Introducing Lizzy

When my eldest was one he started exhibiting some behaviours that were labelled as “challenging”. Around the two-year mark it became evident that it wasn’t just a developmental phase. Long story short, we began seeing a psychologist and started to explore what all this could be and what it could mean.
Thus began the very long, confusing and incredibly interesting diagnostic journey.

My son is a wonderful kid. He is passionate, caring, kind and imaginative among so many other things. He sees the world in a way that most don’t. But he also experiences challenges in a way most others don’t.
Emotional regulation is a big one. He’s a little person with very big feelings and is often completely overwhelmed by the world. At the moment we’re working on how to safely express those big feelings – everything from excited to angry.
He has more energy than an excited Labrador and “chases his tail” often, running, walking or spinning in circles.
He’s such a clever kid whose language developed quickly and loves to talk and talk and talk when he’s comfortable, especially about cars. He can recognise more makes and models of cars than the average adult can.
That said, he is silent when in a new situation (new place or person) and takes his time to warm up. He struggles with “appropriate” social interaction with his age group, he prefers parallel play and often sticks close to his favourite grown ups.
He was lucky enough to find a few friends that like him for him. It’s a bonus that their parents are very like-minded and a few of us are going through the same journeys. We are very blessed to have a small circle of close friends for him to grow up with and for me and my partner to seek support from.

Throughout this ongoing journey with him I’ve learnt, researched, and experienced a lot. There’s been so much to unpack and process. One day I was mulling everything over, thinking, thinking, and overthinking, and thinking some more. One of my many trains of thought started veering onto a track I hadn’t been down in a long time. A story idea was forming and that train of thought led me to Lizzy.

Lizzy is a sloth with a busy brain and bright personality who’s not like most “typical” sloths. I wrote the first draft page by page on my phone, inspired and desperate to bring Lizzy to life. Initially I wanted to create the book just for my son, but realised that the world could benefit from more books sharing the stories of kids like him. And so I began this new journey of becoming a published author.