Autism Therapy: travel

Summer drags on, but I have just realized that school will start again in less than two months with absolutely no improvement in Thomas’ attitude about starting first grade. As I’ve said before, Hayley is more than prepared, so we at least can concentrate our efforts on Thomas’ transition. I’m going to try to help out in both Hayley and Thomas’ classrooms this coming year so that at least he will have that constant. I’ll only be able to help out for half of the day, I am assuming, because I’m not sure that the first grade teacher will be as agreeable to having Hayley along as Mrs. H. was. Who knows…maybe she’ll be okay with it, but even so, that would be a long day for Hayley and a long day for me. I’m hoping to help out with Hayley one morning per week and Thomas’ classroom another morning of the week.
I have a lot of other personal things on the radar screen that have to happen before school starts, though. My sister’s bachelorette party and shower will be July 31 and August 2, respectively, and I’m hosting the bachelorette party at my house. I’m not sure where Jonathan, the kids and the dog will be that night, but it won’t be here. I’m pretty confident that those things will fall into place fairly easily. What I’m really biting my nails about over here is the trip to Disney. It’s looming very large on the horizon and I’m wondering if I can really pull this whole thing off. I tend to be forgetful about packing lists (which I’ve already started making and revising – like I completely forgot about pajamas for anyone, for instance) but I’d rather remember them now than at 30,000 feet. Does anyone else have this problem? Does anyone else spend the first few hours of a trip away from home trying to remember what you’ve forgotten? I just know I’ll be a wreck during the days leading up to this vacation. And it’s ten whole days long – plenty of opportunity to forget stuff. Can I actually do this right? Can I actually take my family on a vacation across the country involving airports, transportation and unfamiliar areas? I nearly left for my honeymoon without a single pair of shoes to wear – except the shoes I wore with my wedding dress. Imagine trouncing around Disney in a pair of white satin Cole-Haan pumps with big bows on the toes. I did look like Minnie Mouse, sort of, the morning after the wedding when I realized that we’d have to make a stop at home for sensible walking shoes. But it’s that kind of thing that always makes me sweat. One good thing is that I never forget anything that’s absolutely vital like medicines.
When we went to Peoria this past weekend for that wedding, I realized that I sent Thomas along to Grandma’s house with only one pair of socks – the ones he was wearing. That wasn’t a big deal and Grandma just washed them when they started walking around by themselves, but still. I tend to forget things and it’s terrifying me. When it was time to get dressed for the wedding on Saturday, I had a horrible moment when I thought that I had forgotten to pack Jonathan’s suit pants. He would have had to wear his plaid casual shorts with a shirt and tie. Anyway, the kids had fun at Grandma’s and Hayley wanted to stay an extra night, but Thomas wanted to come home and we couldn’t impose on Grandma any longer than was necessary. We did have a nice weekend away although we were somewhat unimpressed with downtown Peoria. It was great to see my family, though. We always have a great time at family weddings. My family always asks us in these situations when we feel it’s best not to travel with the kids, “Where are your kids?” They ask in a manner like we’ve obviously forgotten them somewhere and should alert the authorities at once. I usually have some flippant response like, “Oh, they’re home with the dog.” Hilarity ensues.
Thomas has a neurologist appointment coming up on July 14, but I may have to change it because I usually work on Tuesdays and his appointment is at 3 p.m. Given how many minutes behind the neurologist is usually running, I would never make it for a 5 p.m. shift. Maybe I can switch it to a morning appointment. I’m not sure that I have a lot to discuss with her this time. I’ve given up bothering the doctor with complaints about how Thomas doesn’t stay in his bed all night. I’m convinced that it’s all behavioral because Hayley does it now too. I don’t think it has anything at all to do with autism. Life at home with the kids has been very trying lately, mostly because they fight all the time and the weather has still been not very conducive to getting out and having fun away from home. We were able to go swimming a few days last week, but that was it. Just getting away from the house for some diversion every day is a great thing, but it doesn’t seem like we have many good (inexpensive) options. They still love swimming, so that’s great. But even the park seems to bore them more and more these days. While we enjoyed swimming during the very hot weather last week, the weather has turned cooler again and rather cloudy with rain threatening every day. Tomorrow (as every Wednesday) is our shopping day which usually makes me break out in hives. It’s always a toss-up. They’re either good or they aren’t. Either way, we have to get more food into this house every week! But they fight in the grocery store too and I find myself having to exercise extreme restraint to not put them in a time-out in the glider chairs in the baby section. Sigh.
I’ve been trying to get the kids to keep practicing reading and writing, and I think I might pull the “homework” card on them. I might say that we have to finish homework soon – for school in the fall, so that they’re ready. I’m almost certain Thomas is not going to fall for it. Hayley loves to draw and write still, but it has always been such a struggle to get Thomas to try writing and reading. We’ll have to come up with some sort of reward system, I guess.
Like Disney World isn’t reward enough!