Ethanism...

[mommymarine26]

This was the e-mail I sent to our family to tell them about the diagnosis... 

 

Once upon a time, after a great deal of heartache, a heart started beating on a monitor. That was the day my life changed...the day my heart grew three sizes and I fell in love with a beautiful, wonderful, amazing little creature...Ethan.  
 
We experienced a struggle before and after he was born. I can't count how many times I have struggled not to cry in front of him and the countless times I have cried along with him during meltdowns. Even worse, the misunderstanding that comes from other parents, the looks, the questions, the rude comments from some people when they don't know. He has struggled with communication and coordination, fitting in with his peers, being misunderstood by daycare providers and forced into regression by daycare experiences simply because he wasn't potty trained. I can't immagine how hard this has all been for him, I see all of his frustration out of confusion and inability to communicate at times.
 
So, after a couple of years of begging doctors for answers, lots of creativity, patience, persistence, prayer, sleepless nights, trial and error, tons of love, understanding, and learning...we have a diagnosis.
 
Ethan is Autistic.
 
We now begin chapter 2 of helping Ethan make sense out of the puzzle he sees everyday. He really is my hero. He has come so far and accomplished so much and I can't even express in words or actions how much I love and respect him and how proud I am to be his mommy and I know Adam feels the same way.
 
So thank you all for your support and thank you for loving and accepting my son for who he is...Ethan. God has blessed us with this challenge and He has blessed us with the ability to overcome. But Ethan will always be Ethan and we will not treat him any other way and I know some day I will watch him walk across a stage with a diploma in his hand and a beautiful future ahead of him.

So we will not refer to it as Autism, it will be Ethanism.

The reason I have chose to refer to it as "Ethanism" is because from my research and just life in general, every child is unique and they have something amazing to bring to this crazy melting pot we call life. It's important to not treat them any different or treat this as a disability...it's not, I see it as an enhancement of his personality. Children with Autism are so amazing. They have so much personality.  He has his strengths and challenges just as every other child has. So while it would of course be every parent's dream to have a perfectly "normal" child who excelled at everything... I realize that God gave me this exceptionally amazing little creature and it's my job to help him be all the Ethan he can be.