A view of autism from along the spectrum

I begin a one week vacation today, not to travel but simply to be home with the boys. For the next week, while my wife is working full time, I get to spend the day with the boys, setting the agenda on what we do, where we go, what we eat, and just about everything else. It’s a real treat to have both the responsibility and the freedom to make the decisions. My wife and I do a great job working together as parents, and I couldn’t imagine doing it without her, but sometimes it’s nice to be independent for a while.

My wife and I work our schedules like this a lot during school breaks, and it’s how most of my vacation is spent each year. It’s usually a few days at a time and I’m looking forward to having a whole week. It’s much easier to get into a routine over the course of a week.

We’ll do some ‘guy’ things and we’ll do some things that the boys normally do with mom. Sometimes the boys will enjoy the change and, as I’ve already seen today, sometimes I will just be messing up their routine. I’ll be ready for that to happen and we’ll all get to practice our flexibility.

We’ve had a great half of day so far and we’re actually having some ‘quiet time’ after lunch. We ran some errands this morning and as I tried to get my youngest off the tire swing and into the car, he informed me:

You don’t do errands! Mom does errands! You’re not thinking right!

My first coaching opportunity had presented itself.

I love this job!