We are the Freeman’s…
We are Anth, Kate, Charlie and Jack plus our two pooches Weller and Lola.
We are ‘our normal’, whatever that may be! It’s an overrated word anyway! As who wants to be ‘just’ normal right?! that’s boring isn’t it?!
We have another addition to our household…
Autism.
Which can be a blessing, a bumpy ride, stressful, hilarious, amazing, heart warming and heart breaking. But we go with it, whatever it throws at us, as it’s here to stay and so are we!
Charlie, our eldest son, is 10 years old. At 2 years old he was diagnosed and our awareness began! He has autism and Severe learning difficulties. Charlie is also nonverbal. He is wonderfully beautiful and innocent to the world we live in, which we see as both a gift and a danger all at the same time. He has a cheeky smile, and loves cuddles. He is a sensory seeker! so his trampoline, bouncer and loud music make his life! He also loves water! And will eat anything!! Food or non food he’s not fussy! Charlie is amazing! It is hard not to smile in his presence!
We spend most of our time trying to tune into Charlies frequency (hence the title!) and understand what he needs/wants. A day in his world would be amazing so we could see the beauty he sees, the details he observes and try to understand the struggles he can’t cope with that cause him to meltdown and become so anxious.
Jack is a wonderful little brother. He has taken on the role of the big brother. And he fiercely protects Charlie. He is accepting of every situation and the love he shows for his big brother makes us so proud to call him our son! He is a passenger on this journey and he is the most understanding child ?
We started this page to show awareness of ONE family living life with autism. We say ONE, as we are us, we are not what autism is, we are not experts or what all families with autism look like, and we would never claim to be. we are what it looks like for us. We are not amazing in anyway, we get through days and weeks, mostly on little sleep. the best way we know how. We laugh through a lot of it, we cry through some of it, but mostly we just muddle through and learn as we go!
We wanted to share a little with you…An honest journey of our ups, our downs, the wonderful progress made and damn right funny things we encounter and live through!
We hope you enjoy coming along for the journey too!
Thanks for stopping by…
Much love,
The Freeman’s xxx