One of the things that that I need to improve is planning for holidays and weekends. We've got something going with friends on Saturday and Sunday. Tomorrow is another matter. My wife would just as soon stay off the roads due to expected traffic on the 4th. We often take the kids with us on shopping trips / chores on the weekends, but we expect many things will be closed or too crowded tomorrow. Last year, we took the children to their first Independence Day Parade. The event lasted much longer than I anticipated, and by the end of it, the kids would have been climbing walls, if there had been any out there. Fortunately, it wasn't too far from home. We may go briefly by the parade tomorrow to see if we can find one of the paraprofessionals who my daughter loves (and has been obsessing over lately). Other than that, no play dates planned, because we imagine that everybody is actually going to be doing their own thing.
The goal is simple, well, not always so simple. Do something constructive and fun, and don't fall back on the TV. We'll see what else is going on locally. Nothing too crowded, which could potentially freak my son out.
The kids go to bed at 8 p.m. still. They're 4 and 1/2 years old. I'll probably try to take my daughter to fireworks next year, but not this one, since we're getting up early in the morning. Depending on how my son is doing with crowds / change by then, I may bring him as well. (Never know how much progression will be made a year from now.)
A Handshake Across the
A Handshake Across the World's Friendliest Border... Whatever your plans, today, I hope everyone has a terrific Independence Day!
A big hug (ouch) from this "prickly" old Canadian porcupine (who is dressed up in disguise today in honour of the day).
Hey Peseverence, I like the
Hey Peseverence, I like the pic =) and by the way I havent been able to find
a good pic of a porcupine, I think it's because their heads are sooooo small!
I checked on line, every pic looks a little funny lol.
Hey Perseverence, What are
Hey Perseverence, What are you paying for gas in Canada? Seems like
everything is more expensive up your way, what about gas?
Hi Cindy, We're up to about
Hi Cindy,
We're up to about $1.35 to $1.36 a litre, which I'm told works out to about $5.25 to $5.30 a US gallon. My son is soon going to feel the full brunt of buying that truck - but would he listen to me - noooo (We've been arguing about this all week - I lost).
WOW thats alot ouch
WOW thats alot ouch ugh....., okay thanks I was just curious. It seems like
everything is more expensive in Canada, well I know magazines are lol.
Ever since I can remember a magazine or a book says $3 US, $5 Canada
or something to that effect so I just got the message Canada is more
expensive.
I think our salaries are a
I think our salaries are a little higher on average, so with the dollars about equal now, I think the cost of living might work out to be about the same overall.
If he isn't driving that
If he isn't driving that far, expensive gas won't be that big of a deal. So, he'll enjoy the truck noq and figure things out himself along the way. Maybe after a while he will start to think about his NEXT vehicle and can then pat himself on the back for choosing a more fuel efficient model.
I just hope he doesn't go to the extreme in fuel savings, that would be the motorcycle stuff that you mentioned he was interested in! That would be the argument that you will want to win.
Even though my own husband just got a scooter, he only has a 4 mile commute to work (don't as me to translate that into kilometers, I've got no idea) on calm surface streets.
I really am not to sure how
I really am not to sure how to take his suggestion that he start driving a motorcycle. It may have just been a threat to get me to give in on the truck (it worked, too) or it might be a genuine interest (since both his dad and I once drove motorbikes).
I haven't a clue on how I would begin to teach him about driving a motorcycle safely. It would be a bigger challenge than teaching him to drive a car, I think; and something I'd have to give a lot of thought to before I started.
Sometimes my son surprises
Sometimes my son surprises me and does pretty well at street fairs. The worst thing for us has always been balloons at fairs, parks, stores, parties, etc., (and escalators and airports and the mall). Sometimes he is fine with just one balloon. But problems arise when he wants the entire bunch so he can let them go one by one.
Wyatt seems to be fine with crowds. I am the one who would rather not have a crowd of people staring at me wondering why my son is screaming and trying to bang his head on the ground.
What we like to do on these kinds of holidays is go to a pizza place, the kind with a small room of pinball machines, nothing to over-stimmy. For tomorrow, I'm trying to talk my husband into staying home and broiling some turkey burgers and going to the pool instead of his pizza place "tradition" of one year's worth of red-white-and-blue holidays.
What I would really like is some strawberry margaritas, but we have no strawberries. Or tequilla. Do you think a blueberry and chardonnay slushy would be kind of gross? Yeah, kinda gross. Oh well!
Oh, but a chardonnay and
Oh, but a chardonnay and apple juice "cooler" might be good.... hmmm. Of course, I don't get to celebrate the 4th of July - we got the 1st off (Canada Day) - a Tuesday - ugh.
I've got some pomegranite
I've got some pomegranite juice blend. I don't know if I could talk my husband into making any coolers unless it was with "Two Buck Chuck." Do you guys have Trader Joe's stores up in Canada? Well, they sell a two dollar bottle of wine labeled "Charles Shaw." It is really not bad wine, not bad at all. It is even bottled in Napa, CA (bottled there, but who knows where the grapes come from).
Charles Shaw is actually a real person, a very dapper respectable man, a wine snob most likely, who formerly owned a winery in Napa Valley. However, he lost the winery in a bitter divorce and his ex-wife then owned the rights to his name. And so now, this poor man will go down in history as "Two Buck Chuck."
Hi and welcome to AB. My
Hi and welcome to AB. My son is now 20 and doing most things other young men his age do. Although he might be considered now to have "recovered" from his autism, at 3 he was non-verbal and had significant sensory issues that resulted in almost constant tantrums and notable "stims."
I think my son was a little older than 4 1/2 when we started this, but here goes: We found that by drawing up a detailed plan (social story) for the day, we could inject some predictability into a day that was a break from the normal routine. To do this, we would go the day's schedule together in the morning. We originally had one for regular days as well, although he soon understood if we told him it was just a "routine day" and would be OK with skipping this step on those days.
I would set it up something like a list in a daytimer and use a combination of pictures and written words. I also would build in a lot of slack time into the schedule so I could show my son that we were running ahead of schedule (instead of falling behind) if he became worried about how the day was progressing. A tighter/fuller schedule is sometimes recommneded, but a looser schedule was more relaxing for my son.
We used this same method to help him navigate through days at local fairs and midways and eventually even through a trip to Disneyland.
In addition to the added crowd stress, many people with autism have difficulty adjusting to the noise of fireworks. Some even have difficulty handling the "surprise" element of the lights. My son loved the lights but had difficulty handling the loud bangs - so this is another place where we found that a good set of comfortable noise reducing headphones/earmuffs helped him to relax somewhat and enjoy the show.
We would just as soon stay
We would just as soon stay home for the 4th but we havent seen my brother
and his wife for three months, they've been busy adding on to their home.
So anyway we're invited for a bbq, we're in Tx, everybody barbeques lol.
Their house sits on 12 acres, very open, makes me nervous because its
so not kid proof. Only this time we'll have our respite care provider Anita
with us to keep an eagle eye on Marcel. To tell you the truth I feel more
comfortable at home in a controlled environment where I know what he can
get into or get hurt by & where I dont have to worry about him wondering
off because the house is secure. Have a good one =)
Sometimes it is just the
Sometimes it is just the opposite with us. We want to take Wyatt out somewhere so he can blow off some steam and not destroy things in the house (as well as the house itself). He is pretty good at parks (unless there is a party), pools, and on trains. Also, he isn't bad for long car rides. There he is all strapped into the backseat and can't do much damage other than to our eardrums if he is unhappy.
Of course, on a holiday weekend we don't want to take any long car trips. A BBQ with friends and family is a good reason to venture out onto the road over the holiday. Plus, I bet the traffic out there near San Antonio isn't as bad as it is here in San Diego with everyone coming and going from Mexico and Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties. We live right by the beach, too, which in my opinion, the 4th of July is NOT the best day to visit the seashore, but swarms of people do.