Bored? Check out the Burgh!

As my blog is growing I have been getting updates on cool events that are occurring in the burgh and surrounding areas.  I will be updating my Facebook page with all the information that comes in!  So if you are local and looking for something to do or want to travel and plan a family weekend please stop by my Facebook page and check it out.  Be sure to Like it to get updates!

This weekend is a great weekend in the Burgh.  There is FREE, that's right FREE admission to the Science Center, Carnegie Art and History Museum, Children's Museum, the Conservatory and so much more!  Head to Facebook for more information!!!

Click here to connect to Facebook!

So a meerkat, a warthog and a lion walk into Pittsburgh

I wrote a post last night about our experience attending the autism friendly version of The Lion King; however, you will not find it here.  Instead, you can find it by clicking here and visiting the Pittsburgh Mom blog spot.  I have read Pittsburgh Mom blogs for a while now, to gain advice, find out cool things to do in our city, etc and started bugging her a short time ago about being a guest blogger.  Luckily for me she caved and let me write this little dittie about Pittsburgh's production of The Lion King! 

So, please stop by and check it out and also check out her Facebook page where there is tons of information about Pittsburgh and a great connecting place for local moms! 

And ps...the show was great even if my aspie didn't think so......

"I AM NOT HAVING A BIRTHDAY"

 

Tonight's post title was a quote from my aspie. Needless to say he is not so thrilled with his birthday coming tomorrow.  There are many reason to my aspie loathing of his birthday, but lets not let me get ahead of myself.  Let's first recap on last years birthday. 

Recap:

• Aspie hid when a lot of people showed up
• Aspie bit my hubbie to the point of breaking the skin when it was time to sing Happy Birthday
• Aspie put his fist into his homemade pirate ship birthday cake that his great grandmother made him
• Aspie had a great time running around with his friend J#$% (my husband's best friend's son), but when J$%* left he cried and expressed that he hated us

So in other words, although it was a nice day and a good time was had by most of us, our aspie was stressed to the max and didn't truly enjoy his day. 

Now, let's fast forward to present.  We started about a month ago asking our aspie what he wanted for his birthday.  "I want my birthday to not be here," my aspie would say.  Why, we would ask him.  Birthdays are fun!  Birthday come every year, we would reason with him with no avail.  And each time our aspie would give us some logical explanation as to why he hated his birthday and was not going to have one.  Here are the reason we have collected and can understand. 

Reason #1
Our aspie likes the number 4.  It's his favorite, as he would say.  I have come to learn that many aspies like numbers and can get pretty obsessed on them.  It also helps to explain why so many of them our gifted when it comes to mathematics, physics and things like that; the love of numbers.  Being that he loves the number 4, and happened to also be 4 years old, it was the perfect combination.  Turning 5 means that he is not his favorite number, and this is more than my aspie can handle. 

Reason #2
The good ole birthday song.  The song that most kids love to hear and have sung to them makes my aspie so uncomfortable that he usually screams, "SHUT UP!!"  start swinging and runs away.  At other kids birthday parties we will stay away from the singing until it is over and then try to rejoin the party, but on many occasions this throws my aspie over the edge which means a quick exit home.  With him being the birthday boy, and hence the singing being directed at him means that he cannot avoid it.  His worst nightmare.  We did not understand that last year, mainly because he couldn't tell us what made him so upset.  With him being older, and being able to communicate a lot better with him has allowed us to understand that it's not the song he doesn't like, it's the noise.  A lot of people singing very closely and loudly toward him hurts his ears and makes his skin hurt.  He literally tells us that when he hears loud noises or gets nervous his skin hurts and he runs to find a dark quiet place.  That I get and can understand why that song scares him so. 

Reason #3
People looking at him.  People scare him in general and make him nervous, and really is the hardest battle he has with having Asperger's.  Since it is a syndrome that has many social components, having many people in one place is very hard on him.  When he is at the center of their attention makes it that much harder and causes him to get very anxious, meaning a meltdown is soon to follow.

Reason #4
Presents.  Yes, presents.  They can be overwhelming and over stimulating.  Sounds crazy to us neural typical folks, but for my aspie it is too much.  From what I understand from him, it is a bad thing because he wants to play with all of it at once, but knows he can't.  Therefore it causes him to panic.  What to play with, when, is that the right choice, all these questions running through his mind at once is a lot. 

Understanding these reason now makes it really easy for us to understand why our soon-to-be five year old does not want to have his birthday.  Knowing this, we decided to ask him what he would like to do on his birthday.  On one of his sleepless nights, at 3am, my aspie decided what he wanted to do.  Before I tell you what he wanted, let me explain why I have come to sometimes enjoy our 3am discussions.  When the house is quiet and it is dark, my aspie and I have the best conversations in the rocking chair.  It seems like at that time he can really concentrate on what he wants to say and what he really wants.  On this night, he started by saying what he always says when he wants to talk, "Mommy I have to ask you something."  After that he explained he did not want a birthday party, but instead wants to have a Halloween party closer to Halloween.  "That way no singing" I said.  Yes, he replied.  And there you have it, our new found answer to a birthday.  No party, just another day, but lets celebrate something he really likes, holidays!  Sounds good to me.  So for the arrival of his birthday tomorrow you will find us having a normal day, then heading to a Pirate baseball game in the evening.  Teachers have been alerted and family members have been notified.  This year September 18th is will be coming on Oct 31st and no cake and singing please.  And that is the best present his father and I can give him....one happy birthday fit just for our aspie! 

First Impressions

Our aspie started a new school this Wednesday.  It's a wonderful program in our area that incorporates a few autistic kiddos with "neuro-typical" kids in a structured, small classroom environment forcing interaction.  The goal is for the children with autism to socialize with all the other kids to prep them for attending mainstream school in the year to follow.  While at school, they incorporate OT and speech therapy as well as your normal pre-school things like writing, arts and crafts, etc.  We were extremely happy that there was a spot for our aspie and really hopeful that he was going to like his "new" school.  Of course, with a new school come new friends, new parents and a new teacher so this mom was dead set on making a great first impression.  I didn't want their first impression to be, "oh, here comes the family of crazies" like I feel that happens so many times when we go places visiting, or when we go to playground, or the when we go to our other school with the crying, screaming, yelling, running away, and all the other random acts of looneyness.  So when day one went great, without a hitch, with my little man walking in pretty excited and coming out telling me this was his favorite new school because it was very quiet ,I thought we were in the clear.  And then came day two.

On day two of our new school routine, my aspie was excited to go back.  He wanted to see his new teacher and see what new things they were going to do that day.  All went well for the drop off and I couldn't be more relieved.  But when it came time for pick-up, all hell broke loose, and our true crazy colors were exposed.  I had the baby with me, and since it was such a beautiful day, I got him out of the car to do a little running around while we waited for our aspie to emerge from the door.  The baby was so excited to see his brother that he stood next to me holding my hand, while I was talking to another mom.  In the back of my head, a little alarm was going off that I kept ignoring.  Warning, Warning, this is going too well.....something nuts is about to occur.  Warning, Warning...my head was saying and I just kept shaking it off, hoping that we have turned over a new leaf and we have entered in the new arena of normalville.  Well, I probably should have listened to the alarm. 

Aspie came out from behind the door happy to see us.  He rushed up giving me a hug, telling me he had another great day.  The baby hugged his brother so hard, happy to see him while aspie stood there looking annoyed his brother was touching him, but allowing him to do so at the same time.  Aspie took off for the car which was a pretty good jaunt away and baby and I were following behind.  About half way to the car, the baby realized that we were about to get back into the car, which was not what he wanted to do.  Apparently, he wanted to play outside because he started to whine and then cry, saying  "NO CAR!  NO CAR!"  When I was just about to grab the baby to prevent a tantrum from occurring, I heard my aspie say, "Mommy I need to go pee in the grass."  Oh no, I knew what this meant.  My aspie doesn't really ask to go pee, when he says those words that means he is going at that moment.  And sure enough, when I turned around, there was my aspie with his pants and underwear around his ankles, wee-wee towards everyone, peeing in that high arc fashion he does right into the grass in the front of the preschool.  At that same moment, baby went into full on rolling and screaming, terrible-two style tantrum that was drawing the attention towards us and my peeing aspie.  I didn't know what direction to head in first.  Screaming baby or peeing aspie, so for a few seconds I stood there like a bump on a pickle in a panic moment.  After I came too, I grabbed the baby and tried to block the non-block able view of my aspie seemingly never ending pee until he was done.  When he was done, I kept telling my aspie to pull up his pants as I headed to put the baby in the car.  Of course, baby was in full on crazy, hitting me on the head with his bottle.  This action caused for my sunglasses to fly off my head right into the middle of the road.  My aspie, felling bad for my glasses, wobbled into the middle of the road, with pants still around his ankles trying to rescue my now broken glasses, blocking leaving traffic from the school.  As I hurried up and threw the baby in the car, I ran over to my aspie picked him up with pants still down and threw him in the car.  As I walked back to the car, the first car that had stopped for my aspie was still stopped waiting for me to pick up my glasses.  The dad  rolled down his window and said, "Looks like your glasses are broke," with a big smile on his face.  "Guess so," I relied with probably a crazed look on my face.  I collected my glasses, waved to the line of traffic waiting on me and causally walked to car to buckle up the crew and to get out of there as fast as possible.  Well, it only took two days for our cover to be blow and for our new school to be introduced to the "house of crazies."  I think next time, I will not try so hard for the first impression.  Instead, I am going to have t-shirts made saying, "Family of Loons, have cameras ready, you will not be disappointed!"