A Day in the Life with a Special Needs Child

Yup, I have a special needs child. He has Autism, Agenisis of the Corpus Colosum and a hearing loss. It means that there are doctor appointments, therapies and tantrums. It also means hugs and lots of "Hubba Hubba's".  It also means that your life is not yours anymore. You share it with an amazing little human that will test you beyond your limits and makes you melt at every turn with a smile.

Playing with toys before breakfast

My typical day starts at 7. We get up, get breakfast, get dressed and at 8, he's on the bus for school. While he's at school, I get my house clean, shower and try and do an errand or two. Then, at 11:30, he's back home. Then it's lunch time. Depending on the day, his behavioral therapist Danial is here to work with him until 2:30. We work on saying please, thank you, welcome, and help. We also get plenty of Exercise with parks, the trampoline, and going for walks.

Hanging out with his daddy.

Typically, about 3:30-4 it's snack time. It will be anything from cereal, waffles, hotdogs or a sandwich. Then we play until its time for me to start dinner. That's about 6-7. We work with eating with a spoon or fork. Then more play time. Bath and music for bed. While doing all of this, he babbles and talks to me. He runs and hugs me. He holds my hand and tries his hardest to tell me what he wants. We get frustrated at each other. We yell, we sing and smile and laugh.

Little man asleep with his two dogs. Such vicious little doggies.

Then when the day's over and he's in bed, I feel lonely because my little man's voice isn't making music in the house anymore. So I go to bed so that in the morning, I have music again.

Cooking wonders

Lately, I've started something new. I've started cooking from scratch a lot more here at home. I've saved money that is going towards bills, Christmas, and getting ready to move. In the last month, with the exception of Thanksgiving, which did cost a costly sum, I've saved about $600! Granted, to get the initial amounts of stockpile up, so you don't have to constantly grocery shop is a bit, but when you have the bones in place, you can actually get by with by weekly trips to the grocery store. I was spending anywhere between $150-300 a week at the store! That's about $1,200 a month! Now I go bi-weekly and it's anywhere between $150-300. Massive savings, right?

I also started cooking all homemade as much as possible because our son is autistic and I am trying to work a menu that he is willing to eat. Something that isn't junk food. Boxed foods and frozen foods just don't work for him. Now, with things that are homemade, he is eating. There's less of a fight, but there are times, when we do go out to eat, he is not wanting to eat what I cook. So now, we don't eat out as much either. Again, savings. And I get a lot less attitude with my son. I honestly do feel preservatives in pre-made and boxed foods are effecting my son. So, I worked to change it.

So, if you don't think you have the time and effort to cooking homemade, that's fine. But, you won't save any money. I think if you, yourself, sits down and figure out food cost, then figure out, how you want to cook. Have fun!