If we could have somehow found a way to bottle up Mari’s energy I think it could have powered a small city.
She never seemed to wear out. She rarely took a nap. Kids with autism, it’s like their minds have a hard time shutting down. This is why you hear of so many who sleep two, three, maybe four hours every night. While the average person wouldn’t be able to function on a regular basis this way, those with autism, their minds work differently than ours. It’s like they can’t ever let the minds fully shutdown. They’re on a constant motor and have to keep going.
However, even though Mari hardly ever took a nap, she always did get many hours of sleep. I was very blessed with this because we know how it could have been.
She was constantly on the move. I can remember watching her in her room and I think the only time she sat down for any length of time was to read one of her books. it was more about looking at the pictures but for her it was perfect.
When she was watching TV she never sat still. She was constantly on the move. I have a video you can watch that can sum up how Mari was most of the time. Please tell me what you think. My hope is you see the same precious, energetic little girl that I do. She will always be missed.
Your comment about her not needing a lot of sleep is really interesting. My husband fits every category for Aspergers and he functions on an average of 4 hours of sleep every night. In our 11 years of marriage he has never come to bed before 3 or 4 a.m.
Wow, I’m trying to imagine that and I can’t because my poor little body wouldn’t function really well with out my 7 to 8 hours every night. I can go one, maybe two, with little sleep but after that it starts to become rough. But I’m not surprised about your husband. For whatever reason people autism, it’s like they don’t need as much sleep. Mari I think was one of the rare few who got 8 hours almost every night, and many times even more than that when it was the weekend or things like that. I know I was lucky because I know to many parents out there with little ones who have children who hardly get any.
She is beautiful, Kristena. Love those eyes! I’m so sorry for your loss.
Thank you Peggy for your sweet comments. She really was. She is very missed, as I’m sure you can imagine. At least she can live on through our memories, what we tell people and the photos or videos we can share. 🙂
So precious to see her – and her smile in the picture of you together in the “F” post. Love and miss her!
Sylvia, I know what you mean about missing her. She was such a precious little girl. Her smiles were contagious.
Mari reminded me of a family of kids we had in a church I served. All of them were, what was called back then, hyper-active. Those poor parents never got to slow down because their kids were literally jumping from wall to wall. Never stopped. You must really miss her. I would if she were mine. Blessings, Cass
Cass, I really do miss here. My brother was a very hyper-active little boy, and for a short time we were also raising his oldest son who was just like him as a kid. It wasn’t easy and I wondered how my mom had done it because she was a single mom. He has pretty severe ADHD and they didn’t give medicine back then like they do now. As you know, once you’ve worked any child who has a disability of some sort you know that you’ve forever been changed, in a positive way, because they have forever impacted your life. I feel blessed because Mari was one of them and she impacted so many lives. I can look back and am in awe in how just one little girl could affect so many.
Loved to see her in the video and the pic…full of energy and beautiful as ever 🙂
Thank you Diana. I’m with you, I love her in both. Here energy always amazed us.