Things have been so crazy-busy lately. Since June 18th, we have been to Utah for 4 days, home for 5, then I left for California for 4 1/2 days, home for 2, back to Utah for 4 days, home for 1 1/2, then to Boise for 2 days. We managed to be home for a week before spending a day at Girls' Camp, cooking for the Stake leaders. The next day I headed for Stanley to participate in the Mountain Momma's Craft Fair. That lasted 2 days. I am now home and so happy to be here, with no major things happening, relatively, for a little while. John does have Helaman's Camp for his priest-age boys next week, and in 2 weeks we will go back to Utah to spend a day with ALL the kids together. Taya & Kaleb will be up, so we are going to all be together. That will be awesome!
Anyway--In all this running and going, I have worried about how J would handle it all. Did I mention we also survived another seizure, and a panic/anxiety attack during all of this? In spite of it all, he really hasn't done too bad. It could have been much much worse. We have a month until school starts. I sure hope we can keep on a schedule and be ready for that. I have confidence that we will.
My challenge right now is getting him to keep the tv off during the day. I get distracted, cleaning and working, and don't pay attention to what he is doing, most days. Yesterday, it was afternoon before I realized he'd had it on all day. Today he is quite a bit more mouthy and sassy, thinking he is funny.
I took him with me when I went to Stanley last friday night. John came up the next morning and stayed a few hours, then took J home. I quickly figured out that wasn't a smart idea, to bring him with me. We were trying to set up Saturday morning and he was all over the place. For a little while, he made a friend who loves legos, so they sat under a tree for a long time, playing. After that, he was all over the fair, talking to people, making animal noises, etc. My stress level went thru the roof, trying to set up and keep track of him. Being my first fair as a vendor, that stress alone was phenomenal. Add trying to keep track of the boy on top of it, wow! It was a tough weekend for me. We made it thru, and lived to tell about it. But I definitely learned I don't take him with me without plenty of backup. Kim & Tyler were with me but they were trying to help me get the booth set up and ready to go. We have to have one person totally designated to watching the boy and nothing else. There was so much to see and so many sounds and smells. For a child who has the smell and hearing comparable to an animal, that is almost too overloading. And he wants everything he sees. I told him he could pick out one thing to buy, but he had to walk the whole place first, with a grownup, to see all there was, before he decided. Once he found something, and decided, there was no peace until he could go buy it. He perseverates on things so badly lately. Once he gets something on his mind, there is no peace until that happens or comes about. It doesn't do any good to tell him not to bring it up again, because he cannot get it out of his mind. Usually with Autistics, you need to prepare them in plenty of time, of an upcoming event or activity that may be a change in routine, or they will freak out. Not so with J. We cannot tell him we are going to do something or go somewhere until just before it happens, or we get no peace, and he works himself into a huge frenzy. Certainly makes life interesting.
Tonight is our ward Pioneer Day party. J absolutely loves going to these, but gets so overstimulated at them. He wants to be everywhere, talking to everyone, playing with everyone, in everyone's face, loud, mouthy and sassy. The ward members think it is all cute and funny, or don't say anything to stop him. It creates so much stress for John and I. We use to be able to skip the parties, and not say anything to him. Now he is more aware and paying attention at church, so he hears the announcements, gets the invitation, and wants to go. I just don't know. I am becoming more and more of an introvert, and just want to stay home. I suppose that isn't a very good thing either. We will just have to see how the afternoon goes. I am sure I will post an update on here.
No comments:
Post a Comment