Pre-Halloween Fun

I love this reminder that I borrowed from a fellow Autism mom: With Halloween upon us, please keep in mind, a lot of little people will be visiting your home. Be accepting. The child who is grabbing more than one piece of candy may have poor fine motor skills. The child who takes forever to pick out one piece of candy may have motor planning issues. The child who does not say trick or treat or thank you may be non-verbal. The child who looks dissapointed when they see your bowl might have allergies. The child who isn't wearing a costume at all might have a sensory issue (SPD) or autism.

Be nice. Be patient. It's everyone's Halloween!

Tonight we went to the school's Black and Orange Bash.  They hold this each year at the school for ages birth through age 5 where they have games, activities, trick or treating and snacks.  This will be our last year attending.  But tonight was a great reminder of the  paragraph above.  Charlie has been so excited about his costume.  And this is the first year he has really wanted to and really been excited to dress up.  He came up with his costume idea on his own as well. 

Charlie has bee pretty excited about being a Traffic Cop for Halloween, and in fact, wants to be one when he grows up.  Shoot for the stars, baby boy!

We hadn't been in the doors for more than 5 minutes before he began peeling his costume off.  Oh well, he at least put it on!  After his costume came off, he looked like he does any other day while doing the fun activities.  But you want to know what? He did the fun activities!  He participated and there were no meltdowns.  None!  His trusty police dog I mean sidekick, Sunny, was by his side the entire time.  

Costumes have been hard in the past, and not just for Charlie.  His twin brother Christian has never been a fan of dressing up either.  In fact, last year as we were getting ready to go trick or treating he suddenly refused to wear the costume he had picked out.  Flat our refused, but was so bummed that he wouldn't be able to go out with his brothers if he didn't have a costume on.  So, as a last minute act of desperation, we made him Jake from State Farm.  He was "dressed up" in regular clothes and happy as can be.  This year he has been set on being a puppy.  I finished his costume today and when he got home from school......yep, he refused to wear it! Ha!  But as you can see, we were able to work through it and he was really happy to be a puppy once he finally put it all on.

Easton went as a hockey player, which is awesome because we already have everything on hand.  And I must say, he makes a really cute hockey player!

One of the activities they had was "pumpkin smashing."  It was actually quite genius and so simple! They had the kids pound golf tees into pumpkins with a small mallet.  So easy and they all LOVED it!  Talk about a great motor and sensory activity!

So this week when all the littles come knocking on your door, be gracious.  Some of them may be facing some big obstacles while trying to have some fun.

Cabin Times

This past weekend we spent several days at a cabin with my side of the family.  We've been doing this for 5 years now and it's always a great time.  This year there were 6 boys ages 6 and under.  There was no shortage of noise going on in that house!

In years past it's always been a struggle for Charlie.  Being away from home for several nights in a row, being away from his comfort/safe place is hard for him.  There are usually numerous meltdowns, disregulation, and stress.  While Charlie still had some difficulty, he did very well.  This year he had Sunny.

Sunny did a great job as well.  If Charlie was busy playing, she would sit by and keep watch.

She always knew where Charlie was and kept an eye on him.  If he was playing on the swingset with the other kids, Sunny waited patiently for him to return.  

Throughout the week Charlie did well asking for Sunny when he needed her.  He would ask for her to come sit with him, sleep with him, play with him when he needed her most.  And Sunny willingly obliged.  Every.  Time.  

Any time Sunny had downtime or waited for Charlie she had the opportunity to explore around the cabin, outdoors, went for walks, played fetch or simply took a nap.  She loved sitting outside on the back porch where she had a great view of everything.  

Each day we were at the cabin we had special visitors, friends and family that would stop by and catch up.  One special visitor held Charlie's attention.  Our good friends came by one afternoon with their Diabetes detection service dog, Gilbert.  Gilbert and Charlie have always held a special connection with one another over the years.  Whenever we would be at family gatherings that Gilbert would be at, the two of them would always spend time with one another.  Years ago it was our friends who told us about Autism service dogs and encouraged us to look into it through the agency they got Gilbert.  They knew Charlie had a special bond with our own family dog and could clearly see how connected Charlie was with Gilbert.  We are so grateful for their insight and support over the years.  Unfortunately, Charlie would still be on the wait list with that agency for another couple years if we hadn't found Mike and Sunny.  

We are beyond blessed to have Sunny for Charlie.  Each day their bond grows.  And each day Sunny proves to be more and more valuable to Charlie.  We look forward to seeing their future together. 

Alarm Clock

It's no secret that bed time is tough at our house.  It's not uncommon for bed time to last 2-3 hours before Charlie is down.  It's been this way since birth.  We can count on one hand how many times bed time has been easy.  But mornings aren't much better.  Charlie is so not a morning person.  He is really hard to get out of bed in the morning.  And now that he's in school it's difficult to make sure he's up and ready on time.  BUT....enter Sunny. 

Sunny was trained to Charlie's alarm clock so when it goes off in the morning, Sunny knows to go in and help wake Charlie up.  We've had some great success with this.  Charlie is excited to be woken up by Sunny and helps him start his day off right.  

The video below is a little dark, but gives you a quick idea of a portion of our morning during the week.