Autism Awareness Month Day 15

Friday yay!!! I just wanted the working day to hurry up so I could get some time with my sis. We planned to go out tonight for a meal, chat and lots of laughter. I love her so much I just get excited when we get together. It’s important to have close people that you can hang out with who you can just chill with and know that they just get you and you get them so the encounters are just effortless in a good way. MrJK is good like that as he understands my need to get out so there’s never any fuss to watch the kids while I do that and vice versa.
Nae-Nae came to me for her usual face rub and asked my working plans for the day. I had lots of reports to write so I planned an admin day working from home. I don’t often do that when she is at home so she was a bit confused that I didn’t need to actually go to an office or do any visits at all just work from my laptop. I had to think about an exact day I had done that before. I usually work from home a lot but she is at school so she wouldn’t notice but I managed to remember an exact date when she was at home when this occurred in the past. Our memories for dates and specific information are amazing. I’m always astonished by them but forget that I have a similar trait I just don’t always pay attention to it.
I dropped JJ and his friend to school and came back home to tackle my workload. Nae-Nae occupied herself in her room working on SATs papers. It’s so incredible how she just gets on without being told. She’s so self motivated however she does have parents like that so I’m not sure why I am surprised? As she was busy I got on with my work and MrJK needed to pop out so that was fine. It was almost lunchtime so I could take a short break with her if need be.
Lunchtime came and I tell you these children really work to their body clock so on cue she stopped what she was doing and came to me. She asked is she could have melted cheese but in a triangle. So I thought she meant cheese on toast which I then cut into triangles. However I wasn’t getting it as she kept saying no, no matter how I described it. She explained that she doesn’t want it on squared bread and I kept saying ok I’ll cut it but it has to start off on square bread and if it makes her feel better I’ll cut it before I put it under the grill.
We went to the kitchen and I put the grill on. Well she almost flipped out as I obviously didn’t understand something. Then she saw what she wanted and pointed to it as it was up high. Oh it was the sandwich toaster machine. So I finally understood what she meant my melted cheese triangles. I just wasn’t tuning in correctly. Why was the sandwich toaster up high you may wonder? It’s something we hardly ever use and I’m not sure why, but if it’s not utilised often MrJK will package it somewhere as he can’t do clutter and he loves his work tops to have as much space as possible. As I climbed up on a stall and reached the sandwich toaster I noticed my George Foreman grill was up there too. I even forgot we had that. Interesting…
Nae-Nae helped me get all the things needed for her toastie but this is not because she wanted to be helpful, she needed to see the expiry dates of every single item before it goes anywhere near her mouth. When she picks up the item she has to read the expiry date out loud to herself at least a couple times she will say “The butter goes off on 27th May 2016, The butter goes off on 27th May 2016.” I suppose she does that so it registers in her brain. If it doesn’t soak in she will come back to that item and read the date again before I can start using it. She wants to know every expiry date, she even asked me if cutlery has an expiry date and if so where it was written. I drew the line at that point and just wouldn’t go there with her but that frustrated her so for peace sake I had to explain why knives and forks don’t have expiry dates. She wasn’t even going to use them to eat, I just needed a knife to butter her bread…
Once the sandwich was ready Nae-Nae selected some other food items to eat with it like fruit, a yoghurt and a drink. Now the fruit hasn’t got the expiry date on it but she clocks when we buy it and she will only eat these items within 3 days of purchase. If those fruit items are still there on day 4 she won’t touch them. Even if we add more to the bowl somehow she knows which ones were bought when. I have no idea how especially when they look the same like oranges and apples for example. Somehow they do not look the same to her. It’s funny but she has school dinners and she doesn’t see the expiry dates on food cooked but she just trusts that everything is in date.
I managed to carry on with my work and got quite a bit done but still lots to do. A work colleague phoned me about something and here was where I exercised my memory. I had to remember what happened in particular cases dated back to 2014. Strangely enough that was very easy for me. I just needed to see one particular piece of information and then my memory bank opens up and the story of the situation just unfolds in my brain. Sometimes I surprise myself and I ask myself how did I even remember that with everything that has happened in life since and all that I deal with from day to day? But I just do. Phone numbers are my thing too. If I have dialled the number in my phone once that combination is planted in my memory. However I’m not so good when someone calls me or messages me and I just store their number from there. As I haven’t typed it in my memory bank cannot store it in the same way. Therefore if I need to call someone that I haven’t dialled their number before, I have to go to the contacts and press call. However if I have ever physically dialled that number I will remember that phone number for life and those digits will come without any hesitation.
This is not always a good thing though. Both children have it so if they are near me and watch me type in my password for anything I will have to change it immediately. If they have seen me type it in, that’s it, they know it and Nae-Nae in particular may forget to ask if she can purchase something on her Ipad and just go ahead and enter my password and buy it herself, because Mummy owns a money tree… Also for me it’s not helpful as I memorise my long card numbers of all my debit cards and the expiry dates and the security number that relates to each card and I have a few. This means I can make purchases online without physically being anywhere near my card. It’s not a good look because the only thing that can stop me is self control. So when people say just hide the card so you don’t spend money unnecessarily… It doesn’t work!
After work I took JJ to the barbers for his fortnightly hair cut. That’s my obsession not his. I need him to have a fresh hair cut as often as I can fit it in and so it’s fortnightly from spring to autumn and three weekly during the winter months. Our barber commented one day that JJ must be the sharpest looking child in his school and he is probably correct lol. JJ doesn’t like me leaving him in the barbers alone even though he goes there often. It’s not out of fear or anything it’s just because he doesn’t want to have to talk. When I’m there I do all the talking on his behalf and he can just answer a couple of questions and then watch a film. His barber always puts a film on his iPad right in front of the mirror for the children to watch. It’s a good way for them to keep their heads still. I’m not sure if he realises how effective this is for some of the children I know on the spectrum but perhaps one day I will recommend him to parents that might struggle with getting hair cuts but their children like watching TV or a movie. I think that distraction helps considerably. JJ used to be bothered by the noise of the razor but I don’t even think he hears it now because he tunes into what he’s watching.
When we got home, kids were fed and I just got ready for a fun night out. Well… It was a very interesting night out! I won’t go into to details but I will just say this sis of mine is truly instrumental to my journey. When I’m with her stuff that you will only imagine to see happen in the movies will happen. Tonight was one of those nights. I am truly grateful to God for sending such people into my life. It’s just WOW!

I came home and even though it was after 10pm everyone was still awake but in bed. I had a brief conversation with each child and kissed them goodnight and they went to sleep. They seemed to have had fun with daddy. He is a star. So we caught up with each other as couples do lol. Well I often skip over that bit but I don’t want you to think it doesn’t happen because it very much does. There’s always time for that in my opinion!

It’s the weekend yay!

Peace and love

MrsJK