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!

  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!

Sunday is the new Thursday this week

I am most thankful today because last week ended and it truly stunk.  As any mature adult named Andrea would do, I have blacked it off of the calendar and will just pretend it never existed.

I am thankful that Gus’s soccer game got cancelled yesterday.  It was a shame, because it was the last game of the season, but if I had to spend an hour and a half in the pouring rain, I think I would have had to be institutionalized, especially after the week that shall not be named.

I am thankful that Gus, with all his issues, acts like a typical big brother toward MM.  This includes getting thoroughly sick of her and doing everything in his power to escape her while she insistently follows behind him, rattling on, non-stop.  They’ve been fighting on and off all weekend, and he finally thought he was getting a break by going out with his Dad, until he found out that his sister was actually ready and we were coming too.  Oh, the horror!  The girls are coming!  It’ll be good practice for him when instead of having to escape a whining sister, he’s trying to get away from a nagging wife.  We can hope.

Hope you had a great weekend, and if you’ve got something to be thankful for, by all means, please share!

P.S. I’ll be extra thankful when November is over. My Nano wordcount is 28,541. A little more than halfway there.

Prompt by Mo over at Manic Monday !  Thanks, Mo!

The Mystery of the Ghost

as told to me by Gus

In a haunted mansion in Transylvania, on a Thursday, in March, there was a weird sound.  It was a ghost.

“What an emergency!” one of the people shouted.

First, it threw a rock.  The rock was almost thrown into deep space.  It wasn’t like it was elementary or something, but the ghost said, “WOOOOOOO!”

“One North America…two North America…” said a voice.

“What was that?” said another voice.

Then another voice went, “Ya ya ya!  Ya ya ya!”  That was just a bunch of people in daycare.  The ghost got confused and went back into the grave until all that, “Ya ya ya! Ya ya ya!” stopped.

The End

P.S. Have you seen Transylvania?

My son, budding mystery/suspense author…or comedian.  I swear, I did not change a single word.  I’m struck by the fact that the ghost didn’t like noise, and also very amused by the opening line.  If only I could remember to have that level of specificity in my own fiction…

Anyway, try having your kids make up some ghost stories & let us know how it works out!  Happy Monday, y’all!

So I’ve learned that I have bronchitis , which explains a great deal, like why I couldn’t breathe yesterday.  However, lack of oxygen will not keep me from showing gratitude today!

1. I am thankful for my extended family for insisting that I go to the doctor today instead of tomorrow.  An extra day without antibiotics would not have been the best idea in the world.

2.  I am thankful that Gus has found a sport and a team that he can enjoy and feel accepted just as he is. Yet, I am also thankful that there isn’t a game this weekend because he really needs to recuperate from his illness this week.

3. I am thankful that the music and headphones strategy has so far been working nicely.  Did I mention that when he was home sick on Tuesday, he sat for several minutes writing a story without me having to check on him once?  I set him up, told him what he needed to do, and he did it independently while I helped MM with her homework.  That was an amazing thing.  And the story was pretty funny too!  I found a Halloween writing prompt online, just to give him something to do besides TV watching, and he wrote about a ghost who couldn’t spell ghost (he spelled is gost).  Totally stream of consciousness, totally funny.

Please share your gratitude in a comment and have a healthy week!