An emotional day of emotions was what we had. The beginning, middle, and end were the true rollercoastery ride. He woke up very early, wanted to talk about school, and then asked for his tablet. I told him to go back to bed and he said, “sure go get your tablet,” saying my words back to me that I’ve said to him before when we’ve worked through different exercises together. He amazes me with his memory. We sat together watching his videos and then it was time for him to go to school. The calm of the morning turned into a rollercoaster of an afternoon. When he got off the bus he talked to me about all the things we could go to but as soon as we got inside it was instant meltdown and screaming. I’m not even sure what it was about but he was mad on top of it. I knew I needed to help calm him down or we were in for a long night. I had him sit with me. This was not an easy task and didn’t last long. He knows that he isn’t supposed to throw things but his tablet went flying across the room. I sat him back down with me and reminded him that we needed to breathe. He started singing his song that I made up years ago trying to help him through his meltdowns and then he started counting. We had to go through these moments numerous times before he was calm. I then held him in a little ball in my arms and I could tell it was all melting away. He needs that sensory input sometimes to push through those meltdowns. He didn’t want to go anywhere at this point and I fixed him his snack. After that, it was a pretty calm evening. When he has rough days like this I want to make sure he understands that we have to work through this together. I remind him he is stronger than these meltdowns and he is in control of his emotions. I make sure he knows that I love him and I work on more communication exercises with him. I also go over kindness and grace, and what that means for other people. If he can add those emotions to his mindset when he is going through the meltdowns it will help. I tell him that screaming is not something we do at each other. I’m thankful he doesn’t have as many meltdowns as he did before but they are louder now. I also want him to make these connections now because when he reaches the teenage years his hormones will take over some of this. He spent the rest of the night watching the kids' cooking shows and eating multiple dinners. His prayer for tonight was “Dear God, I’m thankful for Mom, Amen” and mine was for Owen. I heard him talking himself to sleep, “itsy bitsy spider piggy bank coins moon and the stars” and then it got quiet. I’m thankful he was able to find his calm in a hard moment. Strength is what you own from all the days that you have traveled. You are stronger than you think. Smiles to all and donut daze!
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