It always amuses me when I read other Autism related blogs and articles, what we find ourselves dealing with on the run up to Christmas. For this family it was sleep deprivation at its finest! We are pretty used to lack of sleep and functioning on reserve energy but this was something else. Boy Wonder has developed this fear of never waking up. He has got it into his head that unless someone wakes him up he will stay asleep forever. (we can only dream!!!) To manage his fear he has decided that he needs to remain awake. So not only are we battling with the usual sleep difficulties, we are now up against a very determined ' I will stay awake' mentality.
Secondary to the sleep issues Boy Wonder has remained just as fearful of a strange man entering the house, being reported to Santa for being naughty (as Boy Wonder truly believes that he is a bad child, no matter how we reassure him.) and being forgotten. So all in all the build up has been a barrage of stress and anxiety. Cat Girl on the other hand has been very excitable as most children are and enjoying the fun of Christmas for what it really is. A difficult balancing act for us but a brief glimpse of a 'typical' child believing in and enjoying the spirit of Christmas is the perfect tonic at times when our heads are caving in!
Christmas Eve brought a very late night due to all of the above and so Christmas day started at a nice, respectable 8am. We went through the usual routine of walking around the house to make sure that nothing was in the house that shouldn't be and then we entered the lounge to find arranged presents around the tree. Cat Girl ripped through wrapping paper and giggled excitedly. Boy Wonder meticulously opened presents and placed them where they needed to be. Santa had got him a adoption certificate for Winter the dolphin from Dolphin Tale which he was fascinated by. 'I am actually being trusted to adopt Winter?!' We later announced that we are taking them to swim with dolphins in the summer and we thought he was going to burst!
We had a quiet dinner and then family came for tea, Boy Wonder became fixated on the time they were coming and paced the house for quite a while. Towards the end of the evening he started to get irritated and attempted to control what was going on around him. He had done well to last this long to be fair as the change in routine was huge and the whole day, no matter how well planned was at times unpredictable.
Boxing Day was an improvement on last years almighty low as Boy Wonder and Super man went to the football. This seemed to install some normality into the day and the fact that they won was a bonus. The snow fell in the evening and didn't stop which meant that a day sledging, tomorrow would be in order.
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