Dad's Chronicles-Meeting Megan
Hi, Jason here. I'm taking my first stab at writing a post on this blog about Megan and my introduction into the world of autism. I will title all my post's with the title "Dad's Chronicles" followed by a post title.So here we go, hope you enjoy =]
When Kelly and I first moved in together I knew she had children, and that they were girls. I knew that one of them had Autism and the other was hyperactive, but wasn't sure which one was which. It became apparent immediately. Stephanie was hyperactive every second of every day for the first 2 years of our relationship, and that was interesting to watch *wink* Megan on the other hand wasn't hyperactive at all, don't get me wrong though she was active, just not overly active. Her and I started our bond with play as most of her most established relationships start. The first time I tried playing with Megan it became obvious that this kid liked to be thrown around. This was a flaming contrast to her sister Stephanie whom didn't like being picked up at all let alone being thrown around and spun upside down, but Megan reveled in this kind of play, and I being the oldest of seven in my family was well equipped to give her what she liked. With play came friendship, and later became trust. Now this may make it sound like our introduction was all fine and dandy, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Walking into Megan's life without any knowledge about autism was firstly unlike me to walk into any situation uneducated, and secondly a full out culture shock. The world of Megan was abrupt and the switchbacks were frequent. Her inability to communicate with us made it hard. Screaming fits over giving her milk when she wanted Cheerio's, guessing everything wrong more than half the time, was straining. Not being able to get her to listen let alone follow any of your requests was foreign to me. Not that my family was good at listen or following request *wink*
Everywhere Megan went, to this day I might add, was a disaster. She would take down shelves and throw everything on them to the floor. She would dump anything with a lid, anything. One time she dumped ever bottle of shampoo conditioner and body wash in the bathroom and proceded to take off all her clothes and slosh around in the soap. The funny thing being, she got the whole bathroom covered and couldn't regain any sort of control of where her body was going. She moved she slipped, she tried again she fell. She learned a lesson that day, when dumping soaps, keep it in one area. And the poop, OMG the poop. Megan @ 4 would not learn anything and potty training was no different. So for the first year of me knowing her I was constantly stepping in poop. And not just poop, but poop covered foam. Cause that's another thing Megan did that was a bit off you might say, she ate foam. You know the foam kids things are made out of (floor puzzles, pool noodles, etc.)So logically that has to come out, and it comes out covered in poop. That's disturbing the first time you step in someones poop and it's got foam in it. Looks like little pieces of cut up steak marinated in something dark. *Sorry if that image offended anyone* But it was something I got used to, had to, would've gone crazy if I hadn't adapted to it. But a relationship with Megan was worth all the work, she's a loving caring child once you're in her inner circle. All this eventful stuff and only the bigging. Thanks for reading and hope to write another post soon.
Jason
When Kelly and I first moved in together I knew she had children, and that they were girls. I knew that one of them had Autism and the other was hyperactive, but wasn't sure which one was which. It became apparent immediately. Stephanie was hyperactive every second of every day for the first 2 years of our relationship, and that was interesting to watch *wink* Megan on the other hand wasn't hyperactive at all, don't get me wrong though she was active, just not overly active. Her and I started our bond with play as most of her most established relationships start. The first time I tried playing with Megan it became obvious that this kid liked to be thrown around. This was a flaming contrast to her sister Stephanie whom didn't like being picked up at all let alone being thrown around and spun upside down, but Megan reveled in this kind of play, and I being the oldest of seven in my family was well equipped to give her what she liked. With play came friendship, and later became trust. Now this may make it sound like our introduction was all fine and dandy, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Walking into Megan's life without any knowledge about autism was firstly unlike me to walk into any situation uneducated, and secondly a full out culture shock. The world of Megan was abrupt and the switchbacks were frequent. Her inability to communicate with us made it hard. Screaming fits over giving her milk when she wanted Cheerio's, guessing everything wrong more than half the time, was straining. Not being able to get her to listen let alone follow any of your requests was foreign to me. Not that my family was good at listen or following request *wink*
Everywhere Megan went, to this day I might add, was a disaster. She would take down shelves and throw everything on them to the floor. She would dump anything with a lid, anything. One time she dumped ever bottle of shampoo conditioner and body wash in the bathroom and proceded to take off all her clothes and slosh around in the soap. The funny thing being, she got the whole bathroom covered and couldn't regain any sort of control of where her body was going. She moved she slipped, she tried again she fell. She learned a lesson that day, when dumping soaps, keep it in one area. And the poop, OMG the poop. Megan @ 4 would not learn anything and potty training was no different. So for the first year of me knowing her I was constantly stepping in poop. And not just poop, but poop covered foam. Cause that's another thing Megan did that was a bit off you might say, she ate foam. You know the foam kids things are made out of (floor puzzles, pool noodles, etc.)So logically that has to come out, and it comes out covered in poop. That's disturbing the first time you step in someones poop and it's got foam in it. Looks like little pieces of cut up steak marinated in something dark. *Sorry if that image offended anyone* But it was something I got used to, had to, would've gone crazy if I hadn't adapted to it. But a relationship with Megan was worth all the work, she's a loving caring child once you're in her inner circle. All this eventful stuff and only the bigging. Thanks for reading and hope to write another post soon.
Jason
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5:33 PM
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