It was a risk, a risk that we could be totally setting him up to explode!
We left our house all together, yes I said, that-
ALL TOGETHER in one car
and yes I also said that
IN ONE CAR
we drove over to Brian's sister's house to have a little swim time
and to finally introduce Gretchen to their dog Buddy
First, Gretchen and Buddy are the greatest friends now
they had so much fun playing like big dogs and the kids all LOVED watching them interact!
And then to swimming
it was great- it was great to see Ty participating, playing, being silly as a 10 year old boy should
We hadn't been over their to swim in almost 2 years now (weren't able to swing it at all last summer)
but with the right supports in place, the right elements, the right day, pretty much all stars aligned just so to help Ty tolerate leaving our home
and he did it!
We did it... it was fun, relaxing and great to see the kids all having such fun with their cousins!
Now I won't ruin this fun experience by telling you the night time routine was a bit harder than the past few days- he was pretty jacked up
still trying to play basketball at 10:45PM
and this morning when he came into my room at 6:30AM
which I"m totally not complaining about- I will take the 6:30AM any day because I know it could have been way earlier
but then he started to insist on watching a cartoon that is kind of an off limits cartoon- and it's off limits because it is too activating to his brain- way too much happening
too stimulating
and I could tell he was a little jacked up this morning as well, but I made a deal with him
If he sat in the squish box, he could watch ONE show (20 minutes in length)
I was trying to avoid the meltdown, yes, I was trying to give him some control, yes, so I figured the squish box would help counteract any "over stimulating" show he would watch!
well this is how my brain was thinking at 6:30AM .... I"m not saying it was perfect plan- just a sleepy tired, want to go back to sleep even for 10 minutes.
you know that feeling
so probably not making the absolute best decision, but in my mind at that time, under the circumstances
it made sense :)
So he did it, which makes me more proud, because with his usual opposition to EVERYTHING
he complied and so he got to watch the show he wanted to watch
Justice League Super Friends
Which I loved Super Friends when I was little, but let me tell you, these new versions are awful!
so much happening, lots of quick flashes, lots of movements
I prefer him to watch old school cartoons if he is going to watch animated show... new cartoons are too much for the brain
old school cartoons are much simpler, therefore not over activating (usually)
which is also why I prefer "real people " shows over animated
we have tested this theory so many times over the years-
there is an absolute correlation of watching a too over activating/over stimulating show and behavior!
I was once told be a great OT- what input goes into the brain, has to be released by output..... what goes in must come out
and if it's too much going in, it's going to be too much coming out- and for my kid,
too much coming out comes in the form of "crazy behavior"
But one thing is we went over to cousins house yesterday evening for about 2 hours to swim and play with dogs and
WE DID IT!!!!
it was fun, enjoyable, and I hope we can do it again real soon! Yeah!
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