A day in My Life

I have been living with my son's Asperger's for 12 years now- 5 years of which, we've had an actual title for it. We have our good days and our bad and everyday we wake up not knowing which one it will be.

A typical morning looks like this for me: I wake up at 6:15 to give him his Adderall. He's grumpy and doesn't want to take it- the only words that help are 'you can go right back to sleep.'  I then go back and try to lay down until 7, and sometimes he goes back to sleep, or stays quiet- but usually he starts with his tapping, clicking, banging noises. He then proceeds to aggravate his brother and eventually wakes him up, and his brother is Very grumpy in the morning. If I don't give Ty this 45 minutes to let the medicine kick in, he will yell, scream, kick and be completely out of control. We figured this process out just a couple years ago and it has been a total gift. Unfortunately, on the weekends, we don't wake up before him and so we ALL wake up with his tearing the house down.
 
Once I get him up for school (my husband works 3rd shift), it is a constant struggle to keep him on task. I've tried sooooooo hard to get them both to get their school stuff ready the night before- but it's thoroughly impossible. The majority of the days, he doesn't fight a whole lot- but he is still hyper, and making his annoying noises/banging all the way till it's time to leave.
 
His teacher has to have him call me every single day to tell me about his homework and any trouble he got into. And then when he gets home, he tries to get out of his homework by saying he did it on the bus. He is instantly hungry the moment he walks in the door and if I'm not paying close enough attention- he steals and hides food for later snacking. (At some point yesterday, he stole AND ate an entire loaf of wheat bread...)
 
Once he gets home, it's a matter of keeping the two boys from killing each other. I've honestly never seen 2 people who annoy each other so much, but yet can't stay away from each other. If I separate them, they find their way right back again. They fight over legos, seats on the floor, what to watch, even air!
 
I have to give him his medicine an hour before he goes to bed, to let it even start to work. Currently, he's taking Risperdal. We have to be in the room while he takes a shower; otherwise he fills up bottles and sprays the ceiling, emptying brand new bottles of soap. Getting him into bed is not usually a hassle, at least not lately, but he will get upset if he has to stop watching his show, etc... And then, lastly, it takes him an hour OR MORE to fall asleep. And then we start it all over again!