Mittens on a warm supposed-to-be-winter day...

I have never blogged before... had no reason to! So bare with me in my stupidity...

Today, as always, I checked the Weather Network to see what the weather would be like. Don't we all do that so we can dress our children appropriately for school? Especially these days... I'm not sure if it's fall or winter or spring right now.

I thought it would be a nice day for Sienna to wear a dress (not something we regularly do or have done yet in the school year actually). She was excited and picked out, of course, Tinkerbell. Everything else in our morning went as planned (and organized)... Go pee, wash hands, brush teeth, get undressed, get dressed, get breakfast #1 (GF corn pops or chex with almond milk), watch tv, get breakfast #2 (GF corn pops or chex with "no milk"), and when Doc McStuffins is over it's time to do our hair...

Next in our daily arranged order, we were getting outdoor gear on and (stupidly in retrospect) I suggested her spring coat... She has been wearing her winter coat for several days now. She was not interested in that change and in fact, decided that she would go outside without a coat at all. I figured this would be a good opportunity to learn about cold vs. warm weather. I also assumed that leaving mittens and a hat behind would be fine for a 14 degree day. We got outside and she quickly changed her mind about her coat and we put it on and headed to the bus stop as usual. Along the way, we were greeted by a young neighbour friend who is in Sienna's class. She was wearing mittens... Hmmm...

Once at the bus stop, Sienna asked me for mittens. Her hands were cold. Well, we live about 10 houses down so mommy does not have the athleticism to head back to the house before the bus arrives, but mommy also sees a meltdown in the very near future. Reasoning with a child with ASD is not usually very effective. Hence, the meltdown. I am still getting used to how to "deal" with meltdowns in public. There were 6 other children and 3 other parents there. I did my best to explain how it's okay not to have mittens and showed her that all the other children did not have mittens on, except for our one friend. That didn't work. Nor did I really expect it to.

So, I decided that, in order to have a calm start to the day, we would head back home and get the mittens and I would drive her to school. That seemed to satisfy her screaming (and I mean screaming; ask the neighbours!) and tears. She took me in a different door than she usually goes to and we did things "out of routine" this morning. I'm thinking it will be a rough day... the poor teacher!

Interestingly enough, I met with an Autism Consultant on Tuesday and she had warned me of the "seasonal affects" that ASD children face. I had never thought of that before! Today, I had my first real introduction. What she told me was that spring is usually the most challenging time of the year for these children, as they are never sure of what the weather will be like or what clothing they will have to put on - whether it's a raincoat and indoor recess, snowpants and snowfall, or a teeshirt and nice dry sand to play with... I look forward to the spring!!

In the future, my blogs will be much shorter... as I will be heading back to work soon. But hopefully, through sharing my experiences with you, you can share an open heart with others and know that it's okay for people to have their "own" way of doing things... My daughter is teaching me something new every single day and I am blessed to have this experience with her!