Saturday 26 March 2011

Introducing Tilly

Well here goes, I've never done this blogging thing before but suddenly thought, why not, I should give it a whirl and actually see if there are other parents out there feeling the many daily frustrations of living with autism.  Now I'm not saying it's the worst thing in the world, but it's a constant battle and can be very draining at times.

My darling daughter Tilly who is now 13 years old has ASD and has some global developmental delay, she was diagnosed with being autistic when she was the tender age of 2 years.  This was a real shock to the system at the time, and you just feel like your whole world has been ripped apart and suddenly all your hopes and dreams for your child have just drifted out the window, and your left with a child that is from another planet.

My advice to anyone who has just had their child diagnosed with autism, to not give up and always have hope that your child will achieve and be able to do things.  Sometimes the so called experts don't always give you the best outlook for the future, and can be all a bit negative, so hold on to your gut instincts and believe in your child.   Oh yes, make sure you remember to laugh and see the good things that can happen, however small.  

It's true going out can sometimes be tricky, but you can't let that put you off otherwise you'll end up becoming a hermit.   Tilly and I go out as much as we can, just like this Saturday, we went up to the monster garage sale at the Te Awamutu Bible Chapel for a look around.  Tilly said to me "stay in the car"  so this was not a great start, but then she happened to see the large ice-cream van and said "ice cream"! and soon hopped out the car!  phew, here we go.  We managed to make it to the cafe area, and at least I got a chance to sit down and chat to a few people, for all of 5 minutes! then Tilly was off with a hiss and roar again! and I lost her, she can be so fast.  Okay think logically where is Tilly likely to go as I scurried around, I knew she would be heading for our car, but strangely enough she was standing by the ice-cream van, looking very hopeful! 

Another little snippet,  it's just been my birthday and that evening Tilly said "birthday cake" as I had not made one, so I promised her we would make one on saturday, which we did.  Tilly did a great job at cracking the eggs, and mixing and stirring despite running to her bedroom and hiding under the duvet a couple of times.  At one time Tilly used to be fascinated with throwing all my eggs out in the garden, smashing them on the ground! I must admit it's quite a good feeling! but luckily I think this habit has stopped!  but she still has a passion for ripping paper and she is excellent at ripping and shaking it!  just have to make sure she does not get my latest newspaper.

Watch this space, so many more stories, but I'll leave it there for now.

1 comment:

  1. Amazing first ever blog Fee - the first of many I hope...And I am sure, very cathartic. I hope you get lots of mum and dads in similar positions sharing their tales with you too - Love you and proud of you Fee xx

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