No More Meltdowns

I've been reading this book by Jed Baker called, No More Meltdowns. This is a phenomenal book. Not only does it come from the perspective of SPD, but it also helps parents identify reasons/situations as to WHY meltdowns are occuring.

Here is an example: EVERY, and I mean EVERY night at bathtime, we have a struggle which turns into a meltdown. When Turbo gets out of the bath/shower, he thinks a game is being played and he runs to hide. WHY? WE HAVE NO IDEA! But in some way or another, he gets hurt. He thinks that this is the time to play! EVEN WITH MOMMY AND DADDY having "THOSE" looks on their faces. And inevitably, with our small living quarters, Tank is woken up. And to get a sleeping baby back to sleep before his big brother goes to bed in the SAME room, is virtuatlly impossible. Which could also be the start of why our nights are so long with Tank. He still isn't sleeping through the night...which is a whole other struggle.

Anyways, during my midnight readings of this book, because well, Tank is up!, I was reading a chapter about identifying the cause of a meltdown. Let me assure you, I KNOW what the cause is, he doesn't want to go to sleep. And I know that if were to take this struggle to Ms. Renee, I know what she is going to tell me: Make A Plan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not to disrespect her in any way, but am I really going to have to Make A Plan for EVERY part of this kids life? Probably, so just get used to it.

So this is our plan: I made a sheet that has all the steps he needs to take to get ready for bed. If he does all these steps without getting sidetracked, then he gets to read books before bed. I am fully aware that we will have some battles on our hands the first few nights because he is going to test the waters. So I am preparing myself! We will see what happens. Here is to hoping.

Gorilla, Mr. Peanut and 2 Spidermen....Meet our family

For Halloween this year, the boys dressed as Spider Men. Not that hubby and I had any intentions of dressing up to go to the Fall Fest at a local church, but when he found our ould Gorilla suit (yes, we OWN a gorilla suit) while cleaning out the garage, we just couldn't resist. We have had (or rather my parent's) a Mr. Peanut costume (Planter's Peanuts?) for years and years, so it was time to break it out again.

Our friends, couldn't believe that we of all people would dress up. HEY! We USED to be fun like that before kiddos came along. It is about time that our inner Party Animals came out! (Don't worry, we put those animals to bed at 9 pm)

But what I wanted to say was that Turbo (and Tank too) did AWESOME in a place where they usually would have a meltdown. Tank was way past his bath and bedtime, but did great! When we finally stopped playing games, we sat down on the floor in the Fellowship hall to eat hotdogs and nacho, he grabbed that hotdog and chowed down! Not small bites for me, mama...I'm a big boy now!

But this is where the real joy in both mom and dad's hearts set in: While in the Fellowship Hall to eat, we both looked at each other wondering how this night was to end. It usually ends up in tears and frustration while we battle Turbo to stay seated and eat. But then something popped into my head: BLOCK EVERYTHING OUT! GET HIM DOWN TO A GREEN/BLUE LEVEL! But do whatever it takes!

I quickly scanned the room for something, anything that would block out any visual/auditory stimulation but was appropriate for the situation. AHH HAA! I found a little cubbie hole in the corner of the room that was a perfect hide-away spot for him to sit in and eat. It worked perfectly! He sat in the cubbie hole, while I "blocked" entrance to it with Tank and me and Dad stood behind me. He ate his entire hotdog, drank his lemonade and had his cookie for dessert without any problems! Not once did we have to remind him to sit and eat. Afterwards, we played one more game and left without any incident!

PRAISE JESUS! IT WORKED!!!!!!! Oh I am so excited! We have strategies and they work!!!!