Man, another rough week.

Nixi had her first field trip and it was marginal.  It was to the country fair like I used to go to when I was in preschool.  She was excited and nervous from he moment she woke up.  Excited about the fair but not really loving the whole idea that the fair would be taking place of the routine school day.  She road the bus like a champ, with mom sitting the seat behind her. Once she got there she was super overstimulated and very anxious, repeatedly asking to follow the visual schedule that they had made in class the week before.  Unfortunately, the guide for the tour was unaware of any schedule AND he kept getting lost so it was a recipe for disaster.  And disaster it was.  She got to pet a sheep and watch a pig take a shower, but those were fleeting moments of joy.  She was on edge and by the time they got to the building showcasing their artwork, it was over.  She noticed that her name tag had fallen off and BOOM, she exploded into a screaming, crying, confused, scared little whirlwind.  Mom got her out of the building, but when she realized that they were to eat their snack at the fair she just started screaming "snacks at school" and it was a good 15 minute meltdown.  She pulled it back together at the end and made it back on the bus with no problems.  Poor kid.  Wish she'd enjoyed it more but proud of her for making it through to the end!

Speaking of making it through to the end...I had a rough end to my week.  Friday was library day at school.  I was anxious about it from the following week but trying really hard to keep it together, too hard it would appear.  My teacher had no clue that I was still anxious so I wasn't given any added visual supports before we went.  We got there and I was totally overwhelmed.  There were soooo many books and it was the first day that we were actually going to check one out.  I was so excited and I was having a hard time deciding on a book.  I picked one and checked it out but when it was time to go I lost it.  I decided I wanted another book, but some kid already had it.  That was really all I needed to tip me over the edge of the cliff on which I was already standing and I fell...hard.  It was my biggest meltdown at school thus far.  Mrs. Paggi couldn't get me to leave the library so she called the principle to come and get me.  I've seen him but I don't know him so I stopped screaming but refused to go the office with him because I didn't feel safe.  They let me pick a friend to go with me and I went.  Mom came to get me and saw me standing alone, crying and shaking, while the principle just stood there looking at me.  The teacher said that they didn't know how to comfort me....so they just did nothing.  It was horrible and really scary.  The ride home was worst than last week and so was my recovery time.  Mom's calling a meeting with the school for next week because the intensity of my meltdowns is increasing and so is the frequency.  Someone's dropping the ball.  Like mom's friend Emily said, " there's a way to defuse a potential bomb, they're just cutting the wrong wires."  Mom and dad are pretty upset but at the end of the day they know i love school so they're more motivated to stop the problem than to kick some butt.....for now.

There's so much more going on but I'm tired and I'm typing this on mom's tablet because the computer died so its slow going to type.  We'll fill you in on the rest next week.

Xoxo
Safi