So we have had some amazing gains over the past couple of weeks. The boy has woken up in the middle of the night and started to change out of pee soaked clothes and put on dry all by himself. He stomped his foot at me instead of hitting me when angry. He has cleaned up after himself at school (THRILLING his aide at school!). He has closed doors behind him, asked for things in clear ways, and helped with cooking. It has been a wonderful time of celebrating.
But please don’t think that means it’s all roses in the house.
We are still having violent meltdowns.
But you have to plug on and look at the positive side.
Just the other day I had to leave the Boy with my dad so I could go pick up kids from an event. The boy wanted to come with me. BOY was he mad that he couldn’t come. He had a meltdown that lasted an hour which included putting several holes in the walls and smashing the TV multiple times. Thank heavens for the new TV protector Hubby made. It survived and so did the TV.
Instead of letting this bring me way down for DAYS. My support team forced me to look at the positive. Please make sure you have a support team in place.
My boy wanted mom – that is not something typical for him and I need to embrace the new development. It is positive because he is connecting and it is a developmental stage he hasn’t gone through before. It means PROGRESS. This stage is always hard on a parent, but typically you are talking about a very young child. I am dealing with this stage with a child who is 11. So the tantrum over mom is more intense then a 2 year old’s. But it is a natural progression in social development.
So I need to focus on this being a Positive.
Even though it feels like a Negative.
It is all in our mindset. So try to keep it all in perspective. A dear friend of mine told me “this too shall pass”. She didn’t mean that Autism will go away. She didn’t mean that My life will someday be miraculously changed. She meant get through this day – or hour – or even this minute; because the crisis will eventually end and you will get a minute of peace. A minute to smile.
And if you are lucky, it might last the whole day <3
So for now I will stock my Grounding and Release essential oil blends by the gallon. I will make sure I keep my energy up with my Ningxia and Pure Protein Complete. I will tap into my support group regularly and I will try to grab 5 minutes a day to myself.
It will focus on the gains he has made.
I will survive the meltdowns.