Sunday, 16 February 2014

Weekend Part 2


We picked another cousin up on the way and experienced a very stop, start journey. Boy Wonder coped well. He and Cat Girl played on tablets and DS's all the way down. Once at the hotel we got ready for the reception. Boy Wonder started to become anxious about his electronic tablet as we said that we didn't want him to take it with him. 

As we waited for the taxi in the hotel bar, Boy Wonder baracaded himself in a corner behind some chairs. Cat Girl and little niece thought he was playing and tried to join in. He became angry and so I encouraged them away to let him have some quiet time. There were a lot of uncertainties for Boy Wonder to deal with. Where was he? What did the place look like? What would happen there? Would there be party games? We tried to reassure him as much as possible but he said that he needed his tablet to help him. We agreed that he could take it if he also joined in and played too. He agreed. 

At the reception Boy Wonder went straight to dance and seemed to be enjoying himself. However it soon became apparent that he was doing this to get his tablet quicker. He was also very hungry as because the journey was longer than we hoped we had no time to have dinner once there. 

Throughout the night Boy Wonder played for a while and then went on his tablet. As the night wore on it was harder to disengage him from the tablet. There was a small incident with a little girl and a balloon early on where Boy Wonder became upset and angry about the perceived injustice of her taking his cousin's balloon. Superman made up some story about finding said balloon under a table and Boy Wonder then went into 'over the top' apology mode. 

As the night went on it was clear that Boy Wonder was starting to lose control of the situation, with snippets here and there of aggression. We booked a taxi to return to the hotel and waited for it outside. He started to get loud, moved away from us to the other side of a large puddle and up a small banking. After a short taxi ride we got to the hotel and a very loud Boy Wonder had to be reminded several times to be quiet as it was late. 

In the room things came to a head quickly as Boy Wonder who looked very tired was demanding that he would be staying awake all night. He couldn't sleep, he needed lights on etc etc. Usually in these situations, if left, Boy Wonder will stay up all night and as a consequence will struggle more the next day. Not something we could take a chance on with a long car journey home ahead of us.  We did a bed shuffle and put Boy Wonder in with me for some firm hold. He reacted badly and screamed and shouted out in distress. At past midnight this was not good and two minutes of this horrendous noise seemed like a lifetime! However as the firm hold kicked in, he started to calm and I told them both a story about 'Naughty Annie.' I used to make these stories up for my sister years ago as kids. Soon after Boy Wonder was fast asleep. He then spent the rest of the night 'cat padding ' me with his feet!

We had a lazy start to the morning. Boy Wonder was last to get ready, being quite appalled that he couldn't lie down in the shower so demanded another one once home. After a mini battle to get him dressed, we left the room and strolled down for breakfast just before the end of service. It was a very nice cooked breakfast which was just what we needed! It was very noticeable that Boy Wonder was after some deep pressure as he was constantly wringing his hands and swinging between chairs in his arms. Superman did some press ups with him when we returned to the room to pack.

Afterwards we went for a walk along the sea front where it was surprisingly warm and sunny. Boy Wonder found some tar that had moulding itself on the rocks and been smoothed by the tide. He commented at how smooth it looked and how he liked the feel of it. We bumped into cousins down there and took photos of it for him and some others along the sea front.

We left to meet with other family for lunch before setting off home. Boy Wonder ate very little and spent most of his time on the tablet, with snippets of interaction with others.

The journey home was just as stop start as the way there. We are hoping to get back in time for Top Gear!

1 comment:

  1. Goodness me - what a lot happens in one evening. Hope you had a good time xx

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