Children are creatures of habit – children on the Spectrum more so.
It’s taken us a while to get the Monster into the swing of things in terms of a daily rhythm. Whether that day is a school day or not is immaterial. Case in point – on Friday, he was home from school for the day, but he still got up reasonably “early” and still wanted to get dressed. But while that’s not bad on a weekday, when I have to be up anyway, it’s not so great on weekends. Continue reading
The Monster likes baths.
Rather, the Monster likes to play in the bath. Unfortunately, when we’re on a tight schedule before school, bath time’s not really an option, so the Monster gets stuck with a shower… which he hates. Continue reading
For about two months now, we’ve been going on a decent schedule vis-a-vis the Monster’s school. He has some predictability with regards to his morning routine, followed by school, followed by homework, gymnastics or therapy…
And then this morning, the bus had to go and screw things up. Continue reading
Just one of those mornings today – I got back late last night from curling, and so it figures that the Monster would wake me up at 5 AM.
In his defense, I don’t know why he was awake. I don’t know if it was a matter of a bad dream, or just being bored, or whatnot, but I woke up to him screaming, and decided to intervene before he either woke his brother or his mother. Continue reading
Part of the usual morning routine is that the Monster starts asking for Sesame Street somewhere along the way.
Depending how early he’s starting, we either do or don’t have an issue with putting on a “Play With Me Sesame” for a bit, which probably is not the best thing for him really. It’s usually a factor of whether we think there’s enough time to see the episode before the bus arrives, or if he’ll disengage from a preferred activity cleanly without a fuss. Continue reading
The Monster is not a morning person, in general. I’ve seen more than a few articles talking about how stress hormones are higher in the morning, and how that affects general behavior in folks with Autism, and I can say that by and large, I agree with the consensus that it’s probably part of the problem.
So most mornings kind of go like this: Continue reading
Mornings can be a bit traumatic around our house.
Due to the long bus-ride to school – it hasn’t dipped below 75 minutes for him in the mornings – we have a tight schedule with getting everyone to where they need to be. The Monster has to be up and ready for the bus before 7:45, and I have to usually leave shortly thereafter for my own job. Continue reading
It’s hard, sometimes, to get folks to realize that the Monster is – at least according to the law – disabled.
As I emphasize everywhere, and as most of us parents in this situation emphasize, the Monster is for all intents and purposes a “normal” child. He runs, he plays in the water, he can climb structures. He has full use of all of his senses, even if sometimes his voice is more the matter of shrieks and yelling. Continue reading
We’re very blessed, I think, that during the school week, the Monster’s able to cope with how things vary on what’s supposed to be a fixed schedule. Continue reading
I’m not quite sure, now that I’m at the point where I am, that I remember what it used to be like when I was the Monster’s age.
Certainly, when I was his age, I was going to nursery school and the like. I’m sure that at that age, my mother was dropping me off daily and picking me up, not that I remember how much of the day I was there, if I liked it or not, etc. It never made much of an impression on me, apparently. Continue reading