dad has not always been a part of our family, and Will is an even newer addition.   Mom and Dad have the luxury (or torture, depending on how you look at it) of working from home.  Actually, it is more that they did not have the luxury of working outside the home.  Mom tried to put Colby in morning care at school, but they would not keep him.

 This is Dad and Colby

We go on lots walks and hikes because Colby likes them, and it gets us all out of the house.  We like to travel as a family, but we like Gatlinburg a lot.  It is not to far away, and there are lots of places to hike there.  (we can write more about that later)

We have our good days and our bad days, but our days are NEVER dull.  Colby keeps us all on our toes.  Sometimes we cry over our frustrations.  We always laugh at Colby's antics.  Boring is not a word we use in our house!