Have you ever had one of those days where you feel on top of the world one minute, and a complete failure the next?
Yesterday was one of those days.
We had to drop Mama off at the airport early in the morning and I packed both kids in the car in their jammies.
Neither wanted to get up.
Then I took the kids to play at one of their favorite indoor play areas. It has a huge play area and arcade, and Jonah has been doing so well lately, I decided to see how he would do if I wasn’t “hovering” over him the entire time. I was a little worried because both boys were a bit sleep deprived.
But they did FANTASTIC!
There was only one time I had to redirect Jonah…He got frustrated trying to put all the balls back into the ball pit and a little girl kept throwing them out.
But Jonah didn’t have a meltdown when it was time to leave and he had an absolute blast. Success!
Later that day, Jonny went out to play with his friends and Jonah decided he wanted to try to ride his bike to join his brothers.
He’s never actually “ridden” his bike outside the driveway so I thought this might be the “time” he figured it all out.
But Jonah hasn’t figured out the “peddling” part yet, so he tip-toed his bike to the end of the block to join Jonny and 2 neighborhood friends.
They were playing with a basketball hoop. It was weighed down by a base filled with water which didn’t have a “cap” so every time one of the balls hit the base, water would splash out of it.
Jonah was drawn to it instantly. He hovered over it, inspecting it like every other water sensory toy he plays with. The only problem was, he was standing directly under the basketball hoop, so every time the other boys made a basket, the ball would bonk Jonah right on the head. But he didn’t want to move.
So here was the dilemma.
Jonny and his friends had been playing there first and Jonah wanted to be included… but he wanted to play with the water in the base of the basketball hoop… not actually with the other kids shooting hoops.
I couldn’t redirect Jonah to get him to play elsewhere, and the other kids really didn’t want to play with something else.
Jonny, being the best Ausome big brother he is, immediately recognized the situation and told his friends he was going to go inside to play (knowing Jonah would follow him).
And bless his heart, Jonah did. Crisis averted. Jonny and Jonah played for a good long while in the house.
But after a while, Jonny saw his friends playing outside again and asked if he could go outside to play with them. I told him he could.
So of course, Jonah wanted to follow his brother outside. Jonny is old enough to play outside without constant supervision. Jonah is not. But I couldn’t go outside just then to watch Jonah.
The neighbor kids aren’t allowed to come in our house (or even our back yard) so Jonny couldn’t just invite them over to play.
Unfortunately, there will be times when I am home working and I can’t go outside to watch Jonah.
This was one of those times.
And it led to Jonah having a meltdown. I tried everything I could to redirect him, but every time he started calming down, he would hear his brother playing outside again and the meltdown would start back up. It lasted almost an hour.
Eventually, I asked Jonny to just come back inside so the meltdown would abate. Jonah was fine for the rest of the evening, as long as he could go where Jonny went.
That’s just the phase we’re entering. Jonah wants to be with his brother… and I LOVE that he has such a good relationship with him.
But Jonny should be able to play with his friends outside too. If I have to work, unfortunately, I will need him to stay inside. Jonah will want to follow every time and there just aren’t enough eyes to watch everyone when they are out front.
It’s just one of those “life isn’t fair” moments. It makes me feel like an awful parent, but sometimes, that’s the way things go.
That’s our ‘Ausome’ Life.
What’s yours like?
[Thanks to Autism Odysseys for sharing.]