Not Your TYPICAL Movie Experience

A couple months back we attempted a movie together as a family at a movie theater and it didn't quite go as we had hoped.  At that movie Charlie barely made it a half an hour into the movie and had a massive meltdown in the lobby of the theater.  I guess it didn't surprise me too much as I had tried taking the boys to movies on my own in the past and I knew Charlie couldn't sit still, but it was the first time we had gone as a family.

I'll call this 'Happy Wrestling'

Today we decided to attempt the movie theater again.  The boys are getting a little stir crazy with this cold weather and we needed to get out of the house.  The boys chose the movie Jumanji and unlike last time, this time we were prepared.  We were armed with many tools to make it a successful trip.  Our tools included Charlie's blankie, noise canceling headphones, a handful of M&Ms, a stop at the concession stand for popcorn and Icee, and of course-Sunny.  We also did a lot of prep talk with Charlie before going to the movie and talked about ways to stay calm or ask for help if he got overwhelmed.

Thankfully no one was sitting directly in front of or behind us- they may not have enjoyed everything we needed to do to get through the movie.  We got settled in, ate some popcorn and the boys enjoyed their Icees.  Before long Charlie started movin' and shakin'.  He was really restless in his seat, turning around and facing backwards, talking, and bouncing around, asking to go sit over there then over here.  I found that continually engaging him about the movie helped keep him interested.  Several times Charlie got down with Sunny and snuggled her (she was laying right in front of him).  It definitely wasn't your typical movie experience, but you know what.....it worked for us.  No one else was disrupted, but we got through it the way we needed to, and sprinkled a little happy Autism along the way.

Unfortunately no pictures from the theater came out clear enough to see.  But Sunny did beautifully as well.

Holidays are Hard

This time of year is always the hardest.  Schedules are different, sleep patterns disrupted, diet....ha, well, might as throw that out the window.  Big gatherings of people, lots of commotion, jetting here and then there, sensory overload and then not knowing what to do with all the emotions that follow.  Holiday times can be hard for any neurotypical person.  Throw in a 5 year old boy with Autism and it can be an intense time.

We have made it through the thick of the holiday this last weekend and now trying to get through a week off of school.  Christmas Eve proved to be the most challenging day with 2 different stops, the transition in between and a late night.  Sunny was an important tool to help Charlie get through. The picture below shows how Sunny puts her head in Charlie's lap during car rides so he can snuggle her to help with the stress of the car ride and transition.  Charlie was having a meltdown during the short 20 minute car ride to the second Christmas gathering of the day and Sunny did her job beautifully.

Having Sunny by his side consistently is the key.  We've noticed Charlie's mood and behavior can stay pretty even when Sunny is with him and within reach.  Having to seek her out can be stressful to him.  Luckily, by the time we reached our next destination Charlie had settled, having had some Sunny time.

Charlie asked Santa for a Fedora this year.  I din't think he could get any cuter...until now.

Christmas morning was a nice relaxing morning.  We weren't rushed and were able to take our time to enjoy each other and open gifts from one another.  The biggest highlight of the morning was the reveal of one of our Christmas gifts to the boys.  A rock climbing wall in our house that they can use any time!  Crazy, right?!

Tyler and I are always looking for different therapy tools for Charlie.  When one of his therapists suggested getting a membership to a local climbing gym to help Charlie with some sensory input, we knew that would be hard to do for our family.  One, climbing memberships are expensive.  Even if Charlie's membership could be paid for through some of his disability funding, the remainder of our family would still need to pay for a membership.  And two, finding time to go to the climbing gym and prepping Charlie for that outing would be a task in itself.  So a few weeks ago Tyler and I started talking about building one in our own house that the boys could use at any time.  Tyler started building the walls and we found some climbing holds that someone local was selling.  An idea was born and we put it into action.  And boy has it been a hit so far!

Tyler adding on some holds Christmas morning

Christian trying it out

The main climbing wall is located in our main living room upstairs and will be extended on both sides of the hallway as well.  There are rules in place to ensure the boys' safety and if they don't follow the rules they will lose their climbing privileges.  So far this hasn't been an issue.  We plan to put a belay system in so we can safely help the boys climb if they want to climb higher.  Their climbing harness came in the mail today.  Yep, we mean business!

Later Christmas day was our last Christmas gathering.  Smaller group, yet still busy.  And by this time in the busy weekend Charlie (and Easton and Christian too!) had about enough.  They just wanted to be home, wanted to try out some of their new gifts and just relax.  Charlie was able to utilize Sunny during this gathering to help be calm.

We spent the rest of the evening on Christmas day back at home.  And between the new climbing wall and the help of Sunny- we were able to divert some meltdowns that could have been catastrophic. Charlie was done for the weekend.  It was clear how much climbing was helping Charlie that evening as he couldn't get enough of it.  He would climb over and over again.  Followed by some deep pressure from Sunny during a movie and Charlie was golden.  

Service Dog work can be exhausting

Now to get through the rest of the week unscathed.  No school and a schedule that still doesn't have the structure of a normal week...we still have our work cut out for us.  

We hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy new year!

Haircuts are the Worst

Tonight was the dreaded haircut night at our house.  We've been putting this off for a couple weeks now because it's never easy.  Charlie hates haircuts.  There is no part of a hair cut that Charlie likes.  We usually need to start prepping Charlie a few days before the haircut so he isn't totally thrown off.  However, prepping this time did not help at all.  In fact, when I told him a couple days ago that we were doing haircuts, he was visibly scared and then ruminated about it for several hours.

No matter what we do, Charlie hates haircuts.  He hates the way the clippers sound and feel on his head.  He hates the way the hair feels when it touches his skin.  We've tried haircuts in a salon, with scissors, with clippers, with a cape, without a cape, with towels wrapped around him, with bribes.  No matter what we do we've never had a simple- easy-going haircut.

Our usual go-to plan is quick and simple.  Dad usually needs to hold him or hold his hands while mom buzzes with the clippers as fast as possible.  There's always tears, screaming, squirming and trying to get away.  We can usually get it all done in under 5 minutes.  Nothing fancy, no layers, no styling, just quick and simple.  

Tonight was followed by lots of Sunny snuggles to help recover from such an event.