Essential Oils to Calm the Beast Within Your Child

I began the odyssey of essential oils to help with my son's ever changing behaviors and I learned a few things. The top brands are all amazing and work great. There are also less expensive non-mlm brands that are just as well. Starting at the top, you have Young Living and Doterra. They are both excellent companies who sell amazing products and ensure some of the best testing and purity in the business. Then you have another top dog, Plant Therapy. They are a smaller non-mlm company who offers an excellent product. I've tried oils from all of these companies. I prefer Plant Therapy because they have a Kid Safe line of oils specifically tested and proven safe for use in children. They have a blog on their website full of great ideas, recipes and advice. Their customer service cannot be beat. I just love them. That being said, I am going to share a recipe that I came up with for my son with Autism, ADHD, tourettes, seizures, etc. I will list the recipe below. Keep in mind, oils affect everyone differently and what works for my kid may not work for yours. Here is the recipe. I hope this provides help for your child too, plus it smells really good. Enjoy!

Mommy's Magic Blend

2 drops vetivert
1 drop frankincense carteri
2 drops copiaba
1 drop clary sage
1 drop lavender
1 drop cedarwood

Mix the pure oils first in a 10ml dropper bottle, then add fractionated coconut oil as a carrier oil. This is equal to about a 2% dilution. All these oils are kid safe. For younger children, once you mix the pure oils, cut that in half, then add 10ml coconut oil. You can use almond oil or another carrier oil like olive oil, etc. I prefer coconut oil because of nut allergies and because it is just good for the skin.

Let me know if this works for your family.

Life Changes

Over the past year, my life and my son's lives has undergone some major changes. My marriage fell to pieces when my now ex husband did some very bad things and rather than blame himself rightfully, he blamed our son's autism among many other excuses. Watching my son adjust as we'll as adjusting myself has been interesting. There have been many sleepless nights as well as a resurfacing of old behaviors. I get my son past a behavior that he already overcame only for another one to appear. The schedule has also been an adjustment. When I have him, he is on a routine however when  I get him back from his father, he is slightly off and that makes it hard to get him back on his regular routine. I will say this though.. Through the difficult transition, my son has had some major improvements with his communication. He has gone from a 10 word vocabulary to a 30 word vocabulary. His ability to understand has improved ten fold. It is my belief that the decreased stress in the home has allowed for him to be able to open up and reveal his true self. That is not to say though that the challenges of the behaviors haven't been difficult. At the end of the day, all we can do as parents is support, guide and love our children and hope that it will be enough to prepare them for a future which they can not only be independent but also a productive member of society. We tend to overly concern ourselves with whether or not we are making the right decisions and often times, miss out on the little things that mean the most. My goal for the future is continue to do the best I can as a single mom and once in awhile just breathe & ignore the self doubt that is my greatest enemy.

Silent but Loudly

Today I watched my little boy flirt from the backseat of our car with a little girl in a car beside us waiting in line. In his own little way he was communicating with her by smiling and waving then hiding his face when she responded by smiling and waving back to him. They say autistic kids are in their own little world and withdrawn from ours but I believe that is not the case.. I believe that they are very much in our world just in their own way. He will notice the smallest details in things such as when his daddy goes to work he checks his shoes to make sure he is wearing "work shoes" rather than everyday shoes because he knows if his daddy leaves the house in any other shoes than work shoes, he must be going somewhere without him and thats upsetting to him. For me, he checks my shoes but also my stethascope & uniform because he knows mommy works in a different setting than daddy. He will hug me when he is stressed and smell my hair because its calming to him, sometimes he hugs me to tell me he loves me and at times its a sensory thing..either way i'll take any hugs from him i can get! How can anyone think our kids are withdrawn from us when they pay more attention to us than we pay to ourselves? It is my belief that while silently they are in our world, they are in it infact loudly.

What its like to raise an autistic child

I am often asked what is it like to raise an autistic child..where do i begin? its like nothing i've ever experienced or thought i would experience. its scary, frustrating, nerve-wracking, wonderful, fun and amazing all wrapped into one giant bundle! you go from thinking something is different about your kid to the diagnosis phase, then denial because lets face it.. i still dont believe it, then you accept it & vow to change the prognosis..so finally determination sets in because you ofcourse believe with every fiber of your being that you can "fix" your kid.. but heres the thing.. your kid is fine, its the world around them thats not fine.. try a simple task like taking your kid shoe shopping.. this is what happens.. he knocks down all the shoes, freaks out by screaming and holding his ears and will lay in the floor holding his ears and god help you if you try to pick him up.. bites will ensue! the grocery store is no different..once in awhile we can make it through walmart so long as he fits in a buggy and the trip is short at home sometimes he will become overstimulated from tv or games & repetetive behaviors kick in and stopping them is so hard at times because they keep happening over & over & over no matter what you do.. what about the park? well, not much different i'm afraid.. try watching your kid wanting so bad just to play with the other kids but not knowing how.. he will smile and run up to the kids but when he cant speak, the kids look puzzled and run away or they push him out of their way because he is slower than they are and there you stand watching your kid looking confused, disappointed and rejected so what do you do..? make fewer trips to the park so your precious angel doesnt have to experience that because it breaks your heart which doesn't do him any good because he doesn't understand why he doesn't have friends some people think well he doesn't know because he is autistic they think he is naturally withdrawn but my son is different.. he doesn't know the meaning of withdrawn, he wants to be accepted and to be the center of attention but how can he be when he has no voice? and how about all those trips to childrens hospital to go through testing.. well 3-4 hours he sits in a room alone with strangers putting books, puzzles & other things infront of him some even non-verbal testing where all they do is hum and point at pictures & expect him to just understand and do what he's being told and act appropriate.. all the while not being offered food, drink or bathroom.. they say well he's severe autistic, has a low IQ and eventually they started sounding like the teachers on charlie brown cartoons where all you hear is wooomp wooomp wa woomp woomp wooooomp! I watch him with his speech device form complete sentences, i've seen him demonstrate reading & math & comprehension and i know there is no way the experts are right..i'm with him every day & his mind amazes me.. he has a photographic memory.. show him something once or twice & he's got it! especially if its on a computer or tablet or phone.. Emotionally though he is different.. things you would expect him to cry over like a sad movie such as ol yeller or if a kid he knows or any of us gets hurt you may expect him to show concern but no sadly, he does not.. BUT you watch me come home from work and immediately he's hugging me & he is very affectionate to his family..sometimes, he curls up next to me and plays his vreader. If something is funny to him or excites him, he's quick to share his joy with us even if he has no words or sign language to explain. So, this is what its like.. scary, nerve-wracking, wonderful, fun & amazing! Its certainly not for the faint of heart or for someone who has no time to dedicate to their kids because they require ALL your free time but its so worth it! I wouldnt trade him for anything and if i could "fix" him the only thing i would change is i would give him the ability to talk..i wouldn't change his personality one bit.. i really do love him just the way he is.