Abellona T
Bio
Stories (8/0)
"His Autism Is in Your Head"
When we shared my husband’s Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis with his parents, they sat there in silence. Slow-motion minutes passed by as my father-in-law, whom I’ve come to learn is all about the control and conformity (he frequently tells my one year old to use his right hand), continued to stare down at his hands, stunned. Finally, he looked directly at my husband and said:
By Abellona T6 years ago in Longevity
10 Reasons Toddlers Rule!
Toddlerhood is my favourite stage so far. Seriously, terrible twos, threenager – why does the world take such a negative view of this vibrant time in a baby’s life? When I thought about it, I quickly realized that to be fair, most stages of childhood and adolescence are judged harshly and labelled negatively. Poor teens certainly don’t escape the judgement levelled their way.
By Abellona T7 years ago in Families
He Needs to Learn
The other day, my fifteen month old son expressed a need that has become a rite of passage for babies of his generation. That need was to have a phone that was kept nearby on the table, left there by someone who was visiting us. I’m referring to this as a need because from the perspective of my young one, it certainly wasn’t a mere whim or want – in his eyes it was an absolute compulsion. He had to have the phone.
By Abellona T7 years ago in Families
They're Children NOT Assholes
The Goldbergs is one of my favourite shows. I always love watching an episode to lift me up in that light-hearted way where you know there’s a schmaltzy, feel-good ending with a valuable lesson about what it means to be a family and love each other no matter what’s said or done throughout. I admit that I’ve often cringe-smiled at the part where inevitably Murray, the father, will refer exasperatedly to his boys as "the morons" while looking theatrically pained at something they’ve done or not done to affect his peace of mind and time in front of the television. All in all, it’s a show that delivers what it promises; a satirical representation of how the previous generation did things.
By Abellona T7 years ago in Families
Being Married to Someone on the Autism Spectrum
My husband was recently diagnosed as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). At first, I was immensely relieved by his diagnosis – we both were. For all the major miscommunications and resultant disagreements we’d had that led us to an assessment, we had started to think that either he had to be wired a bit differently or of late, we were both more irrational in each other’s company than Donald Trump is...in general. After our initial ‘aha!’ moment had passed, I began writing to various Autism support organizations thinking that surely, they’d be able to guide us in forging a way forward despite our utterly different approaches to life.
By Abellona T7 years ago in Humans