Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Smitten.

A late start to the morning for Boy Wonder meant that I could clean out the rabbits and chickens before he woke. This task was completed in pj bottoms, an old fleece belonging to Superman and his crocs. This wasn't a problem as I was in the back garden until a work colleague arrived to pick up some parcels on her way in. Well it gave her a giggle!

This morning we went to get some Halloween decorations and did a little food shopping. Not an ideal activity for Boy Wonder so we just got the basics. The shop was also quiet (until we arrived!) and Boy Wonder set to work on reinacting adverts connected to the products he could see and shouting across the shop every time he noticed a 50p off offer. There were quite a few! We then went to one of those pound shop places for Halloween decorations and bought a few ghosts, spiders and a 5 ft Frankenstein. We then went home to have lunch and decorate.

Boy Wonder's sessional worker came this afternoon to do some work with him on safe mobile phone use, safe lists, what to do if scenarios and being polite. She seemed impressed by his understanding  of the rules which was reassuring.

Later we went back to the pharmacy to collect Cat Girl's chocolate movicol and Boy Wonder's medication. Cat Girl's had to be reordered and Boy Wonder's script got lost and then was found so took longer than expected. We dashed home to get ready for the party that they were invited to at the Local pub for a girl at school.

The party was a disco and was very loud and very hot. Boy Wonder and his best friend went from irritated and frustrated to high and loud! Boy Wonder clearly wasn't coping too well and became angry over the smallest things. Although Cat Girl and the others seemed to enjoy the party, Boy Wonder  really struggled and once back in the car made it very clear that he said he didn't want to go!

Boy Wonder settled down and watched Nigjtmares of Nature. They were showing a Condor which they sarcastically described as beautiful. Boy Wonder said ' What, that's not beautiful, that's ugly. My girlfriend is beautiful. Nothing can compare to her beauty!' What a gorgeous sole he is and really dotes on this girl.

Boy Wonder chose to settle down on my lap tonight, something that he hasn't done for a while. After a fair bit of fidgeting and chatting he was soon asleep.

A typical half term kinda day

We had a steady morning. A very high and giddy Boy Wonder made for a pleasant change to the low mood and aggression. I  packed the morning full of activity to keep him on a level which seemed to work well. He made a cake, made a pie for Super Man's tea and some flap jack. Cat Girl and I made syrup surprises and choc chip muffins.

At lunch time we had a meeting with the resource worker to complete a referral for sibling positive play sessions at home. The idea being not only to provide evidence of how Boy Wonder's anxiety impacts at home but to give Cat Girl some coping strategies when it all gets a bit much. I really think that this could work so looking forward to seeing it in action. The assessment will then feed into the next review.  During the meeting Boy Wonder became very stressed as I was no longer keeping him occupied and shouted, slammed doors and became quite demanding. He settled after a while and we continued. He then went to watch TV and became very excited about the next space mission to Mars! He is up and down like a yo-yo!!

After lunch we took Cat Girl to her Doctors appointment where she was referred to the hospital for tests due to ongoing stomach cramps and constipation. She was also prescribed chocolate movicol, sounds lovely! Lets hope it offers some relief. We then went over to the pharmacy to get the new medication that is now on order ( obviously not much call for it!) and to pick up Boy Wonder 's altered medication which wasn't ready. Oh well back tomorrow!

Boy Wonder then went to Art Therapy and finished off his Halloween bat which is pretty remarkable. I will post a picture later on the Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Autism-The-Life-of-a-Superhero/559661697404852

Cat Girl went off to Jiu Jitsu and I handed over parental responsibility to Super Man in the car park so that I could dash off to work to do payroll.

Boy Wonder rang me a little later into the evening asking when I would be home? I explained that I couldn't give an exact time but I would be as quick as possible. I arrived home at 11.30pm and he was sat up in bed waiting for me! It's like having a possessive husband sometimes!! I encouraged him to go to sleep and he then spent the next half an hour singing lullabies to dolphin. Beautiful !


Tuesday, 29 October 2013

Side Affects

Boy Wonder woke this morning at a reasonable hour and looked physically brighter. He was however, very full on and all over the place with his mood. Luckily we had a bit of time to get things together this morning before going to his new holiday club. It took an age to get him ready and then disaster struck!

Boy Wonder had run upstairs to get his new drink bottle that he had for his birthday and became distracted. I shouted him to come back downstairs so he came running and threw his bottle down the stairs and it cracked. There was a lot of crying and anger and demanding that I bought him a new one. I explained that what he did wasn't an accident so he would need to buy himself one. He became more upset saying that it wouldn't be the same. He cried a lot and then through tears said 'I am going to kill myself, I want to die.' I went over to him and hugged him and he cried for a long time. I then explained to him that his action broke the bottle so he needed to take responsibility. Boy Wonder responded by saying that if he bought another one, it wouldn't be a present anymore. I agreed with him that if he helped me do a job then I would buy one for him. He agreed and went and gave the rabbits food and water and collected the eggs. The emotion started to disperse through being distracted and we collected our stuff and went to his club.

On the way to the club I asked him how he was feeling and he replied by saying that he wasn't sure. I asked him if he really felt that he needed to kill himself and he said no, he was just very upset. When we got to the club I spoke to his 1:1 worker about this morning and asked her to keep an eye on him, more so because of his unsettled mood. She asked if there was a reason for low erratic mood and I explained that it was likely to be the after affects of the general anaesthetic from yesterday.

On picking Boy Wonder up later he seemed a lot bright and his worker reported that he had been very busy and 'hadn't shut up all day!' This is fairly typical for Boy Wonder but it wasn't until later that I realised how intense with it he had been.

We arrived home, ate tea quickly with the returning Cat Girl who had been with Grand parents and Super Man and went off to the theatre. Boy Wonder and Cat Girl 's cousin was in a production there and Boy Wonder was especially keen as he rarely gets to watch such performances as he is usually in them.

It was very busy when we arrived and BoyWonder reacted immediately to this by getting higher and higher! We went to sit down ready for the performance and he just couldn't sit still. As the performance started he kept trying to point out his cousin and wanted to know exactly where she was at each time. He sang loudly to the songs, danced in his seat and generally enjoyed it in his own way. The show was very long and went on for an hour and a half before the interval and then another hour and a half in the second half. We decided to leave in the interval and Boy Wonder seemed immensely relieved by this. We met their cousin at the stage door and congratulated her on her performance and walked back to the car together.

Boy Wonder struggled to settle tonight, up and down the stairs like a yo yo. He finally went to sleep about midnight.

Sunday, 27 October 2013

The day of the MRI scan

The clocks went back in the early hours which gave us an extra hour in bed. I have never really seen the point to this before but today it really helped! Boy Wonder couldn't have anything to eat after 7.30am due to having a general anaesthetic for his MRI scan. At least this meant that it was really 8.30am when he had to have breakfast by which was more achievable.

He got up and had a shower and spent time checking his clothes to ensure that there was no metal bits on them. ( This was an instruction in the letter.) Boy Wonder then spoke to Dolphin about what was going to happen at the hospital. Dolphin was the nominated teddy for the trip.

Before leaving I washed and straightened Cat Girl's hair for her party this afternoon and instructed Super Man NOT to put her trainers on with her party dress  when getting her changed later. We then got our stuff together and left for the hospital.

In the car on the way Boy Wonder rang his best friend and told him where he was going. His friend must have asked him what the scan was for so he told him. ' it's to check where the autism is in my body.' Maybe one day Son, we are not quite that advanced yet! His best friend then told him that he was having his party at Spy Quest to which Boy Wonder shouted 'awesome !' Obviously very pleased. He then rang Super Gran and wished her a happy birthday in his best singing voice . When he came off the phone I asked her what she was doing for her birthday, he said 'shopping! Why ever would she want to do that?!'

As we travelled to the hospital Boy Wonder went a bit quiet. I asked him if he was alright and understood what would be happening? He thought about it and said ' I don't understand why they are putting me to sleep, I had a nap earlier.' I explained that he needed to be very still in the scanner so they put children to sleep to keep them still. 'Oh.' He said and that was that.

We arrived at the hospital and got checked in. Boy Wonder was more interested in playing with his DS and found the whole process quite inconvenient. Due to him being the oldest child on the list he was last. I explained to the anaesthetist that he may struggle with a three hour wait and he just said that it was okay as he would just give him a pre med! That's okay then! A little narked at his flippant tone but that was the only option.

Luckily Boy Wonder coped well. It was a quiet waiting area with lots of toys which he organised. He also played 'rescue' in the soft play area with his dolphin.  The smaller children all became quite restless as they were starving. This didn't seem to bother Boy Wonder, he didn't seem to feel hungry.

Finally he was called so we walked down to the X-ray suite and he lay on the bed. He was given a Where's Wally book to look at whilst they anaesthetised him. It was very quick and he turned off like a light.  It's very odd seeing Boy Wonder still and quiet, almost eery. I now had an hour or so to wait so went in search of food!! However it was Sunday service and both cafes were shut.  The best on offer was a vending machine with a blueberry muffin and a can of coke!

I went back to the recovery suite and waited and waited and waited. Finally he came back and was brought round. He looked awful and very disorientated. As he started to come round he complained of feeling dizzy and having a headache. He was given a drink and soon after, some toast. He struggled to get the toast into his mouth as he kept missing. After about 20 minutes they got him up to walk and he staggered around like a drunk but apparently that was good enough for him to go home. He had his cannula removed and obs taken and off we went. He looked dreadfully pale and was quite wobbly but I suppose this was to be expected to a point.

We got into the car and headed for home. Half way into the journey Boy Wonder was very sick, absolutely everything that he had just eaten and drank came up!  This seemed to go on forever and when I finally managed to stop at the side of the road he was absolutely covered. We continued home and got him cleaned up. He didn't look well at all but then started to get some colour back in his cheeks. He asked me when he would become a normal person again?  Is there any such thing?!

Throughout the evening Boy Wonder continued to improve and ate some tea. Hopefully he will sleep it off tonight.

Saturday, 26 October 2013

Mixed Bag

This morning awoke a boy of mixed emotions, high and happy with an emotional undertone. We got ready and Superman took him to dance. They were going shopping afterwards for my birthday present so Cat Girl also went with them. She wanted to buy me some make up! Boy Wonder started to become preoccupied with age and asked lots of questions about how old I would be m, how old Daddy is etc.

Whilst they were out I tidied up and arranged the soft play activity for the afternoon. Boy Wonder and Cat Girl wanted to go to the new one at the football ground.  When they got back we had lunch and left for the soft play. The friends we were meeting were running late and Boy Wonder became quite anxious, pacing up and down, looking through the window.  At last they arrived so he and his friend went to play football on the mini soft play pitch.

Apart from the odd break for a drink and a snack, the boys played continuously a football. Boy Wonder was very unforgiving as he tackled everyone to get the ball. No wonder he gets 'man of the match' so often, he has no fear!

This evening we had visits from two sets of grandparents, the first being a birthday celebration, happy birthday Super Gran!! And the second a routine visit. Boy Wonder became noticeably subdued this evening. He wet himself on the sofa and cried a lot when he couldn't get his Laptop to work.

When all visitors had gone, he and Superman watchdog Atlantis. He really wasn't tired at all so we asked him to go to bed and try. At 11pm he was still wide awake. He read goodnight stories to his dolphin and tried to get to sleep.

Boy Wonder has an MRI scan tomorrow so needs to be up early for breakfast. Thank goodness the clocks go back tomorrow. Need that extra hour! 

Friday, 25 October 2013

Busy, crazy!!

The past couple of days have been manic in lots of ways, hence the need to role them into one blog. Boy Wonder has been very high in mood and all over the place. He has needed a lot of help to  the basics of washing and dressing, getting him to sit still long enough to eat and generally function. This has also spilled into school quite a bit where Boy Wonder has needed a fair bit of support to calm him down.

We were informed that due to a set of circumstances, Boy Wonder had been allowed to leave alone after school twice this week and picked up in the playground by a his friend's parents who brought back into school. This is usual practice for juniors to leave without parents but because of Boy Wonder's history of impulsive running into roads/ cars, it was agreed that he would stay with the teacher until collected. Quite worrying especially as he had been so high, however it has been looked into and sorted now.

Last night we had the school party tea / disco. This was Superman's first disco and of course Cat Girl's who dressed up as a cat! It was very loud, very busy and lots of fun. They both enjoyed it a lot, however it started to take its toll on Boy Wonder and he started to get upset and angry over the slightest things. Superman took them home at the end whilst I stayed behind to clear up. Boy Wonder   threw himself on the floor and started to shout. We got him to the door, opened it and he bolted. Superman went after him with Cat Girl in tow and got him into the car. By the time I arrived home he had settled and finally went to sleep at 11.30pm.

This morning we spoke about an incident that happened at the disco last night where he and a couple of other boys were told off for writing rude words on the drawing table cloth. Boy Wonder stated that he had started it. I asked him to explain. He stated that he had been saying 'bloody' because he was describing his vampire fangs that he was wearing as part of his costume. Another boy said that he was swearing and started to write down lots of swear words on the paper. I suggested that he told his teacher this when he got to school but he worried that he would forget so he wrote a letter instead. Boys!

The group that went high wiring for Boy Wonder's birthday took their certificates into assembly this morning and showed some photos of their day. Cat Girl decided that she needed the toilet half way through so I had to get the teacher's attention to take her.

Boy Wonder had a quiet evening and looks really tired. However he is still awake at the moment reading a Top Gear magazine. We now at least have half term to chill!

Wednesday, 23 October 2013

Wandering......

Despite another late night, Boy Wonder was up early this morning and jumping about like a bean. We fought to get ready for school, today Boy Wonder preferred to watch his tv instead!

We got to school and unloaded the bags. It had stopped raining so they ran around for ten minutes before the bell went.

On picking them up after school I found Boy Wonder with very sensible friend which was a bit odd, she later told me that he was in the play ground alone and so brought him back inside. Although juniors are aloud to leave school alone, we had agreed with the school that Boy Wonder wouldn't be aloud to leave due to his impulsivity and possible anxious state which had historically led to him running into traffic.

We arrived home and got ready for music theatre and Jiu Jitsu. They had a picnic in the car on the way. They both had good sessions and then we went back home to meet a new sessional worker for Boy Wonder. He is a mountain biker and supports Chesterfield FC so I think he will fit in well!

Boy Wonder watched Wolf Blood and then went up to bed about 10pm . He had remained high and giddy throughout the day which was also commented on by his teacher today too. Hopefully he will settle soon.