It's -10 degrees where I live in Minnesota as I write this. The windchill is worse at -27. It's been like this for much of this past week.
It's too cold to be outside for more than a couple of minutes. The boys have endless amounts of energy with nowhere for it to go. This is the time of year that gets hard for us. Cabin fever sets in. Throw in the fact that Charlie hasn't had any services since before Christmas....well, you can about imagine how things are going right now.
Between holiday schedules, staffing shortages and Covid exposures Charlie has been without his therapies for several weeks now. And we are seeing the down-hill slide. Of course Tyler and I use every tool in our tool box to help him and get him through the tough moments, but his therapies are part of his routine. And Charlie is very much about routine. He is also aware that a new person is supposed to start working with him in January, so he asks us every day when that person will be coming.
Charlie's thinking is very black and white so when someone tells him a new therapist is coming in January, he expects them in January. He is very concrete in his thinking. His mind doesn't think about all of the other possibilities that could derail their planning. And his mind definitely doesn't comprehend the fact that someone could start "around January" as in - could be January, could be February.
But between all the anxiousness, negotiating, de-escalating, sensory activities, and therapy tools there are moments of beauty too. He's the child who is stuck to my side constantly, wanting snuggles and movie sessions. He's the kid who has non-stop chatter about this and that, who wants to show off his lego creations and tell me every detail about how he built it. He's the child who can artfully avoid any activity he doesn't want to do. He's a master negotiator who keeps all of us on our toes.
All of our boys bring the brightest joy to our family, to our home. Focusing on their smiles and laughter and unique personalities doesn't make the hard go away, but it's what can help bring us through.
