gcvmom
Here we go again!
husband got tickets for Seaworld earlier this year so we decided to go yesterday before the kids start back at school. I had some points racked up at Holiday Inn, so I was able to get a free room night for Sunday so we could drive down early and let the kids go swimming and not be so tired from driving down Monday morning.
I'm not so sure that was a good idea with difficult child 2 still not totally stable.
He was very hyper and impulsive Sunday evening. Dinner out at a Chinese buffet was an exercise in frustration -- he is a very messy eater for starters. He is careless and uncoordinated. And when you throw in the impulse control problems it made for a stressful meal out. I see some of his behaviors as a sort of stimulus seeking -- either trying to get a response from people around him (teasing, taking things that don't belong to him, saying inappropriate things) or to stimulate his senses in some other way (he puts hot sauce on most things, mixes foods you wouldn't think of mixing).
We watched a movie in the room, but in between difficult child 2 was bugging the sibs and husband had gone to sleep with his headphones on so it was just me trying to manage the clowns. He's really not too bad on his own, but add the other two, and the dynamics change dramatically.
At Seaworld the next day, things went fairly well until about 2pm when we stopped for a late lunch. difficult child 2 was just all over the place. Couldn't sit still to eat much. Was trying to climb things he shouldn't be, etc. It got particularly difficult around 4pm waiting in line for one of the few rides they have. It didn't help that the line was an hour long (which is about 1/2 of what it was earlier in the day). It was all husband and I could do to keep difficult child 2 from bumping, make that crashing, into people in front or behind us. We tried playing hand games, mental games, physically restraining him, keeping him separated from the sibs -- it was hard, frustrating WORK for a very short ride. I don't think we handled it too smartly. In hind sight, I would have had husband take difficult child 2 for a walk and then return once we were at the front of the line so he wouldn't have to try to stand there for so long AND behave.
If these tickets hadn't been free, we probably would not have attempted this trip at all.
He seemed to get a second wind after that ride and was much more manageable the rest of the evening, although he was very loud at times and still had a lot of movement (swinging the arms a bit too wildly). On the drive home, though, he was fine. Maybe because he was so tired (and had taken his medications).
He dropped his Depakote dose last night, so we'll see how the rest of the week goes. I've got to get a handle on his sleeping cycle. I can't let him sleep in like he has been for very much longer. In fact, I think next week I'm going to have to switch to the regular school schedule or he'll never be able to function when school starts back up again. I'm a little anxious about how things are going to go anyway since he's not 100% stable yet. And I don't even know which school he's going to be attending yet since the one I thought he was going to be at has him on a wait list... hopefully I'll know by the end of this week so I can start discussions with whomever his teacher will be.
Thanks for bearing with my ramblings here. Just so much on my mind and sometimes I don't think I see him as clearly as I should.
I'm not so sure that was a good idea with difficult child 2 still not totally stable.
He was very hyper and impulsive Sunday evening. Dinner out at a Chinese buffet was an exercise in frustration -- he is a very messy eater for starters. He is careless and uncoordinated. And when you throw in the impulse control problems it made for a stressful meal out. I see some of his behaviors as a sort of stimulus seeking -- either trying to get a response from people around him (teasing, taking things that don't belong to him, saying inappropriate things) or to stimulate his senses in some other way (he puts hot sauce on most things, mixes foods you wouldn't think of mixing).
We watched a movie in the room, but in between difficult child 2 was bugging the sibs and husband had gone to sleep with his headphones on so it was just me trying to manage the clowns. He's really not too bad on his own, but add the other two, and the dynamics change dramatically.
At Seaworld the next day, things went fairly well until about 2pm when we stopped for a late lunch. difficult child 2 was just all over the place. Couldn't sit still to eat much. Was trying to climb things he shouldn't be, etc. It got particularly difficult around 4pm waiting in line for one of the few rides they have. It didn't help that the line was an hour long (which is about 1/2 of what it was earlier in the day). It was all husband and I could do to keep difficult child 2 from bumping, make that crashing, into people in front or behind us. We tried playing hand games, mental games, physically restraining him, keeping him separated from the sibs -- it was hard, frustrating WORK for a very short ride. I don't think we handled it too smartly. In hind sight, I would have had husband take difficult child 2 for a walk and then return once we were at the front of the line so he wouldn't have to try to stand there for so long AND behave.
If these tickets hadn't been free, we probably would not have attempted this trip at all.
He seemed to get a second wind after that ride and was much more manageable the rest of the evening, although he was very loud at times and still had a lot of movement (swinging the arms a bit too wildly). On the drive home, though, he was fine. Maybe because he was so tired (and had taken his medications).
He dropped his Depakote dose last night, so we'll see how the rest of the week goes. I've got to get a handle on his sleeping cycle. I can't let him sleep in like he has been for very much longer. In fact, I think next week I'm going to have to switch to the regular school schedule or he'll never be able to function when school starts back up again. I'm a little anxious about how things are going to go anyway since he's not 100% stable yet. And I don't even know which school he's going to be attending yet since the one I thought he was going to be at has him on a wait list... hopefully I'll know by the end of this week so I can start discussions with whomever his teacher will be.
Thanks for bearing with my ramblings here. Just so much on my mind and sometimes I don't think I see him as clearly as I should.