Christmas Travels Part 2

Hey, remember me?  Remember like a month ago when I said I was going to post part two of our Christmas travels?  This month has sucked rocks big time.  I'm talking lots of vomit, taking stool samples to the lab, and a crazy polar vortex.  I will explain my absence tomorrow.  For now, let's talk Christmas travels.

So once you have finally made it to your final destination and you've braved the airplane or long car trip, it's time to celebrate big time!  Seriously mama (or daddy or caregiver)!  Have a snickers bar already, give yourself a pat on the back, and put your feet up for a minute or two.  YOU ARE AWESOME!  Repeat that a few times and then get back to work.

I have a few tips to share on how to enjoy the rest of the trip.  I hesitate to share them because it is pretty much common sense.  I am hoping that I can give someone a new idea!  Here are my top 4 tips for vacation survival with kids on the spectrum:

1.  If You Are Traveling to See Family, STAY AT YOUR OWN PLACE! 

For us, this is crucial.  This might not be possible for everyone, I get it.  You've already forked out the money to fly on a plane or drive in a car for hours.  And you're visiting in-laws or grandparents or friends or whoever. Why wouldn't you just crash at their place for free?  I would say yes if your kids can handle it.  My kids just can't and that's okay. 

All of my siblings that live outside of Utah stay with their families at my parent's home.  This year two of my brothers and their families stayed there.  Most of the grand kids slept on the ground in an open room.  My parents also have 2 dogs that bark a lot.  The house is quite loud with lots of commotion, eating, dishes clanking, dogs barking, children screaming, and overall Christmas merriment.  I love the sounds of Christmas.  My boys don't love these sounds.  It can be very overwhelming for a little boy on the autism spectrum.  Don't get me wrong, they can handle some loud noise for a few hours (depending on their mood), but not constant for days on end.  If I don't provide a "safe" place for my boys to unwind, recharge, and calm their nerves (aka- a place that can be absolutely quiet) my boys don't do well.

 It is also AMAZING how well my boys will sleep on vacation if we stick to their exact bedtime routine.  Which is: bath, PJs, Tired Teddies, story, prayers, tuck boy in bed in his own quiet room and close the door.  Voila!  A sleeping child!

This Christmas we found a quaint little duplex on VRBO.  Have you heard of this website before?  We love it.  Vacation Rentals By Owner.  This rental saved us about 100 tantrums over the course of two weeks. :-)  It was so nice to be with our family during the day.  It was loud and chaotic and fun.  Most of the time the boys could handle it.  Sometimes they couldn't.  It was so nice to have the option of taking them somewhere else where they could unwind and not be amongst all of the commotion.

2.  DON'T FEED THE KIDS JUNK FOOD SNACKS!  

This seems like a no brainer, right?  Of course you wouldn't purposefully feed your kids Hershey kisses and peppermint M&M's for a whole day.  I am here to tell you that this may or may not have happened to us.  ;-) I speak from experience people!  However tempting it may be to hand your child some Christmas candy to quiet them for a minute or two, JUST SAY NO!  They will be grumpy, gassy, and then they won't have room in their tummies for a good dinner. 

It all spirals out of control when they don't have a nutritious dinner and they wake up in the middle of the night with a tummy ache or they are finally hungry.  I am not saying absolutely no Christmas candy, but just make sure they have eaten dinner before they have a few pieces.  It never hurts to let their tummies get a bit hungry.  Normally my diaper bag is stocked with goldfish crackers and teddy grahams.  The kids know it.  My bag was not stocked on this trip with anything.  It was truly one of the best things I did because my boys may not have been brave enough to eat all of the new foods they tried. Proof that he ate some type of Brazilian sausage.  AMAZING!

3.  TIRE THEM OUT!  

This also may seem like a pretty obvious one.  It's easy when you're on vacation to let the kids watch more TV than normal or to just sit around the house and relax.  There is a time and a place for that.  We want the kids to move their physical bodies and practice using their sensory system which includes proprioceptor and vestibular.  I know, weird big words. 

Proprioceptive information is sensations from muscles and joints. Proprioceptive input tells the brain when and how muscles are contracting and stretching and how joints are being compressed or stretched. It helps us to know where our bodies are in space and how they are moving. If you can run without looking at your feet, hit a baseball without looking at the bat, or pass a basketball without looking at your arm, then you are using a sixth sense known as proprioception. The vestibular system is the sensory system that responds to accelerated and decelerated movement. Think of swinging in a swing, doing a cartwheel, or riding a rollercoaster.  It is through the vestibular system that we learn directions and are aware of our body position in space. This input helps us to form a basic reference for all sensory experiences.  These are just two of the reasons my boys both are receiving occupational therapy.  Anyway, that's another story for another day.  My point is, tire the kids out!  Let them run around and roam free as much as possible!

 

 

4.  TAKE AS MANY PICTURES AND VIDEOS OF THEM AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN!!

I know what you're thinking.  All of the pics and videos are for the scrapbook, right?  Nope.  I use them as my own autism 'social story'.  In the autism world many teachers and therapists will use social stories as a way to teach a child a certain skill or concept.  For example, one social story book might talk about how a child will say hello and wave his hand when someone says hello to him.  Or if a child is going to the dentist you might write a social story for what will happen and what is to be expected during the trip.

It's not exactly the same, but I use these in the same way.  My children are narcissistic.  They love looking at pictures and watching movies of themselves.  We are an Apple family.  We have all things Apple.  We have an Apple TV and it is so awesome to throw our movies and pictures up on the TV.  We talk about the pictures and remind the kids what happened. 

It wouldn't be a Utah Christmas without a trip to the ER.  If you look closely you can see my fingers clasped around his ankle holding his leg and foot still for the x-ray.

 For example, while we were in Utah we took Ezra skiing for the first time.  We weren't expecting much from him.  He's only 4 and he's on the spectrum.  We just wanted a ton of videos and pictures so we could show and talk about how Ezra went skiing.  We also talk about different things that are happening in the videos and pictures.  Like how Ezra is wearing 'ski goggles' and his helmet is pink.  Children learn from talking about and experiencing life.  Hopefully the next time he goes skiing he will feel much more confident because he will remember and know what to expect from the experience.

Both of my boys absolutely LOVE dogs.  One day we will get a dog.

I hope you have found something useful for your next travel adventure!