Ok, so we had a pretty hectic week with back to school and such. Both Nix and I had some great days at school. Nixi tried going to school without her weighted vest and she did ok, but was really wired. Afterwards she was really easily agitated and tearful. I had a dicey day on Tuesday because there as a fire drill we weren't prepared for. It took me about 15 minutes to get "ok", but I did and then I thought the drill was really funny. There's the brief overview of school.

Now, the more in depth report on my worst meltdown to date. Mom's been expanding our repertoire of stores lately and we've added a supermarket back into the rotation. We decided to go shopping Thursday after school. In hindsight, everything is 20/20...or 30/30 for me 'cuz that's my vision! But I digress. In hindsight, I was struggling all week because we put up some Christmas stuff at home but not at school. I use school and the "all done" format there as my calendar, so while I love all our Christmas stuff at home...it was confusing to me. Also, stores during the holidays are really overstimulating and confusing for lots of kids with autism. We typically know where everything in a room is, etc. and holiday displays and items just aren't "supposed" to be there. Back to Thursday. Mom, Nix, and I went to the supermarket and it was going great. We get to push the cart and load it with lots of stuff. At the end of most outings we get a small treat as a reward for doing awesome. The last time we went to this supermarket we got to pick a treat before we checked out. This time mom thought it would be fun for us to get a treat after checking out from the quarter machines by the exit door. That made me anxious. We picked which machine we wanted and got to it. I really wanted Nixi to pick something different than she did and that, on top of everything else started the meltdown machine in motion. Within seconds I was on the ground screaming at the top of my lungs. Some lady leaving the store told me Santa wasn't going to come to my house, luckily I didn't hear her and mom told her how deeply offensive her comment was. Mom tried to help me self-talk my way through the situation but I was too far gone. She ended up having to carry me out of the store. I was banging my head against her, the shopping cart...and eventually, in a moment when mom had her back turned, even Nixi's head. Mom had to grab her out of the car and shut me in so she could tend to Nix. Mom was able to get Nix in her seat but when she tried to get me in mine I kick her, head butted her, pulled her hair...I really hurt her. She wasn't able to get me all the way buckled in to my 5 point harness but got me secured enough that I wouldn't be able to hurt anyone on the 2 minute drive home. People were staring and gathering to talk about what was going on and mom was afraid they'd call the police. (Sidenote: there have been a number of kids with autism that have been temporarily taken into protective custody while police sort things out because people witnessing a meltdown thought the parents were abusing the child. Imagine how much worse the situation could have become if Nix and I were taken by strangers, even for an hour..let alone a night, as is customary.) It was really bad. Probably about as bad as my worst point when I was in 2's...only I'm bigger, stronger, and I went after Nix. It was scary for everyone.

The next day we all recouped and even sang Christmas caroles at the top of our lungs throughout the town from our stroller bike. Mom took us to Lowe's for a quick outing just to make us all "get back on the horse", we did great and we ended it with chicken mcnuggets and a movie before nap.

That night we got to meet our very own elf and adopt him. I named him Oker (pronounced Ah-ker). He's our direct line to the big man in the north! Check out his website:
http://elfontheshelf.com/
He brought us a letter from Santa himself saying that every Saturday and Sunday in the month of December we'll be getting a Santa surprise. That will help us to not get overwhelmed by all the Christmas gifts and goodies. So, we get a week to love up our new stuff and adjust before we get more new stuff...so awesome! So far we got dollies (my fav), snow globes (Nix's fav), xylophones, and a couple other cool little trinkets. The Seifert's Christmukkah has officially begun!

We hit Bravo Farms on Saturday and had a great time...as you can see from the pictures!

So, that's the long and short of the week. I'm tired and I wanna hit the hay...so I'm outta here.

xoxo
Safi

Pool at Bravo Farms.......


Nixi and the pygmy goat....aa love story.