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Can I just have a small proud mummy moment?

29 replies

moosemama · 08/05/2011 21:28

Well, we are just back from a weekend at Legoland and overnight stay in a hotel and ds1 was an absolute star all weekend. So much so that we didn't need to get an exit pass - although to be fair he didn't have to wait longer than 30 minutes for any of the rides he wanted to go on.

After we arrived and he'd been on the Viking Splash and Spinning Spiders he seemed to suddenly become, well er, more visibly autistic for a while and seemed quite out of sorts and very pale. He was spacey, started tic-ing and being non-responsive when we spoke to him and dh and I thought 'uh-oh, this was obviously a bad idea and may have to be cut short'. So, we did a few quieter things, had a picnic and let him and his brother go in the childrens adventure playground, but he seemed to get worse - wandering around and around in circles and really just being not quite there. Sad

Dh said to me that if we were going to have to leave, he would like to go on the rollercoaster first and asked ds1 if he'd like to go on too. He wasn't sure, but said he'd have a look. He didn't like the look of the Dragon but decided to brave the Dragon's Apprentice. Well, one trip around on a rollercoaster and it was as if he suddenly snapped out of it and came back to us! Smile I suppose it must have been the adrenaline?

He coped well with the hotel. (We booked one of those apartments with a bedroom for us, sitting/bedroom for the dcs, kitchen and bathroom.) Fortunately, the hotel had set the boy's beds out in the same position as their beds in their own room at home and ds had bought a new Lego DS game with his birthday money, so he settled right in and made himself at home. We kept the bedtime routine the same and brought food from home to cook, so it was at least a facsimile of his routine and I think that helped.

Unfortunately, he was the same again on arrival at the park this morning - ok for about 15 minutes, then a rapid decline once we got in. It was much busier today and he did get overloaded, but handled it so well.

Not one meltdown, not even a tantrum for the whole weekend. Just some very sad tears before we left and in the car on the way home because he had had such a lovely time and was sad to be leaving.

He also came to me before bed and said "Mummy I have had the best weekend I've ever had in my life and I really want to thank you for taking me to Legoland". Grin So formal, I had to smile, but sooo lovely as well, bless him.

Dh and I are so proud of him for coping so well and managing to cope with being overloaded and get through a whole weekend of disruption. Smile

Amazingly, I managed to survive it all as well. Dh went on all the rides with the dcs (bar a couple of gentle ones I did with dd) and I did have to spend an awful lot of time resting and sitting around on benches, but I coped and that's a huge improvement on my energy levels over the past few weeks - especially when a fortnight or so ago we thought we might have to cancel because of my health. I will pay for it this week - but it will definitely have been worth it.

OP posts:
EllenJaneisnotmyname · 09/05/2011 19:39

Good compromise, best to mention anxiety, so they are pre-warned a bit. Hopefully it will go swimmingly! Smile

moosemama · 09/05/2011 20:26

Beca, when my ds went to his best friends for the first time I just told the mum that it was his first time going to someone's house to play without me and he might be a bit anxious/nervous and made sure she had both my home and mobile numbers to call me if she felt he needed to, or if he asked to come home - he was fine though and has been back several times since.

I still haven't told them he has AS, they are lovely people who just accept him for who he is, quirks and all and there has never seemed a need for them to know any more than that really.

In my experience, its usually the things I worry most about with ds1 that turn out to be the least trouble. Grin

Alfalfa, we tend to get things either one way or the other - formal/polite or rude/cantankerous/aggressive, as with most things with ds1 - its if its not black, its white - absolutely no grey areas whatsoever! Grin

Ineed, I was thinking about ds1's baby hearing test this afternoon. He flatly ignored pretty much everything they tried (this was before the whole modern electronic testing thing). They passed him anyway Confused but I was left wondering if he had a hearing problem. I'm now thinking he heard everything perfectly, but none of it wasn't interesting enough to warrant his attention. Grin

He seems able to do it when taking in information/learning, but if I need to address him directly while he's like that, I have to say his name first, repeat myself several times and often actually put my hand on his shoulder as well.

Mind you, if I'm telling him to do something he has an incredibly ability not to hear me at all! Wink Every single night without fail, when we tell him its the end of reading time and time to go to the toilet then up to bed, he blanks us, yet its blatantly obvious he's heard every word. Hmm Grin

OP posts:
AlfalfaMum · 09/05/2011 22:54

Oh, yes - am also very familiar with rude, cantankerous and aggressive Wink

pigletmania · 09/05/2011 23:20

That is fantastic Smile, well done to your ds. My dd is 4 and last year when she was 3.6 years we went to a wedding, and as soon as she saw the hotel that we were to stay in utter meltdown, I was very Sad, though the wedding was lovely, I could not enjoy it due to dd meltdowns. I am hoping that in the future we will have experiences like yours Smile

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