Ice Ice Baby

I woke up this morning to the glow of my hubby's iPhone.  He was reading the Bible at 5:00am.  God Bless Him.  God forgive me for wanting to (just for a moment) shove him off the bed so that the *BRIGHT* glow of the phone would go away and leave me to my lovely sleep.  - I turned over. Bah Hum Bug.  Fifteen minutes later, I was up.  Who can sleep through the glow of an iPhone?  Ok, so I did get a much longer shower this morning than I usually do. The downside....It.  It!  Where did IT come from?  We have IT on Xbox LIPS, but we haven't played that in a while.  Yet.....I hear IT.

"Alright STOP!  Collaborate and Listen!  Ice is back with a brand new edition."

Oh Vanilla Ice's catchy 'Ice Ice Baby!'  I have heard this in my head throughout the day.  I would somehow manage to mentally find places in the day to insert the lyrics.

A friend calls me up to get advice on her situation.
"If there was a problem, yo I'll solve it.  Check out my hook while the DJ revolves it"

Go to pick up Ethan from school.  Ansley says "Mommy, the wind is cold."
"Ice ice Baby - TOO COLD, TOO COLD!"

This has to be a form of torture!   I need this out of my head.  So I decide to sing it until I am sick of it.  So I did.....sorry to say - not much success there.

Afternoon comes and we go to pick Ethan up from school.  He had a good day, as usual.  YEAHHH!!!  I will NEVER get tired of being told that. On the way home, I am singing my beloved "Song of the Day."  Ethan responds "Mom!  Do you still have that problem?"  Y E S honey, I do!

Once we are home, I start going through Ethan's book bag.  For a moment I lose myself as I go through his paperwork.  He is doing SO well.  Then I see the pictures. 

Ethan had school pictures made about a month ago.  His Teacher said that he did not like the photo shoot 'setting,' so he fussed.  The picture they finally got captured his frustration.  He looks incredibly sad and stressed.  I had to stop a minute and think about it.  We are having SO much success with Ethan.  It is hard to think back to bad moments.  No matter how hard we work with Ethan, the autism is there.  No matter how successful he is with life in general, the autism is lurking.  Sensory overload can hit and all bets are off.  It is like having your 'fight or flight' button permanently pressed.  The sudden popping of a balloon, the back firing of an old truck, or even a prolonged time in a loud environment.  All of these things can cause Ethan to react in his 'I'm Outta Here' mode.

"I'm Outta Here" can be a simple "Let's go Mom," to a scared look on his face, to crying, or a complete emotional meltdown. We are going on 6 months since a true meltdown. AMAZING! Many kids with autism have them daily - ALL day.  Ethan's coping life skills have improved dramatically.  We prep him for almost every situation, which is the key for Ethan. We use Social Stories and we tell him the truth.  If he is getting a shot at the Doctor - we tell him.  We explain what will happen, how long it will last, and what his *prize* will be for being Brave.  Ahhh..the Motivators. We are all operating on Motivators, right?

So maybe on picture day, I didn't do a thorough enough job of preparing him.  Maybe I have gotten a little too confident with all of the success.  Sometimes it helps to stop and re-evaluate our plan...and to remember, IT is still there. Ethan's IT has not been conquered, yet. However, it has been put in a pretty well controlled holding pattern. We will get through these small moments...with photo evidence :)

As for my IT - the crazy 'Ice, Ice Baby' lyrics...they were almost gone, when Ansley came into the bathroom this morning saying "Ooooh Mommy, I'm cold - Too Cold."  Noooooooo....