Autism Awareness Month Day 26

As the birds sang I woke up this morning ready for another day. It was going to be a long one as I had work, netball tournament, work, a meeting then a church session. On the go until about 10pm…
Nae-Nae came to my room and got into bed with me. She asked for a hug and a kiss. I don’t usually ask why she wanted that but I did today because I knew why really and wanted to see what she would say. She replied because “I love you.” Ok so this was in relation to yesterday as well as her normal affection towards me. She had definitely reflected some more and just wanted to make sure I realised that she was sorry.
I hugged her and kissed her and told her that yesterday was forgotten and she nodded and smiled. I reminded her that I will always, always love her it’s just so behaviours I don’t love. She understood this.
Today was the netball tournament so I told her I would bring a new game play sheet with me and see her later. I reminded her that it’s not about winning its about trying her absolute hardest and if she did that, it would be all anyone would ask of her.
I dropped JJ to school while Nae-Nae went with MrJK. I did that and raced back home to do some work. My manager had let me take a few hours off for the netball tournament so I had to work my socks off beforehand and make sure I’m nearly on the way to completing all tasks before I finish on Friday. Nearly there but there’s still lots I would want to do but hey.
I drove to the netball tournament and found Nae-Nae’s school. They were trying to keep warm as it was snowing, raining then sunny in the space of a few minutes. In order to stay warm too I joined in with the girls to train. I could see the coaches needed to sort other things out so without actually offering I just gave a helping hand and occupied one team by getting them to follow my warm up routine. I just can’t help myself as you can see.
For a change, Nae-Nae didn’t mind and she was actually really happy. She kept saying to the team members “That’s my mum,” as they followed my lead. She was so proud. Normally when I get involved it gets on her nerves unless she has given me the go ahead but I didn’t ask her this time. I just did it.
The first match started and it was her school’s other team who were up first. They did so well and won. This in my view put pressure in the minds of Nae-Nae’s team players to win their first game. I took Nae-Nae aside and showed her the game plan rules. She smiled at it and absorbed the information. She particularly liked the drawings I did for ‘no crying’ and ‘no bad language.’ She saw them and laughed.
The game started and the other team scored first really quickly. This took Nae-Nae’s anxiety levels through the roof. I could see that she was panicking. More balls went in the net because Nae-Nae was getting so frustrated that she wasn’t blocking her opponent and the ball was just flying over her head.
They scored again and Nae-Nae blew up!! She grabbed the ball aggressively threw is hard across the court, almost swore but swallowed it as she looked at my face and just cried hysterically. I ran over to her hugged her and told her if it’s too much for her she could come off and let someone else play. She shook her head so I told her she’s gonna haves to get a grip then as she’s holding up play. Her coach came over and told her if she didn’t stop crying she should give her the bib and let someone else go on. I knew the coach didn’t mean it because Nae-Nae is like the game maker but she knew Nae-Nae would want to stay and fix up. She did and dried her tears and the game continued.
She started remembering what to do and stopped a few balls getting to the net and her team members got one or two nets so she was a little happier. They lost their game so she cried again. She came to me and told me it was just too hard. I encouraged her and she calmed down a lot more. I told her how proud of her I was but if she wanted a different result next game she’s going to need to remember the game plan rules and stick to them and not focus on the score. I told her I needed her to cheer up. She still had tears rolling down her cheeks so I thought, right out comes the ‘bum fart song.’ I know people I’m terrible but desperate situations call for desperate measures. I found the video on YouTube and played it in her ears. I didn’t have headphones with me but at that point I really didn’t care who heard as it just made her laugh and laugh. She does this thing where she pretends she doesn’t enjoy it and moves her head away and tells me “No!” However, when I took my phone away she held on to it and put it to her ears instead lol. She listened to it until it finished and then she was calm again. Humour and bad humour at its best works well with Nae-Nae. It distracts her from panic and upset.
The team got ready for the next team and I encouraged them all. The coach put slightly different players on and Nae-Nae thought the coach would take her off but she just reminded Nae-Nae not to cry and it will be fine. I showed her the visual, one more time and just encouraged her to stick to her opponent like glue and keep the gap between them small. I told her when the gap is big I would shout “mind the gap,” so she knows what she needs to do.
The game started and Nae-Nae was on it. Any time she left a gap between her and the goal shooter I shouted “Mind the gap!” Then she repositioned herself. She was on fire, she was flying across the court, blocking the ball, intercepting it and throwing it long up the court to set up her team mates. I’m not just saying it because I’m her mum but she was really player of the match. Her team mates were also connecting with the net and scoring goals so they were all so pleased. They won this match and then they drew the next.
At the end of each game Nae-Nae would go up to one of the coaches to ask them to rate her play. Her grammar wasn’t quite accurate as she asked “What did I play?” She wasn’t being understood so she rephrased the question but it was even more unclear and the coach looked at me and I interpreted for Nae-Nae and told the them she was looking for their assessment of her play as she wanted to be congratulated because she knows she played well. The coach smiled and complemented her play and reminded her when she doesn’t cry she’s a star player. She was really happy well… Until the organiser announced the winners of the league. Whatever happened today was not relevant to the league it was all the matches before and her team had only won one of their matches so they weren’t 1st, 2nd or 3rd so didn’t win a medal. I saw her really try and hold back the tears while she watched other players go up for their medals. She was absolutely gutted! She wanted a medal so badly.
Nae-Nae managed to compose herself and she was back ready for their play off game. Again she was on fire and they drew. As there needed to be a winner, both teams had to play against the other team who came the position lower than them to decide on their position rather than just continue to play until one team scored. I didn’t understand that personally.
The team that they played managed to score a few nets and I could see Nae-Nae about to blow again. Gosh my heart couldn’t take the pressure anymore. I got her attention and reminded her of the matches before. She told me she just wants a medal. I explained that this match isn’t for a medal as they weren’t 1st, 2nd or 3rd so if that’s the reason she is getting frustrated she should just relax and have fun. She calmed down a little bit and when their game had finished we went across court to watch their A team’s match.
Sadly they didn’t win either so they just lost out of a medal position. As much as I was gutted for them I also thought phew! I didn’t think I could take the rage Nae-Nae would have had if the other team from her school went home with medals and her team didn’t. She would have been happy for them, don’t get me wrong but she was so fixated on the shiny medals she would have wanted one. The Lord knows!
We sat through the awards ceremony and then we went home. Nae-Nae’s eyes started to fill up with water because of the medal situation but I reminded her that she was remarkable. Another parent overhead and confirmed that Nae-Nae was player of the match in her eyes too. Nae-Nae smiled and then looked at the parent who she didn’t recognise and said “Who are you?” Her tone of voice made it sound like she was being rude like ‘who are you to come and talk to me,’ but that wasn’t what she meant. She was genuinely interested to know who she was and who she was mum to. The mum kind of sniggered and then there was silence so Nae-Nae asked the same question again but her tone was different this time and the parent knew what she meant and told her she was the mother of one of her team players. Nae-Nae looked at her again and told her she looked like the mum of one of her other school friends. I didn’t realise at first but then when I looked and omg Nae-Nae was spot on. She was a picture image of another child’s mum. This parent did to seem to know who Nae-Nae was referring to so they must not be related unless they are long lost sisters..? Wouldn’t that be strange and all this time they have children that go to the same school.
We rushed home so I could continue with work until my evening meetings. JJ asked Nae-Nae how she did and I just answered for her so she didn’t have chance to draw her mind back to the medal situation. We were at home so that was over. I told JJ that her team won a couple, drew a couple and lost one. I told him Nae-Nae was on fire though so he praised her and she was happy.
MrJK cooked dinner so I had a quick bite to eat while I finished a work task and then off out to a meeting. During this meeting there were questions I didn’t want to ask in front of others so I took someone aside. That person gave me the information I needed and told me something that I just had to praise God for because seriously it is a miracle, favour of God situation. When I tell you the story one day, no doubt you will have your mouth wide open. It’s a testimony for another day though.
Straight after that meeting I went onto the next. I tell you by that time my brain was scrambled. So much so that I forgot myself a little bit and asked a question like a class clown would do. You know the question other pupils would want to ask but wouldn’t dare in the manor in which the class clown would and make every laugh. It was a genuine question that I wanted to know the answer to as those on my table were discussing it too but I suppose the way I put it was a bit humorous, because everyone laughed. I really didn’t mean to get that reaction but sometimes like my children I don’t know how funny I am.
I have children tell me that I need my own show on TV lol. If I did, they would definitely watch it. It has crossed my mind though. I seem to have one of those faces that children in particular like. I can be a bit silly and wacky too so that always goes down well with kids I find.
Its funny but I believe God has given me a vision to do something from June. I will tell you about it soon… It’s going to require me to be a bit humorous and engaging so when the question didn’t come out in the way I planned and the reaction I got as a result, I thought actually maybe that was planned by the Almighty to confirm I have the tools for the task and I shouldn’t worry about it at all. So actually I won’t!
I got home and I was completely frazzled and the household were sleeping. I had a quick bath and retired to bed myself. What a long day!! More of that tomorrow…
Peace and love

MrsJK