Easter around here..,

[Guest guest]

Sigh...what can I say? doesn't do Easter. The plan this

morning was to go to church, stay for the church dinner, and then the

Easter Egg Hunt.....RIGHT.

did fine during children's church, staying in the room with

the other kids while they searched for and then opened little plastic

Easter eggs filled with scriptures that went through the Easter

story...he had no interest in participating in the craft or in

watching the video...but that seemed okay, because he was calm and

seemed to be content just to be there...I always hope that he is

getting at least something out of these times when he stands by the

wayside while the other kids have their lessons.

After church, however, it was a whole new game. People started

filing into the multipurpose room, rearranging tables and chairs,

fixing food, visiting...and quickly decided that this was NOT

his idea of fun. I managed to keep him happy walking the halls of

the building until the food was ready, and even got his plate ready

(actually, a combined plate for the two of us, as I chose dishes I

thought he had a shot at liking and figured I would eat what he

didn't want)...but when it came time to sit down, that was it. He

wanted no part of staying at that table, tried three different items

on the plate, spitting each of them back out...and then he was done.

Period. There was no getting him back to the table, and no getting

him to let me eat in another room where he would be away from the

crowds, no getting him to do anything but drag me to the door.

Finally I handed Mark the plate (he hadn't gotten through the line

yet); he agreed to stay with the older three through the dinner and

festivities so they wouldn't miss out. I took home, nuked a

few pieces of bacon for him, and ate a chocolate Easter bunny. He is

now standing naked in my bathroom, happily shredding toilet paper.

Happy Easter.

Raena

[Guest guest]

Raena:

Boy, I don't even try those dinners. It's a pity because my church has

these nice Lenten dinners every Friday in Lent. I used to enjoy them so

much, but these days it is just impossible. Enrique would moan about being

left and I'd still have to fix him dinner and Robbie and Putter would go

wild and the lines would be too long and Sophie would hate the food and I

just don't need it.

Hope enjoys his toilet paper!

Salli

[Guest guest]

i'm sorry, raena.

my youngest sister (she's 14) mentioned to me the other day that maybe we could

join them at church today. i just laughed at her :-/

Autism is not the end of the World. . . . just the beginning of a new one. -

Sally Meyer

[Guest guest]

> Boy, I don't even try those dinners. It's a pity because my church

has

> these nice Lenten dinners every Friday in Lent. I used to enjoy

them so

> much, but these days it is just impossible. Enrique would moan

about being

> left and I'd still have to fix him dinner and Robbie and Putter

would go

> wild and the lines would be too long and Sophie would hate the food

and I

> just don't need it.

Ditto! Word for word same scene here.

[Guest guest]

> > Boy, I don't even try those dinners. It's a pity because my

church has

> these nice Lenten dinners every Friday in Lent. I used to enjoy

them so

> much, but these days it is just impossible. Enrique would moan

about being

> left and I'd still have to fix him dinner and Robbie and Putter

would go

> wild and the lines would be too long and Sophie would hate the food

and I

> just don't need it.>>

We do it because the older three kids really need to be able to be

involved in things like that...and because I have a back-up if I need

to get out of there; Mark stays behind with the older kids.

Divide and conquer...not the best, but it is a compromise that works

here. I don't think I could try it by myself, either...

> Hope enjoys his toilet paper!>>

He did...as a matter of fact, he had a wonderful afternoon. The rest

of the family didn't get home until almost three, so it was really

quiet for a good long time. I think that is what he needed. He had

quite a weekend altogether...we ended up shopping for Easter clothes

on Saturday, in the pouring rain, because we had sick folks for so

long that it was our first chance...and he is getting back into

therapy after almost none for two weeks. I think he had just hit his

limit.

Raena

[Guest guest]

> does not do good at any kind of gathering. To many people and

noise.

> also does not eat any where other then home and school.>>

Thinking back on it, I probably would have been smarter to take him

out of the room when they were rearranging the tables...I think that

really messed him up.

does okay with eating at these dinners, if they have some

plain food...usually SOMEONE makes plain meat, mashed potatoes, and

so on...this time, it was all fancy casseroles and crock pot

stuff...if I could have filled a plate with potatoes, chicken, and a

vegetable or some fruit slices, he might have made it, but there just

wasn't anything like that there...and he does NOT eat casseroles.

Oh well...maybe next year.

Raena

[Guest guest]

> i'm sorry, raena.

> my youngest sister (she's 14) mentioned to me the other day that

> maybe we could join them at church today. i just laughed at her>>

Well, it's nice to be invited anyway, huh? Church is just plain

hard. We are trying to get a special needs class organized, but are

still not done fixing up the classroom...gotta replace some tiling on

the floor. Soon, I hope...

Raena

[Guest guest]

>> That sucks....to be there and not be able to participate. I can

> feel how disappointed you must have been.

> Sorry it ended that way.>>

Sue,

I think that I just expected it to go better because he did so well

at the Christmas dinner...but he is in a different place now, so he

reacts to things differently. But it's okay...we'll get 'em next

year!

Raena