As I’m typing this I can hear baby hulk stimming, and singing his favorite song from his room. He’s suppose to be sleeping, but I know he’s too stimulated to sleep. Baby hulk actually had a good day. Though it was definitely packed with more things he’s use to.
Today was his school’s harvest festival. It fell on a Friday after a full day of school. We also had my children’s godparents accompany us to said festival. It was kind of last minute ( godparents accompanying). At least he dealt with today much better than I expected. I say much better because a day of him being overstimulated will end with various modes of ASD overstimulation. Sometimes he gets a major melt down, other days he shuts down, then there are days like this where he just stims for comfort to deal with the change.
“I Had A Good Day”
I asked my son if he had a good day, or bad day. He said ” I had a good day.” Yet, today didn’t give him much time to wind down from school. There was no “me time” for a couple of hours. Of course he was very excited to go. He had a lot of fun. There was just some things that was a little unexpected I had to definitely coach him through.
When A Trigger Of Autistic Shut Down Is Coming
When we arrived at the festival my son saw a fire truck and police men with tubs of candy. I started to worry. You see baby hulk associates firemen, and police men with danger. He starts to look around and when he is confused with what is happening he starts to have echolalia. This time he repeatedly said “oh no, oh no, oh no, no, no, no” In the past, he repeated to himself “I’m danger, danger ,danger, something bad, something bad”. It can be alarming to anyone to hear that from a child. I didn’t want him to start shutting down, repeating something that can alarm anyone.
So at that moment I gently held his hand, and lowered my head to his and said “Remember the firemen & police men are here to protect us. We are safe.” He walk shuffled slowly, and in his little quiet voice said “treat” and got his candy from both the firemen and police men. He honestly did really well. I don’t have many opportunities to do local meet ups with firemen or police men. In the past, our experience with seeing firemen & police men is when they are doing their job… which is usually when there is danger. It’s only natural to associate police & firemen with danger right?
I really should make an effort to see if our local police & fire stations does any meet ups for kids. I know they stopped during those because of the pandemic, and there is a shortage in both fields.
Seeing Familiar Faces & Coaching Him To Try Activities
We enjoyed the event as a family. I loved that the activities are even toddler friendly for little princess. What I really like was that it was the teachers and volunteers manning activities. These people know my son and understands with him, it requires more patience. It put me at ease when I see other teachers greet him, and encourage him to participate in activities.
Baby hulk enjoyed various carnival activities. Of course carnival games pertaining to water he really loves. Playing with water, or even watching the flow of water fulfills a sensory need for him. His favorite prizes were the various glow sticks.
I also got to meet his kindergarten teacher again. Honestly, last year the member of his “team” that helped him the most was her. She greeted baby hulk with a huge hug. My son returned it with his little hums, and a huge smile. For a brief moment I finally get to see her interact with him in a non education setting. Even though she did a great job as his teacher last year, seeing that teacher-student bond puts me at ease. She talked a little bit to him, and then they said goodbye.
French Fries For Dinner
After the event, we went to one of our local burger places. My kids don’t like burgers, but they eat french fries. Their godparents were a little surprise I don’t push for my kids to try new foods. I explained to them why, and I know they understand. They don’t have kids of their own, but like me, we had parents who raised us to “finish our plate, there are starving children in *any 3rd world country.” We had a good time, and they enjoyed talking, and sharing their fries with the kids.
This event signifies for baby hulk the start of fall/autumn. For him Fall means pumpkin pie ( one of his favorite desserts), me pulling out his bin of hoodies ( his favorite clothing), and one of his favorite holidays is around the corner ( Christmas). His school does a good job making him excited for the holidays with tons of crafts, & spirit weeks.
I hope your Fall/Autumn season is on to a good start.
