Maddie post-meltdown at BW-3’s. See story for more details.
When you have a child on the autism spectrum, your life changes in many ways. One thing that happens is that you aren’t going to be invited to as many parties as before and even when you are, your concern for how the party might disrupt your child (and how your child might disrupt the party) usually keeps you home, anyway.
Today we discuss the 1st Super Bowl party Maddie has ever experienced. I decided to have the party because my 5 year old twins are starting to get into sports and I didn’t want to deprive them of this American tradition. To split the difference between their best interests and Maddie’s, we just invited their Grandparents, as they know not to yell loudly when something good happens. The party itself went well, though, with any new event on her schedule, Maddie was totally on edge, obsessing on the subject and made us pretty insane until Grandpa and Grandma arrived after 5pm. Yeah autism!!!
On New Year’s Day we made a rare family excursion to the local BW-3’s to attend a University of Iowa alumni football watch. Within the first 5 minutes, Maddie had went into total meltdown, as when the Hawkeyes scored, the alumni roared. We knew that this was a possible outcome, but we wanted the twins to get a chance to experience this type of partisan energy. In doing so, we failed Maddie, though. At soon as meltdown commenced, I sprinted to the van to grab Maddie’s headphones, while Mommy tried to console Maddie. When I got back I placed them on her head, walked her to the quietest place I could find and then craddled and rocked all 95 pounds of her, until she could calm down from the shock her system had taken. It took awhile and I can’t say I saw much of the game, but considering Susan is with her almost all the time, which means an amazing amount of sacrifices, I feel like when I’m with Maddie I should take on these moments as much as possible.
This site is not about making anyone feel guilty. I just believe the truth of our family’s life is the best way for us to raise awareness and understanding. Now watch Maddie’s video. She really loves that you do.