Wyatt's diagnosis

As I sit here in my favorite spot of the couch and reflect on the events of this day I feel at peace, which is not exactly the reaction I anticipated. Wyatt isn't quite like other kids his age, we've known this for about two years. What we didn't know was exactly what causes him to be different. He looks like a normal three year old, tall and pale with knobby little knees blue eyes and a spectacular mess of deep red hair. But, since the age of one Wyatt has been slow to speech, and as he has grown some quirks have surfaced that raised red flags for us.

Today we spent the better part of three hours in a doctors office, while a pediatric developmental specialist analyzed Wyatt and watched him play. At the end of the appointment the doctor explained that our son has autism spectrum disorder. What this basically means is that he is very mildly autistic. He is social, makes eye contact, comes when called and has a strong ability to learn. But, his speech development is behind and he has difficulty transitioning from one activity to another. Most of the things that he says are echos of the things he hears from us, or the TV. We are not sure how much he understands because he does not have the ability to express him self in that way. The doctor was very positive, he believes that Wyatt will benefit from therapy and eventually live an independent life, work, and even have a family if he so chooses. Wyatt will soon be attending a preschool like class taylored to his needs, as well as one on one speech therapy.

The idea of Wyatt having to overcome any extra obstacle in life is hard, but he has a huge support group and we are going to make sure that we do everything to help him over come his hurdles. I feel so blessed to be his mommy, and I am excited about watching him grow. He is such an amazing little person and the sky is the limit for him.

If my life were a book I think it would be the kind that makes you laugh until you cry. I've been through a lot in my 26 years, but I have always been able to laugh, even if I was laughing through tears. This chapter in my life is definitely one of the most trying, gratifying, frustrating and, exhausting experiences yet. I've been married to my best friend for going on seven years now, we have two amazing and beautiful children: Wyatt(3)and Bailey(2).Tyler and I are both full time students and because of our own personal convictions as parents, we rearrange our lives and schedules to make sure that one of us is always at home to take care of the kids. Most of the time it feels like we are actors on a ridiculous sit com except unlike TV, this life is one of substance and children have a talent for stripping you down to your most honest.

There are days that I find Wyatt scuba diving in the fish tank, and Bailey "helping" me by unloading the DIRTY dishes from the dish washer. Once simple tasks, such as using the restroom, taking a shower, or waiting at the check out line have become comparable to scaling mount Everest. Base camp one: today I barely started peeing when I heard a strange rattling escape the kitchen. Maternal instinct jolted me from the bathroom a little too late, leading me to discover Bailey, Wyatt, and our dog Guido, back stroking through about a thousand omega three fish oil capsules. Base camp two: this afternoon I got careless and blinked, thus allowing the children adequate time to both strategically and stealthily climb onto the dining room table and perform their own rendition of the river dance.

These small, frantic, periods of time where you are just trying to survive add up and you build a collection, a collection of the monumental mundane. It is within these moments that we learn life's real lessons, pain, courage, embarrassment, strength, insight, patience. They're Like little pop quizzes,that you are never quite prepared for. They seem insignificant but they are infinite, who you are and who you have yet to become stem from these lessons. A wise man once said, "it is a damn poor piece of cloth that can't take a little bit of embroidery." Many years from now I hope to look back on all of this chaos and feel strong. I want my husband and children to remember me as handling life with grace and I want each sweet tick of the clock to hold a place in my past, like the dog eared pages of a warn out book. So that I can look back and see every thing I missed while I was just trying to get by.