I just discovered that Blogger finally added more than just the same, plain-jane fonts to their Design-Your-Blog repertoire! Being a connoisseur of fine fonts, I decided to re-decorate, as it were. :) Color Me Pink! :)
The last week and two days has gone swimmingly in the drop-off arena. I am so happy that we're finally reclaiming our routine and Hayden seems to enjoy going to school once again. I did read something last night, however, that would require further research and lots of creative solutions. In Temple Grandin's book, The Way I See It, she mentioned that anxieties for individuals on the spectrum can increase as the person gets older. In an interview with Dr. Tony Attwood, Ms. Grandin was asked where she would spend $10 million for research, either in existing areas or new areas. As part of her answer, this is what she said:
"...Another really bad thing, especially in the high-functioning end of the spectrum, is that as the people get older, they get more and more anxious. Even if they take Prozac or something else, they're so anxious, they have a hard time functioning..."
This seems to be happening with our kiddo. How she reacts when her triggers are pulled has changed as she's grown. For instance, she never gave a crap about being smeared with food or mildly damp (drool, milk, pee diaper, etc.) as a baby and toddler. Now, we've reached the level where if her little butt isn't bone-dry after she goes pee, we have to change underwear. Same thing if she spills juice, milk, water, or food on herself...she MUST change clothes. She started bringing me the "zizzors" with a shirt and saying, "help." That meant she wanted me to cut the tag out of the shirt. Her drop-offs at school have been going well, as I mentioned. And I think it may have to do with her holding onto her "baby" for a few extra minutes instead of putting it "night, night" in her bag when she first arrives. She is suspicious of movies when we go to them because she has grown a healthy fear of certain types of animated characters. I am not sure exactly what seems to be the problem. Big, googly eyes? Scary voices? There doesn't seem to be a one-size-fits-all approach...that I can recognize yet, that is. It is for this reason that her once-beloved Veggie Tales go unwatched and very staunchly ignored.
So I'm trying to use my creativity to practical use and come up with fail-safes to assuage her anxieties over these things. Lots of hugs. Keep the baby with her. Tell her it's OK. Although, these don't seem too creative. I've also tentatively pushed her to try and accept certain things. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. We took her to see Gnomeo and Juliet on Valentine's Day evening. She was adamantly against it as we walked in. She kept repeating, "No cute little gnomes!" But the trailers of children's movies (like Winnie the Pooh) seemed to ease her into the experience...along with some popcorn :)...and once the movie started, she was fine. Living this way requires a lot of trial and error and even more patience than I can sometimes muster. But she is worth it so I charge on.
Well, that's the look of things from our castle, today. This life is ever-changing and sometimes very hard but God gives us the strength, the patience, the grace to keep at it. Oh! And in case you haven't seen it on my Facebook page, I started a photo blog as a project. It is called Project365 and the point is to take a photo everyday for a year. Now I really went and complicated this very simple task for myself by pledging to take one photo myself AND make sure that Kiddo takes one with her new camera as well! So far, we're chugging right along! There has been a day or two where I've had to play catch-up from the day before but so far, so good! Check it out HERE if you get a chance! Lots of love from us today. Have a great one!
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