No Meltdowns :)

Missy was a little grumpy at breakfast time yesterday but I am pleased to say there were no meltdowns all day :)

And I think it may be to do with restricted access to DVDs !

The last meltdown that Missy had was to do with DVDs.

She wanted to stack them and I said no but she still did  and they all fell over and she got very angry.

So now the big basket of DVDs has been banished to the kitchen .

And Missy is only allowed five DVDs at a time.

And that deserves a thumbs up :)

I Couldn't Sleep......

I have been unable to sleep post-meltdown so I went online and I read about meltdowns.

Mega Missy Type Meltdowns.

I read academic papers and I also read the personal accounts written by people on the spectrum.

From this I have come to the conclusion that what might help is  lots of exercise.

Temporarily, the two-hour walks type exercise can't happen but exercise in the front garden and living room can happen.

So I have just bought these , they are meant to arrive tomorrow .

I would have liked to have bought them today but I cannot take Missy with me to the shops because of the possibility of a meltdown and they may not have them in stock anyway.

Next on the list is to organise some scooting :)

It seems that the exerting of energy helps  to dissipate the built up stress the individual is feeling and helps to resolve the situation sooner .

Hopefully this will result in no more mega meltdowns and only mini meltdowns and then the ultimate ........no meltdowns:)

Today's Art Activity With Missy and Marilyn 

Paper plate dinosaurs

Glitter pictures

Missy's Holiday Journal

Awaiting Sleep

Still on calm down 

after the meltdown 

three hours ago!

Little Miss Chatterbox is still whittering away in her bed with no sign of sleep on the horizon :(

Nap Time !

10.30 am !

QUIET!!!!!!

Missy uses her ear defenders outside of the house whilst I wear them inside of the house!

Sofa Day

And the sofa day is for me not Missy !

I have a yucky tummy which has extended from yesterday through today.

I am too weak to do anything but the basics .

 Thankfully Missy's tummy is ok.

I was going to try some yoga today but I think I will wait !

I saw this yesterday and thought,'what a good idea for people with certain health problems ' :)

However, napping with Missy around is not always safe as she can go full-meltdown without notice.

Anyone caring for Missy has to be aware of low flying DVD players and TVs at all times!

So whilst resting is ok, sleeping is definitely off the menu :)

'Annus Horribilis '

  This year is my annus horribilis !

I have accepted it and I am living with it and  moving on as best as I can. 

However, in the last six months I have seriously wanted to hit somebody in a Sally Fields Steel  Magnolia kind of way.

For those who have not seen Steel Magnolias it means to hit someone / anyone so another person can feel as much pain as you do !

But I have not even come close , until today !

I left missy for 2 minutes, painting in the garden  whilst I went to the toilet.

She was not alone but being watched by a person we shall call  nitwit , name changed to protect the guilty !

I came back to a scene of devastation.

 

She was fine when  I left !!!!!!

And these are some of her creations

I decided to make some pictures from Missy's Meltdown

This collection of her work is called 

Silver Linings

and is Jackson Pollock inspired !

Missy Meltdowns are so much fun :)

BACK TO FRONT AND UPSIDE DOWN :)

At 1 a.m. this morning we went shopping in Asda and this was Missy afterwards.

She decided she wanted to watch the film Prince of Egypt , our life is a bit upside down at the moment , Missy seems to sleep in the day and is awake at night  but it does make her a bit calmer . Plus there are no screaming babies in Asda at 1 AM which is always a plus point. We can only go shopping when there are no babies or screaming children around.

YES I GUESS I KNOW BEST !

On the way home I decided to take Missy to the local shop.

Big mistake!

For no reason whatsoever Missy got out of the car at the shops and started to scream  and shout in a very loud and angry voice for no reason whatsoever.

I immediately responded with .'right back in the car, we are going home .'

And we did .

When she realised she was not going into the shop Missy totally lost her cool and she had a full blown meltdown.

Mid meltdown I phoned her carers to tell them that she could not go out because of the meltdown. 

In the background to my phone call Missy could be heard screaming and crying and the carer said , 'well I guess you know best '.

'What the feck ??????'

The carers, not the childminders who have more sense in their  little fingers then these carers seem to have in their entire brain, resent me cancelling Missy's outings when she is prone to a meltdown because they don't get paid.

I am sorry but I have been nursing since the age of 17 and I became pregnant with my first child when I was 19 and I have brought up 6 girls and I 

have looked after an autistic child 24/7 for the last 13 years so you can bet your arse at 53 with a lifetime of experience I know best when it comes to preventing meltdowns in the street as far as Missy is concerned . 

Missy is likely to strip her clothes  off or jump into Roath Park lake or at least throw her crocs into the lake or become very violent and start to push and bash people about. 

I think I shall check with Missy's social worker to see whether these carers are allowed to stay in the house and do their visit here. 

Which means they will be able to do craft activities or play in the front garden with Missy, anything to calm her meltdowns more quickly. 

Plus it will be a benefit for them to witness a  full blown meltdown and how it is not safe  to have the meltdown in the street.

This is not Missy having a meltdown but imagine this 10 times as bad plus purple blotchy face and there you have a Missy Meltdown!

YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY

 

This is Missy playing with her blocks. 

Missy has always loved them and she plays with them a lot.

But where did they come from ?

They were given to her by her sister's mother-in-law who is German.

The family are German and they live in Switzerland. 

They were something Missy's brother-in-law Ulf played with in the early 80s.

Ulf's younger brother and sister also played with them.

But that doesn't really answer the whole question, 

'But where did they come from ?'

Well today I found out.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Froebel_Gifts

'The Froebel Gifts (German:Fröbelgaben) are a range of educational materials designed by Friedrich Fröbel. They were first used in the originalKindergarten at Bad Blankenburg.

Fröbel advocated the importance of free play in childhood. Each gift (Gabe) was designed to be given to a child to provide material for the child's self-directed activity. These Gifts are a series of activity-based playthings ranging from simple sphere-shaped objects, through to geometric wooden blocks and more advanced Gifts pertaining to sewing, cutting, weaving and the modelling of objects in clay.

Ottilie de Liagre in a letter to Fröbel in 1844 observed that playing with the Froebel Gifts empowers children to be lively and free, but people can degrade it into a mechanical routine.

"Realising how the Gifts were eventually misused by Kindergarten teachers who followed after Froebel, it is important to consider what Froebel expected the Gifts to achieve. He envisaged that the Gifts will teach the child to use his (or her) environment as an educational aid; secondly, that they will give the child an indication of the connection between human life and life in nature; and finally that they will create a bond between the adult and the child who play with them" Joachim Liebschner on page 82 in his book, A Child's Work: Freedom and Guidance in Froebel's Educational Theory and Practice

Frank Lloyd Wright was given a set of the Froebel blocks at about age nine, and in his autobiography cited them indirectly in explaining that he learned the geometry of architecture in kindergarten play,^[1] writing "For several years I sat at the little Kindergarten table-top . . . and played . . . with the cube, the sphere and the triangle—these smooth wooden maple blocks . . . All are in my fingers to this day . . ."^[2]

Froebel Gifts remain popular today inKorea and Japan in early childhood education.'

http://www.froebelweb.org/shop/wood.

I have seen lots of natural wooden blocks in varying shapes and sizes so I think I will be buying more to add to Missy's collection.

Missy has always love building towers with anything and loves lining things up.

'Each child with an autism spectrum disorder will have his or her own individual pattern of behavior: Sometimes, a child's development is delayed from birth; other children develop normally before suddenly losing social or language skills. In some children, a loss of language is the impairment; in others, unusual behaviors (like spending hours lining up toys) predominate.'

Web MD

 

Does this mean Missy has autism ?

Sorry humour lapse :)

Humour is the coping mechanism of many parents and carers of children/adults with special needs.

It is that realistic sense of humour that many doctors and nurses and other members of the caring community have. :)

Repetitively stacking or lining up objects is a behavior sometimes associated with individuals with autism.

LOST.........

One brain .

 Has been missing for the last 6 months or so !

Thankfully Missy is very aware and whilst I may forget what day of the week it is she never does.

Yesterday and today I woke up convinced it was Saturday.

I have also just been sorting out Missy's school back pack and found it still contained her winter emergency space blanket !

Perhaps I should replace it with sunblock :)

Last night Missy and her friends from PHAB went 'welly wanging'on the beach at Penarth.

I am hoping there will be photos to share :)

Years ago I would have loved something like that but the arthritis in my shoulder joints is almost as bad as my spine so sadly that is a definite no :(

Missy's Kindle is still in the Kindle fix -it shop and she is asking for it less and less and without YouTube poops she definitely seems happier.

After a long break it is time I took Missy running again. 

I have found a great little loop on the Taff Trail near Asda Coryton and it is very quiet which is a big plus for a noise phobic 13 year old.

Right school run time , I just love the rush hour traffic. :)

MISSY ART FOR TODAY

Stage One 

This is a swan.

 

Stage Two

This is a swan ........and a baby swan.

Stage Three 

This is a swan and a baby swan awaiting the next stage of the evolutionary process .........being tidied up and put away by the artist :)

NEW GAME

New game called 

'Put Your Own Mess Away Because Your Mother Isn't Going To Do It '

:)