A Day From........

Today was a day from hell. I don’t usually say that, no matter how bad things get but today it really was. Cam was off from school today because it was a teacher duty day. We had been talking about this for a week to prepare him of the schedule change. But when he woke up this morning, he started getting ready for school. Once I realized what he was doing I reminded him there was no school today and here is where you can insert the first meltdown of the day. Huge meltdown, clothes being thrown, screaming, punching the door and walls. It was not the way I was hoping to start off our day. I also knew this was one that I was just going to have to let it run its course. Doing my sumo moves or trying to calm him down wasn’t going to work. I can tell by the look in his eyes. So, I moved things in the room that I thought he could hurt himself with and just let him go at it. This lasted almost an hour. He came out sweaty and his eyes were very red but he was calmed down. So, lets move forward and hope for the best.

I decided to take the kiddos to a movie today. Since our morning was off to a rough start, I thought maybe getting out of the house might do all of us some good. While we were waiting in line to get into the movies, someone got to close to Cam and he freaked out. The older man thought he was being friendly and patted Cam and Peyton on the head. Peyton giggled and Cam completely freaked out. He HATES to be patted on the head. So, insert freak out meltdown of the day number two right here in front of the movie theater. The gentleman of course had to say, “he doesn’t need to get so upset I was only trying to play with him”. Well, as I am trying to get him to calm down I said probably louder than I should have “maybe you should realize people might not like to be touched, especially children who are AUTISIC.” Which if you knew me, that’s normally not like me at all. I can normally keep my composure, but between the ladies rude comment at the game on Saturday and this gentleman’s tone and reaction, I just lost it. The man just walked away with a disgusted look on his face, like how dare should I have said something. I was able to get Cam calmed down and we were able to make it into the movie theater. Of course after that incident he didn’t let my hand go and was in a bad mood.

Head home after the movie and Cam was just in a bad mood. He had been all day, the patting of the head incident just made it worse. So, when we got home Peyton really wanted to play outback on the play set and kept asking Cam to play with her. He surprisingly caved in and went to play outside with her. They weren’t outside for very long because he was in a bad mood and Peyton decided she wanted to push his buttons. So, insert meltdown number three here. I had asked them both to come inside since they were fighting and he once again completely lost it. He ran away from me around the backyard, which is always fun. I can only imagine what our neighbors think as they watch this. He’s pretty fast, but thankfully I was able to box him into a corner and catch him. Got him and brought him inside kicking and screaming. This time I tried my sumo wrestler moves held him down and just let him kick, scream and cry. Once he calmed down, I let him play by himself for a while in his room. Peyton and I were playing out in the playroom and he came out and decided that he wanted to play with us.

We all play for a while and then his bad attitude shows its ugly head again. I scolded him for snapping at Peyton and you can insert another complete and total meltdown here. At this point, I just want to join him. He is throwing everything in his room that he can get his hands on and punching everything, wall, bed, door, you name it and he’s punching or kicking it. This wonderful day just keeps getting better. This one lasted almost two hours…two very long hours.

We ended our day with you guessed it, another meltdown. So, when I say today was a day from hell, you can see why. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and scream and cry right next to him. Who knows maybe tonight after I finish writing this I just may. I could tell when he woke up and I saw “the” look in his eyes that today was going to be a rough one. I just hoped I could do something, help in some way to make it a better day. A part of me feels like I failed him because I couldn’t do anything to help him. But, I also know these days are going to happen. They’ve been a part of him for his 6 ½ years of life, so I should be prepared when they happen. But, they still continue to throw me for a loop. Hoping a good cry for me and good nights sleep for him will make tomorrow a much better day.