That Time I Tried to Catch up on My Blog

Life is busy guys.

I haven’t been posting on much social media lately, so let me see if I can try and catch you up a little 😊 We’ve had A LOT packed into the last few years. I’m sure many of you can relate to that.

Summer of 2021 we had five cross country trips. Only one of them was planned ahead by any length of time lol. Then some other exciting things happened as well.

First, a trip to West VA, then VA to take care of some motor cycle issues.

This was when we still had the big giant van and Bandit had a big comfy seat to lay down in. We saw the sunrise in West Virginia, and had a little bit of downtime in VA before we turned around and made the 18 hour trip home. In the last picture, you can see JJ and Bandit, and looking closely, you can see that they’re tethered together with a leash.

One of the ways Bandit helps us, is by making it harder for JJ to bolt when something scares or upsets him, and making it harder for him to just wander off when something has his attention. On this particular trip, JJ and Bandit were in the yard playing, and JJ thought he saw a spider on Bandit. Panicked, he took off running. Bandit acted as an anchor to slow JJ down so we could get to them. The spider turned out to be dried cut grass. People are afraid of bugs, but JJ’s fear means he doesn’t pay attention to where he’s going. The road and any cars or obstacles on the road aren’t on his radar. Bandit buys us enough time to get to JJ before he can get to the road. That day he did what we needed him to do ❤️

Next up, about a month later, we picked up one of our daughters from an 18 month mission she’d just completed. This was our planned trip lol

He did a great job. Part of what makes autism hard for my two little boys is being out of routine. Doing something different – and that’s all a trip is. Lots of different experiences. Like Bandit acted as a physical anchor on that first road trip, he acts like an emotional anchor for my kiddos when their world is kind of off.

Following that, my husband switched jobs, so we snuck off to visit his dad who was in his 90’s at the time.

We had a nice time and it was so good to see him. We snuck in a visit to see my grandma on this trip, too ❤️

Shortly after that, we got word that my 25yo cousin passed away. We weren’t able to make it to the funeral, and I don’t have any pictures of that time. But this time, Bandit helped me. He’s good at knowing who needs his love and I’m so grateful for that.

Next on the list of fun things we did in the last couple of years, we had a wedding. This was a new experience for us, we’d never had a child get married before. That made it Bandit’s first time, too 😊

Then we were back in the car traveling cross country again. This time for my grandma’s funeral. I’m so thankful we took the time to see her when we were there visiting my father-in-law.

One of Bandit’s jobs is to just relax. He can then share that calm with those around him. Traveling. Funerals. Overwhelming sounds at the luncheon after the funeral are all things Bandit can help us with. As you can see, he did his job perfectly.

While we were here, we took the spend more time with father in law again. We brought pie over and we all enjoyed it together, then it was back on the road to head home.

After that trip we were able to go to UCM in Warrensburg to work with the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority to raise money for Paws4Autism, the organization Bandit’s with. JJ had fun hanging out with the girls and loved the attention. It also just happened to be right around his birthday so they spoiled him a little. It was a great time and we were able to help raise funds that go back into the program to keep training and adding new pups to the program.

And then we were back on the road. We got word one morning that my father in law passed away. He’d been admitted to the hospital shortly after we’d visited with him at the end of October, but had started doing better. This wasn’t news I was expecting, especially after losing my cousin and grandmother. But we loaded everyone back into the cars and took the 20 hour drive west once again.

With funerals, there’s a lot of high emotion. Grief and feeling overwhelmed are just a few. And for us, add in exhaustion. JJ is like an amplifying sponge. He soaks in all of the emotion and feeling around him because his brain doesn’t filter them out. Then he sends them back out 10-fold. So being able to help him regulate those feelings and calm down is really important. That’s one of the places that Bandit can really help.

For JJ, we know that just touching Bandit regulates his heart rate and that’s a huge help. Another thing that JJ finds helpful sometimes is some deep, but gentle pressure. Here he is with Bandit resting with his legs on JJ’s lap to help with both. Poor JJ hadn’t been smiling a few minutes before because he was getting overwhelmed. Bandit is the fastest, easiest way to accomplish this.

My father in law was a veteran. He received his gun salute and this is the flag they presented his wife. I had a great father in law. I’m grateful for the sacrifice of him and countless other Veterans.

PS: Bandit didn’t like the gun salute…

After the summer and fall we had, it was nice to be able to do some normal, mundane things, like go to the dentist, lol

Dentist visits can make people nervous. JJ is no exception. We take Bandit with us to help keep JJ calm. You can see them working together here with touch and pressure to make the experience better for everyone involved.

Things were relatively ordinary for a little while, but we got to celebrate again mid 2022, and it rounded out the year featured above. A second child got married ❤️

We had a great time celebrating and Bandit was in on the fun, too.

We sure did need those two weddings to help offset the hard stuff that year encompassed.

After this, we started our school year. And this year we’ve been homeschooling both little boys, both with autism, instead of just one. And it’s been an adventure lol Luckily, Bandit is good at helping the boys, which I really appreciate since it can get overwhelming for all of us at times. This is honestly where so much of my time goes and one of the things that makes updating any social media more challenging than it used to be.

And yay! We get to do more normal things, too. Like speech therapy.

Bandit stays close, always within reach in case JJ needs him if he starts getting overwhelmed with therapy. I can remind him to pet his dog, and that usually helps get us back into the flow of things.

And during all of this, I’ve added more things to my learning and fundraising, I just haven’t been able to post them (see above lol). My favorite new thing is sublimation. I must now sublimate all the things lol. I’ll try and add some of that work later. It’s fun 😊

When people ask why a service dog. Or ask how it helps, these are all the things I think about, and more. But often times, it’s hard to put into words. I’ve been fundraising for a dog for JJ, but in reality, Bandit is there for us all. He loves without condition, he’s always excited to see us. He’s there for the good stuff, the bad stuff, and everything in between.

As my kids say, “He is good boy.”

Thanks for stopping by

XOXOXO

To check out the Paws4Autism organization, go here: PAWS

To check out JJ and Bandit’s page, go here: JJ AND BANDIT

If you’d like to make a donation, just scroll to the bottom of JJ and Bandit’s page.

That Time it Worked

This post has a sense of deja vu about it. We went back to church again this week. Again…

Quick refresher brief: along with my little boys being autistic, I have my own set of health issues that necessitate taking medication that suppresses my immune system. This makes it hard for my body to fight things off and hard for it to heal. And I had the fantastic adventure of starting this medication at the beginning of the pandemic. Because of this, there’s a lot of time at home and I have to be thoughtful about where and how I spend my time. Now, back to the post 🙂

So yes, I have written something similar to this post before, last year, when we went back after being out for over a year because of health concerns. But it was short lived. When the Delta variant started picking up speed in our area, we started staying home again. And while we were still fighting that, Omicron came in and my area was fighting two variants that overlapped. But things eventually got better, even if they took longer than we wanted, so we tried again.

Our congregation is quite a bit different than it was even last year. I had the opportunity to sit down with new people and try to figure out how to help the boys slide back into things as easily as possible. It was nice to sit and talk about what they needed to know to help them and to let them ask questions so they could best help my boys.

So this Sunday, we gathered things the day before. We made sure things were packed away in the bags I bring so we wouldn’t be scrambling the next morning. The boys and Bandit were clean and spiffy. We went over the things that needed to happen the next morning so we were on the same page. Everything was set… except…I got the start time wrong 🤦🏻‍♀️

We scrambled, panicked, made back up plans for seating since we weren’t there as early as we wanted to be, and had to remember to breathe. Lots of deep breaths later, we walked through the doors. I don’t know how it happened, but the exact spot we needed was still available and we were able to get settled in easier than I anticipated.

Isaac looked a little shell shocked and unsure at first, but quickly settled in. JJ was tense and careening to the fight, flight, or freeze stage of panic that happens when our routine changes and new things are coming at us. We know to expect this now though, and we’re usually prepared. And this is where Bandit comes in…he regulates JJ because JJ’s not able to regulate himself in these types of situations yet (We’re working on it).

Touching Bandit is all it takes to help J’s heart rate start to even out.

Petting Bandit calms my son even more.

THEN, that’s when JJ is ready to interact with me (or others) and let them help him. We have hugs that are really, really helpful, but if J isn’t at this point we can’t use them.

Bandit made it easier for J to sit in church – and he was actually able to focus on what was being said. I know that, because he shared it at dinner with the people who weren’t able to be at church that day.

I remember helping this little boy try to handle the sensory issues that came his way at church (or anywhere really). It wasn’t easy. And we worked on it for YEARS. But after two+ years of watching church from home, that little champ slid into that church pew like no time had passed.

All because of Bandit.

And it’s reasons like this that we do the hard things.

Thanks for stopping by, and as always, info about our organization will be linked below.

XOXOXO

To visit the Paws 4 Autism page please click here: Cool Stuff

To visit JJ’s fundraising page, click here: Really Cool Stuff

That Time I Made Lots of Mistakes

Today, I learned a lot.

Mostly I learned what not to do.

But there is value in making mistakes, if we’re willing to learn from them.

I was playing with an idea to sublimate Bandit’s name onto a few things. I’m trying to put together an emergency bag for him that’s ready to go, including first aid items. We live in Tornado Land and it is that time of year. But we’ve also had ice storms in the winter that knock out power for four days. Gas leaks. People sitting in front of our house watching it…and more, I’m sure, because my life is NOT boring lol.

I found these bags at a good price, so it was worth experimenting with, especially because this one would stay in the basement unless we needed it. And if we need it, it will have character 🙂

Here’s what I learned:

1. Nylon straps melt at high temps. I’m sure I would have remembered if I’d taken time to think about it. In the future, I’ll just cut off this particular strap. I’ll get a better image that way, too. But I do have to clean the melted nylon glob off my heat press. Luckily, I have a teflon sheet attached to it. If I can’t clean it off, I can replace it. You can see some of the melted strap I’ve already scraped off on the silicone mat.

2. I learned that not only does the nylon strap melt, it impedes the transfer of the image. You can see that on the right hand side of the picture. In this set up, there was no way to move it far enough out of the way for a good transfer. But then again, it also wouldn’t have mattered since the strap melted. On the other hand, I also learned that I CAN sublimate on these bags, and the temp and time seem to work.

3. I also learned that the melted strap I hadn’t gotten off the teflon, was over further than I thought…Maybe I should have tried harder to clean it off, but I thought I had enough room to do the last transfer. I should have paid more attention to exactly where the glob would land. Because some of it got on to the other piece I was sublimating lol. You can see where it transferred on the bottom left. But again, this is an emergency bag, so this gives it character 😉 And I now have a matched set 😀

In addition, the transfer on the bottom left is a little light. So I learned I need to move the image up just a little more to stop the seam from interfering.

4. I learned that the top inside of this bag…melts a little 🙄

When sublimating, it’s usually wise to use some blow out paper on top of the image and under the substrate you’re sublimating on to, to catch any of the ink that could transfer to somewhere you don’t want it to go. The white part inside the zippered pouch…that’s the blowout paper. It’s stuck to the top of the bag now because the material above it melted a little. You can also see the blue tape I used to keep the blow out paper in place…it may also be a permanent part of the bag now lol. But now I know.

I learned I was right to use another teflon sheet inside that zippered pouch. It was placed after the blow out paper, because I wasn’t sure about the material there and how it would react to heat. If it *did* melt a little, I didn’t want it sealing off this pocket and limiting the options I have for this bag.

I learned a lot. Not everything I did was a failure, I saved some of the project by making smart decisions. But other parts, I really messed up on, and learned from them. Knowing what NOT to do can be as important as knowing WHAT to do.

I have another bag like this. It’s for use in the car or for traveling so the labeling will be similar, but a little different. Now, I can take my mistakes and the knowledge they created, and apply it to this other bag 😀

Thanks for stopping by! Bandit and JJ appreciate everyone’s support on this journey ❤️

To find out more about our organization, you can visit us and check out the pups in our program here: Paws 4 Autism

To find out more about JJ and Bandit, you can find their page here: JJ’s Magic

XOXOXO

Service Dogs and Shoes

JJ and Bandit ❤️

People ALWAYS ask about our Paws 4 Autism dogs and their shoes.

Our service dogs wear shoes when there’s snow/ice on the ground to protect their feet from the ice melt/salt used to treat sidewalks and roads. They should also wear them when the ground is hot enough to burn their feet.

Bandit wears them EVERY TIME we go out, here’s why:

• To keep us and him in practice. Dogs, like people, keep their skills sharp by using them frequently.
• To protect their feet from things other than heat in the summer and salt in the winter. For example:
  • Sharp rocks
  • Glass shards
  • Chemicals that may be spilled on the ground in places like Home Depot, Lowes, or anywhere else.
• Floors are slippery
  • Poodles have HAIR instead of fur, so it needs to be cut. Dogs have hair on their feet and between the pads of their feet. It grows just like the rest of the hair on their bodies. And it makes hard surface floors slick. It’s like trying to move around in socks – it’s slippery. The shoes give them traction.

Here’s how this played out in real life a couple days ago.

The other night we went out for dinner. After I was done eating, I took Bandit outside so he could sniff around – I found out it’s a calming thing for them and he’d had a long evening. I wanted to stay in front of the restaurant because that’s where the light was. As we walked down the sidewalk, I noticed things sparkling on the ground. Broken glass was everywhere. If Bandit hadn’t been in his shoes, he would have been stepping all over it.

As a special needs mom, when we go out, I’m ALWAYS going through all the possible scenarios of what could go wrong. Then I figure out how to handle it or figure out an “escape route” in case I can’t. Then I play through all the ways to notice if something’s going to go wrong so I can step in before it goes wrong. I do this for both of my little boys (it’s exhausting). I also look around for things that Bandit might encounter that could startle, upset him, or put him in danger.

I will never be able to see all of the possible pit falls, so I prepare the best I can. For my boys, that’s a bag that has different things in it that usually help if they’re getting overwhelmed. For Bandit, it’s things like shoes.

I can’t predict everything, but I can prepare for many things. I’m so glad we took that extra step getting Bandit ready. It saved us a lot of trouble, but more importantly, it saved him from getting hurt.

And because dog shoes are so important, we’re always on the look out for really good ones. Shoes that stay on. Shoes that fit well so they don’t leave hot spots on the pup’s feet. Shoes that hold up since we’re using them all the time. If you have a personal favorite, feel free to let me know in the comments. We’d love to check them out 🙂

To find out more about our dogs and our organization, you can visit us here: Paws 4 Autism

To find out more about JJ and Bandit and our fundraising efforts, you can visit us here: JJ and Bandit

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXOXO

That Time I Had Some Service Dog Thoughts

Because we have special and medical needs in my family – like, a LOT of them – we’ve been home the last 14 months. We’ve had lots of things delivered, done lots of carry out, shopped once a week and as quickly as possible. We’ve masked up every time we’ve gone out. We’ve sanitized after leaving places other than home. I carry three different sanitizing options on my purse and we have sanitizing wipes in the car. I say all this so you believe me when I say we were very cautious this last year.

But because of the limited time out, we haven’t had a lot of trips out of the home with Bandit. We’re now at a place that we feel like it’s time to start adding things back in, like therapies, more shopping trips, dinners out, and church. And I’ve noticed a few things that I probably would have noticed sooner, if not for covid. I wanted to share those things with you, to help you incase you have the pleasure of encountering a service dog when you’re out.

1. The rules, when it comes to service dogs and entering public spaces are pretty simple. Those at the location, may, if they feel the need to, ask only TWO questions; is that a service dog, and what task does the dog perform. That’s it. They’re NOT allowed to ask for a demonstration of the task, or about your medical needs.

Where it’s a little different, the airlines. They have slightly different rules that they just started implementing because the previous rules were being taken advantage of.

Exemptions: Churches are NOT required to follow ADA guidelines and rules. We have to rely on the people there to do the right thing and in Christian churches welcome and minister to the “least of these,” in the way that’s best for that person. Another exemption, people’s homes. They are allowed to deny entry to a service animal because it’s a private space. Other places might need some negotiation, like hospitals. I’ve had service dogs in the hospital with children and it was fine. But realistically, you wouldn’t expect the pup to be in an operating room with their person. Or expect hospital staff to care for a service dog if the owner is incapable. But, it’s very likely a family member can bring the dog to watch over his or her person.

2. The ADA does NOT require service dogs to be identified with vests or paperwork. In fact, the ADA does not even recognize certification papers you can buy online for a service animal – remember, people can only ask two questions, and asking for papers is not one of those questions.

I thought it was interesting that the pups are not required to wear vests marking them as a service animal. That vest is actually a courtesy to those around the dog, letting them know the dog is working. It also seems to really help Bandit know when he’s on and off duty.

And those papers you can buy…not necessary, but you’ve helped someone make some money. However, if you’ve got things going on that you need a service dog, you probably don’t want to spend money on something that not only isn’t necessary, but isn’t even valid and recognized by the ADA.

3. I’ve seen two sides of a coin. The coin itself is the, “that’s so cool! It’s amazing what animals can do,” coin.

I’m watching to see if there’s some kind of pattern, but sometimes, the “coin” is really cool, until it affects someone else. For example: A restaurant owner saying how cool service dogs are, but when it’s their restaurant the handler and dog want to dine in, its suddenly not so cool because they’re now facing something new. They might need to make different accommodations and do things a little differently. The really tired side of me, the mom trying to give my son some independence, really isn’t bothered that someone else might have to put in a little more effort or try something a little different, not when we’ve been doing this for YEARS for everyone else. And still doing it, even with a service dog, the pup just makes things easier. Also, this was a fictional example, not an actual experience, but we have experienced things like this. The other side of the coin, is the people who say how awesome it is, then welcome you in, regardless of the fact that the situation might need a little more work than typical. You can decide which reaction is heads and which is tails 🙂

4. We’ve been asked on more than one occasion if he actually needs the dog for xy or z, because some situations may require more out of the box thinking.

Here are some things to think about;

Service dogs are living, breathing pieces of medical equipment for someone dealing with physical or mental disabilities. In the context of medical equipment, would you ask someone in a wheelchair if they needed it because it was too inconvenient to make space for? Or should you ask someone, like my son, who needs medication to function well, if he needs to take it because you weren’t comfortable with it?

For JJ, Bandit stops panic attacks. Can stop elopement. Bandit helps him focus and be present so he can take in what’s going on, and follow directions better – which could easily be a safety issue. And asking the team to separate, could cause panic in my son AND his dog. Just like the wheel chair and the medicine in the examples above, Bandit helps my son have some independence he wouldn’t otherwise have. He helps JJ better enjoy his experiences and get something out of them because he’s not busy fighting anxiety, and believe me, EVERYTHING causes anxiety in this child. Bandit is the BEST thing for regulating JJ’s emotions so he’s not cycling through fight, flight, or freeze all the time.

Sometimes, new things make people uncomfortable – I completely understand, I live this – but when it comes down to it, medical devices, including service dogs, are there to balance a deficit somewhere and those situations aren’t about OUR comfort levels, they’re about making life better for someone else, specifically for someone who is struggling.

Flip side of this, service dog owners shouldn’t be jerks about it. This is something I need to watch for in myself because emotion has a way of taking over when I’m fighting for my children’s right to exist in a world that isn’t set up for them. But often times, misunderstandings can happen on both sides and a little bit of grace can go along way.

Hopefully this gives you something to think about, or helped you learn something new. Thanks for hanging in there with me 🙂

This post was a little heavy, so here’s some pictures 😀 Bandit and JJ ready for church this morning ❤

As always, here’s the Paws 4 Autism page if you’re interested in learning more about our organization.

And here’s JJ’s fundraising page. Most things in the store are currently available, like the mom hats, and we’re planning more things.

Thanks for stopping by

XOXO

Alta and JJ

That Time There Was Online Bingo an They Used JJ and Bandit’s Picture 😍 FUNDRAISER ALERT

First, because I forget things like this, important things lol, here’s the link

ONLINE BINGO FUNDRAISER – PAWS 4 AUTISM

Okay, the fun stuff lol. If the kiddo and the pup in the ad for the fundraiser look familiar, it’s because it is, in fact, JJ and Bandit ❤️

Now, the rest.

Covid-19 has knocked out and changed up the regular, most reliable fundraisers for Paws 4 Autism in the last year. What is typically our biggest fundraiser of the year has now been cancelled for two years in a row. So this online Bingo game is kind of a big deal.

If you didn’t know, Paws 4 Autism is a COMPLETELY volunteer run organization that trains dogs to be service dogs for autistic children. Both of my youngest boys are on the autism spectrum and I can tell you, we’ve seen some really great things with them and the dogs we’ve fostered, and Bandit, who matched to JJ a few months ago. Although he matched, we still need to fundraise to make sure the NEXT family can also have a service dog for their child.

So, from the comfort of your own home, you can sit back, relax, play BINGO, and help raise money for a really great organization. All the details are in the link above 🙂

So PLEASE help us get going by sharing this anywhere and everywhere appropriate 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

Alta and JJ

XOXOXOXO

As always, if you’d like to make a donation to JJ and Bandit’s Fundraising, you can find his

donation page here: Help JJ

For more info on Paws for Autism here

And, we’re always looking for partners and sponsors to work with Paws in the community. If you’re interested (and it doesn’t have to be a dog oriented company or individual) in partnering with us, let me know. I’ll hook you up. We do our best to brag about our sponsors anytime we can 😀

That Time I 3D Printed Pipes for my Bathroom…

This statement is technically true, but maybe not in the way you think.

One of my absolute favorite things to do as an artist, is to create something that starts out looking one way – like paper, for example – and then working to make it take on some realism.

I’m trying to take those ideas and skills with me into 3D printing.

You may remember, we used 3D printers for some of our Paws 4 Autism fundraising for Bandit, JJ’s autism service dog. We made ear savers and 2020 Toilet Paper ornaments to commemorate the year (those are still both available).

But when I’m not busy printing for fundraisers, my printers get used for other things. Things that might be helpful around the house.

We’ve been redoing our hall bathroom upstairs. It has a kind of an ocean theme, but one that’s very easily removed so we can go a different direction if we ever choose to. This bathroom is the one that got the light switch I printed that had gears.

Well. We needed a hand towel holder and a TP holder. So I printed pieces that look like and fit together like pipes we could use for this.

We went from this

To This

To this

I used gray PLA filament. This is the same type of filament I used for the ear savers and the 2020 TP ornaments. It took some time to print, and I had to reprint a few pieces to get the right sizes for my needs. But you can see that they were individual pieces that actually threaded together. I bought the file online, and the designer did a great job with these. There are so many ways to mix and match to get what you need.

So then the next magic step began. The pieces required a couple of priming passes, a couple of coats of copper colored paint, and an oxidation spray. A lot of people sand between primer coats and painting coats, but I wasn’t going for a smooth, shiny, flawless look.

And we ended up with these.

So, there you have it. I 3d printed pipes for my bathroom 🙂

And while you’re here, I’ve got some other 3D printing fun to share in the next couple of days. It will be the next fundraiser for JJ, Bandit, and Paws 4 Autism. So don’t forget to come back 🙂

As always, if you’d like to donate to JJ’s fundraising page, you can find it here: Help JJ

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT 2020 – JJ and Bandit Fundraiser Opportunity!

So here’s what happened 🙂

I 3D printed my first ornament of the year.

People liked it. I was encouraged to print more. So I did.

So here’s the deal. If you want one, you can go to the link in the picture by typing it in, clicking on it HERE, or scanning the QR code. That’s JJ’s fundraising page. Make a $10 donation. You’ll have the chance to leave a written message. In that message, please let me know the donation is for the TP ornament, and if you want more than one, please let me know the number you’d like.

Easy peasy lemon squeasy, but feel free to ask questions if you have any.

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxoxo

PS Stay tuned – next project, street lamp made from paper. Lamp lights up!

The Call – JJ and Bandit – Service Dog Files

Super short today guys…but I got a call today.

I answered it, and was told there was a problem with Bandit.

It’s getting time for the dogs in training to rotate foster homes and Bandit won’t be able to

because HE’S STAYING WITH US!

Bandit and JJ matched.

My son now has a service dog. His best friend is staying.

BUT this was ONLY possible because other people have paid it forward. I say that like it’s not a big thing, so let me rephrase it.

My son has a service dog because OTHER PEOPLE were kind enough to PAY FOR IT ahead of time.

I don’t know who all the people were that paid for my son’s dog, but I’m SO grateful to them.

So now we’re switching gears. WE will keep raising money, because WE will be paying it forward to make it possible for someone else to find the same magic we have.

So please, continue to remember JJ and Bandit. They are the faces of the families you may never meet but you could make such a difference for them by continuing to donate through JJ’s fundraising page here.

I’m also open to suggestions for fundraising. I have some ideas, but I need help to make them a reality and make them feasible, so stay tuned for those ❤

Thank you again for being on this journey and for stopping by today.

xoxo

Bump in the Night – JJ and Bandit Service Dog Files

One of the jobs an autism service dog can do is help their person sleep.

My son, like many on the spectrum, has trouble sleeping. Specifically, he has trouble calming and regulating enough to be able to fall asleep. There have been some long nights, and even some nights that didn’t end. There were times when our medications were out of whack and sleep NEVER came.

As a reminder, Bandit is leaning to work with children – that’s how we’re helping as we foster. He sees me as the person to follow, because that’s what he’s used to. But he’s tethered to JJ most of the day and he’s starting to get comfortable with me farther away, which is exactly what we want him to do ❤️

We started a nighttime routine that lets JJ fall asleep with Bandit.

That’s what’s happening right now. I’m sitting on the hardwood floor writing this as those two snooze away lol. The goal is for Bandit to stay in JJ’s room with him throughout the night, but we’re not there yet. Bandit still gets up and leaves the room with me when my back decides it can’t sit on the floor any longer. But the ease of the transition is getting faster. Both boys are settling into this routine and I feel like there are only good places to go from here ❤️

Thanks for stopping by

Xoxo

As always, if you’d like to read more about JJ’s story, you can find it here: help JJ. If you’re interested, you can also donate to our fundraising efforts there ❤️