Insight is Key...and so is Sunny

Insight is key when it comes to Charlie understanding what sets him off and what can help.  When there's insight, we can work to help him find ways to cope with what sets him off or triggers him.  Recently, Charlie told one of his skills workers during a session that stores and loud places are his weakness.  Aha!  Well, honestly, Tyler and I already knew this but for Charlie to recognize this on his own...and verbalize it, is huge.

Other things Charlie knows he has a hard time with include showers/baths, haircuts, car rides, winter coats (and hats and mittens, boots, etc).  And really, we try to help him walk through these things that are inevitable and are just part of life, but sometimes there's no easy way around it.  For example, everyone needs to bathe.  There's no way around that.  So we try to have certain washcloths, soap, towels available for him to use that make it easier.  Unfortunately bathing is something Sunny really can't help with.

Hair cuts...we try to do this as minimal as possible since it is so terrible for him.  We've tried so many different ways to do this without making him miserable and there hasn't been anything that does the trick. And right now we're on the verge of pushing it too far.  It's gotten to the point his hair is so long that he refuses to comb it (trust me, this kid has some crazy hair), but then he refuses to cut is as well.  Tyler and I usually just buzz it at home, but wish us luck, this week we're going to attempt taking him somewhere for someone else to cut it.

Lately Charlie has had a really difficult time when I leave the house for any period of time.  He's always had a hard time with this, but he can usually handle mom being gone for a couple hours and keep it together.  Right now that's not the case.  We always prep him if we know I'll be gone for a little while.  Usually TONS of prepping happens when we know I'll be gone on a business trip for a week or so.  But right now, any amount of prepping is not helping.  On Friday I was gone for a meeting for exactly 1 hour.  And this is part of what I came home to.

Yep, that's two huge baskets of clean and folded laundry just totally upended and thrown around.  Besides that we have a couple new holes in our walls and a child who cannot be calmed.  It took some time, but with the help from our amazing essential oils and his girl Sunny, we made some headway and eventually calmed down.

So, now to find some new tactics to get Charlie to feel comfortable so mama doesn't feel captive in her own home!  Charlie's workers will start helping him find ways to cope when he's out in the community as well.  Sunny has already made some great strides in that area, but eager to help him learn some new skills that can hopefully make going out a little more bearable.  Sunny has made it possible for us to be able to go out to eat at restaurants- granted, we don't do it a lot, but we can do it with her help!