Sunday 5 February 2012

Good vs. Not-so-Good Surprises

Surprises in Riley World have evolved considerably over the years.  What could have been a trigger for a meltdown when he was 4 or 5, became upsetting at age 10, tolerable at 13 and manageable at 15.  What brought about these changes?  Honestly, I really can’t say for sure.  I think it was a variety of things.  Some of it was due to maturity, some things we worked on consciously and a LOT we discovered by fluke.  ;P       

Here are a few examples that can still send shivers up and down my spine:

Good Surprise:   Bringing home McDonald’s for R when he wasn’t expecting it.
Not-so-Good:     Opening the bag to realize they packed a “Large” fries instead of a “Medium” fries.

Good Surprise:   Finding all but one of the Land Before Time plushies.
(I buy them anyways hoping he won’t notice…are you kidding…OF COURSE HE’LL NOTICE!)
Not-so-Good:     Getting all but one of the Land Before Time plushies. 
(YES HE NOTICED…AND he kept asking where the other one was!!!)   

Good Surprise:   Staying in a hotel with a pool.
Not-so-Good:     Heading to the pool (R has goggles on of course) only to find the pool is closed for maintenance.

Good Surprise:   Watching his favourite movie on a handheld device when you’re out.
Not-so-Good:     The battery dies after 10 minutes.

And finally, R’s latest “obsession”:

Good Surprise:    Getting the free Realtor pads of paper used as advertisement.
Better Surprise:  Getting the “Kasha Riddle” pads of paper (she uses glossy paper!)
Not-so-Good:      Getting the pads of paper that aren’t the “right” size.

Although R can still have difficulty expressing his wants/needs verbally, the “not-so-good” surprises are usually “manageable” and fewer and farther between.  I never thought I would agree with the saying “This too shall pass”…yet the possibility doesn’t see so far fetched anymore.

D  

4 comments:

  1. That's really good to know that some of those early struggles with surprises can go away with maturity. It's interesting to read about an older child with autism, as most blogs are about little ones.

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    1. Maturity has played a really BIG part! You're right too, most blogs are about little ones. It brings back a LOT of memories, some that I've "almost" forgotten about. :D I couldn't have imagined getting past some things back then...but we did. Hope this helps on those hard days.

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  2. It does! And it's nice to "meet" you :)

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  3. I can just imagine all of those in my head, so cute!

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