More Schedules

Tonight was day 2 of "get ready to go back to school"  It was a rough one.  It was a rough day.  Its been a rough month.  But we're hanging in there.

Here's what I made for Ava to remember what to do at bed time.

Night time Routine

Its cute - its worth clicking on the link.  This is the same routine we had last year, but now its written down with pictures so she can remember.  I asked if she wanted velcro cards to remove what she'd done, but she said no.  So this is what we have.

Then I ordered a Medicine timer from Amazon.  I'll be able to record 6 sayings and add a timer - starting with "you have 5 minutes before bed."  Its supposed to go off every 5 minutes until you hit the alarm button.  We'll see if this works!

We've been using our seat belt cover quite a bit.  Its a great thing to have, but its distressing to see Ava meltdown when we're driving.  She knows how to unbuckle, so I have to be extra careful to remove anything in her reach that she can use as a tool.  Today, I didn't lock the belt tight enough around her & she wiggled out.  Luckily, I was stopped in a quiet neighborhood at a stop sign.  Unluckily, it was 102 degrees outside and we didn't want to hang out there all afternoon waiting for her to calm down.

Which brings me to this...our Calm Down Box.  I saw the idea on Pinterest (come follow me!) and Emma helped me make it right away.  Ava even got into making it, since its to be her box that's even better!  We used an old pencil box and added a straw, wedding bubbles, Halloween/birthday party PlayDough, a few crayons & a tiny note pad, a small squishy stuffed animal, a whistle, gum, life savers, BandAids, and a lip balm.  (The photo isn't ours, but its similar)

Hope these ideas help us!  The Calm Down Box didn't help today, but you have to use it BEFORE the meltdown starts.  We were too late.  Maybe next time I can catch it before it goes too far.

Oh, one last thing.  I'm going to start tracking meltdowns again.  We know they happen when there's a transition, but there may be more patterns happening that I'm not noticing.  Here's the file we use: Scheldule  I color in the boxes with a crayon/marker/colored pencil, and I keep it color coded by major activities (active play, calm play, school, sleep, electronics).  I color meltdowns in with a thick black sharpie.   She'll see her Neuro Dr in about a month, so this will be good info for the dr.