Life Without Words: Wyatt's Story

  I realized I’ve shared so much about our journey, but I haven’t taken the time to really introduce you to the amazing little boy at the center of it all. So, I want you to meet Wyatt - my sweet, adventurous, music-loving baby.  Wyatt is 4½ years old and has a little sister, Sophia Rose, who is 1½. Watching their relationship grow has been incredible (and sometimes challenging, as I’ve shared before). Sophia absolutely adores her big brother, and while Wyatt enjoys his personal space, he’s been slowly noticing her more and more since she started walking. What Wyatt Loves  Animals – Wyatt has a special love for giraffes, dinosaurs, and really, any safari animals. We recently redid his bedroom in a dinosaur theme, and he absolutely loves it!  Music – Nursery rhymes are his jam. Music lights him up, and he often echoes lyrics because he’s a gestalt language processor, meaning a lot of his speech comes in “chunks” or phrases he’s heard before—like songs! Swimming...

  There are moments as a parent that stay with you forever - moments you replay in your mind a thousand times, wishing you could rewrite them. For me, one of those moments was the day Wyatt eloped from our house while I was in the shower. Even now, my heart races when I think about it. The fear. The panic. The overwhelming guilt. It seemed like any ordinary day. I thought Wyatt was safe. The doors were locked—at least, I thought they were. I jumped in the shower, just for a few minutes. When I came out, he was gone. My world stopped. Thankfully, he was found safe. But that moment changed me forever. Even though Wyatt was okay, the guilt hasn’t fully gone away. As moms, we put impossible expectations on ourselves—to be everywhere, to anticipate everything, to prevent every possible danger. When something slips through, even for a second, the guilt is crushing. To this day, I still get anxiety when I take a shower. I check the locks over and over. I listen for every sound. That ...

  Traveling with kids is stressful for any parent - but when your child is autistic and has no sense of danger, that anxiety multiplies. For a long time, I wondered if vacations were even possible for us. Would Wyatt be safe? Would he enjoy himself? Would I spend the entire trip on edge? When Wyatt was 13 months old, we decided to give it a try. We packed up for a 10-day trip, first visiting family in North Carolina and then heading down to a beach house in Florida. We live in Ohio, so it was a long haul—8 hours to North Carolina, then another 11 hours to Florida. I was so riddled with anxiety the entire time. Before we left, I pictured endless meltdowns, constant stops, and my anxiety spiraling out of control. But Wyatt surprised me. We strapped a tablet to the back of the seat in front of him and played his favorite shows. He slept most of the drive, and we stopped every couple of hours for walks and bathroom breaks. He did amazing. I stressed over nothing.   Onc...

  Sleep is something most parents wish they had more of. When your child has autism, sleep can be even more unpredictable.. and that’s definitely been true for us with Wyatt. When Wyatt was a baby, he was an amazing sleeper. He would sleep through the night without a problem, which is something I never took for granted. But as he’s grown, sleep has become a much bigger challenge. When Wyatt was around 2 years old, his sleep hit its roughest patch. He would be up all night, bouncing off the walls...literally. I used to “sleep” with him in the living room, but really, it was more like closing my eyes while trying to keep him safe as he explored and played. His energy seemed endless. We tried melatonin as his doctor suggested, but it didn’t seem to help at all. Nothing we did made much difference. Those were some very long nights. Now that Wyatt is 4½, his sleep is a little better, but still not consistent. He goes through phases where he can stay up all night, or wake up in th...