My Autism Insights

It’s been a roller coaster of a weekend for us, and I’m even more convinced that there’s some level of SAD going on with Gus.  His mood swings are disconcerting and I’d be lying if I said they weren’t a little annoying as well.  He’ll be going along just fine and then out of the blue gets very contrary, defiant, and difficult.  He’s even been giving me a hard time about meals, and he’s always been an incredibly good eater.

We spent a very nice day with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, which included a mountain hike. I thought the outdoor time would do Gus good, and I think it did for a while, but he was also intent on giving me a heart attack.  He made a run toward a sharp drop-off on our way out of the park.  I guess it was a bad idea to have a talk with him about staying away from the cliffs - it seemed to make him curious about what would happen.  He had no fear about them, but before bed he had a meltdown because we’d all been joking about bears being in the park.  He fears the imaginary danger and the real danger is totally lost.  It can be impossible to know what to try to prepare him for and what not to say.

It was also interesting how much he slept yesterday - in the car going to the park, most of the way home, and straight through the night.  I fully expected a 3 am wakeup.

He had a pretty good day today, even though we had to stay in because it was a rainy, snowy mess outside.  He didn’t get grumpy until dinner because I made turkey pot pie, which he usually loves.

Hopefully, the comfort of his school routine will help settle his nerves at least for a couple of weeks, until our routine is shattered again with the holidays.

On a side note, NanoWrimo officially ends tonight, and I finished with an official word count of just over 52,ooo words.  So, now that I’m not obsessively cranking out a novel, hopefully my posts will get a little more interesting again!  Hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend!  Back to the grind tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers, and a general Happy Day to those outside the U.S.!

I’m taking a break from cooking,  cleaning, and watching Teen Titans Trouble in Tokyo  to record what I’m thankful for today:

I am thankful to have my sister coming to visit for the day because we don’t see her nearly enough.   She’s going to spend the night and we may hit the stores bright and early for Black Friday.  Good times!

I am thankful that Gus is pretty calm today and MM has been incredibly helpful, and things are actually getting done - even with me having an audiobook plugged in my ears for most of the morning while I cleaned.   This has so far been one of the most mellow and relaxed holidays we’ve had in a long time.  Thanksgiving 2008 for the win!

I am thankful that my workload is very close to completion and I haven’t cracked yet!  I believe my novel will be complete by the 30th, and all my deadlines will be met by the 1st barring any unforeseen drama.  It’s a nice sense of accomplishment.  And speaking of accomplishment - I see I’ve been awarded another Lemonade Award, and I’m grateful for that too!  So I’ll choose some new recipients tomorrow!

Have a wonderful and safe day, all!  And please share your gratitude in a comment!

Yesterday, I had the brilliant idea that I would take both kids to see Wall-E by myself.  I got over that little moment of crazy.  Instead, I traded for a slightly different crazy.  We tried chocolate today.

Gus has never reacted well to chocolate.  It tends to make him a little ‘nutty.’  But earlier this week the kids helped make brownies for their dad’s birthday, so it seemed wrong to not let him have any.  At least I wasn’t dim enough to give it to him when he had school the next day.  It will be interesting to see if I actually get a full night’s sleep…

I figured earlier would be better, so I let them have brownies for their morning snack.  This may seem irresponsible, but considering we were up at 5 and they’d had breakfast hours before, it wasn’t such a big deal.   He was okay for about 2 hours.

By noon, I turned to look at him and asked myself, “What have you done?”  Jumping on the sofa, racing through the house…typical behaviors for Gus, but with an extra manic glint in his eyes.  It was a little scary.  By two o’clock, I couldn’t take any more, especially since he kept insisting on having Charlie Rose on.  I told the kids to go play in their rooms and we were taking a break from TV.  I spent the next hour wondering if I should call an exorcist.  Holy cow, the meltdown!  Defiance, anger, tears, calling names (mostly toward his sister, not me)…At one point I had to carry him up to his room and got an elbow to the lip (I think that was an accident though).  All that for shutting the TV off for 45 minutes.

We did get outside for a little while and he’s going through bouts of calm and crazy, alternating.

Why did I bother since I could have predicted all these things?  Well, I figured that he’s older now and maybe his body chemistry has changed enough that he can have it once in a while.  Clearly I was wrong.  If I get lucky, it won’t corrupt his system for the usual 48 hours and I might have my boy back by tomorrow.

Thanksgiving Thursday Thankfulness tomorrow!

  Tomorrow begins the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  While I love having my kids home, there is always the problem of how to entertain them all by my lonesome.  That challenge is compacted right now because I’m working at home so there are deadlines, and more deadlines, and oh yeah look another deadline.  I’ve got editing to do by Friday; 4000 words to write by Monday; and a novel to finish before Sunday.  Then there’s that pesky holiday to get ready for on Thursday.  How do I accomplish all that and still keep two kids busy?  Clearly, I can’t, right?  Or can I?

I have this crazy idea that I can still make a Herculean push these last 5 days and get everything done.   I think I may have to give up a few extra hours of sleep this week, perhaps just not sleep the rest of the week.  I plan to bribe the children with a movie if they give me a few hours to work tomorrow - High School Musical 3.  Or maybe we’ll check out Wall-E at the second-run theater.  And while I am fully aware that attempting to take the both of them to a movie on my own is probably a good indicator the beginnings of a nervous breakdown, I’m going to try it anyway.

Could it be that I’m sounding like the breakdown’s already begun? Not quite - close, but not quite.  Just having a strange combination of manic energy and not wanting to do anything but listen to Twilight on audio - otherwise known as procrastination.  See, so why should my kids be cooped up because I’m a chronic procrastinator?

I’m not sure how the loudness will sit with Gus, and MM may get bored halfway through.  I fully expect that one will end up wanting to leave and the other will want to stay…or one will want to roam and the other will want to sit.  It will likely be a disaster.  But what’s one more disaster to the big dope who managed to get so overloaded with stuff to do?  We’ll just call it an adventure and move on.

Plus, it will give me something to blog about tomorrow, providing we’re all still in one piece.  My posting may be sparse for the next few days.  There’s only so many words my brain can process in a day.

So, if I don’t post tomorrow or the day after, wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and wish me luck that my brain survives the next few days!