Lizze is still pretty sick. She’s been resting most of the day but still feels shitty. Hopefully she’s going to start feeling better soon.
The only interesting thing I need to catch you up on is that we had our first family therapy session since returning from Florida.
The appointment was interesting because we focused on the trip. Dr. Pattie asked each of the boys to tell her what they loved the most about the trip and what they hated the most about the trip.
I would have thought that everyone hated the drive there and back. That seemed like the obvious answer, but it wasn’t.
Gavin’s the only one who said anything about the drive.
The bottom line is, none of the kids really were able to answer that question. I thought that was interesting because it seems like such a simple question but apparently it wasn’t.
Dr. Pattie and I discussed what kind of behavioral issues we experienced while we were down there.
We saw many of the same things we do up here and that’s not really a surprise. The only thing that was really different was that the usual things were much more pronounced and problematic. The stress of the trip, new environment, climate and all the stimulus is responsible for that.
There were also some behaviors that were hadn’t really seen before.
I learned that in situations like us going on vacation for the first time ever, new behaviors can awaken.
I’m working on a post about some of the things we experienced behaviorally speaking. I’m hoping to get that done in the next couple of days.
If there was one thing I would stress about kids on the Autism Spectrum, it would be this:
It doesn’t matter if the stimulation is positive, like a vacation or negative, like a favorite toy breaking. The end result is often overstimulation followed by the inevitable meltdown.
I think there’s a great deal of misconception surrounding that tidbit of information.
This is why many Autism parents have grown to hate the holidays..
I don’t think that’s surprising at all. I’ve asked kids many times what their favorite part of something was and they can’t pick just one. I think that is typical of most kids and even a lot of adults. The takeaway for me would be that they had so many good things happen that they can’t pick just one, and that they didn’t see the drive as the same horrible thing that you did. For the record, I’m with you on the drive being no fun. I can handle it mentally, but my knees get angry after a few hours and my back and hips join in shortly thereafter. : )
Hey Kim. It’s just interesting to me, seeing how they think or process things. Emmett can tell you all kinds of things that are unbelievably advanced but can answer a simple question. It’s because this kind of question is open ended and sorta outside the rails.
Secondly, I wanted you to know that I read and responded to your comment about the Wish Presentation. Unfortunately, Spot.IM wasn’t writing to the WordPress database and support is terrible. As soon as I can recover those comments, I will.
As for your comment. It did rub me the wrong way but that’s okay. There wasn’t a presentation to take pictures of. She had called it a presentation but didn’t tell me anything else, so I assumed it involved some kind of presentation.
All it amounted to was sitting around her kitchen table and going over paperwork and physically handing or presenting me with the check for the trip. There wasn’t anything to take pictures of.
What frustrated me about your comment was the assumption that I was not providing credit to Wishes Can Happen. That’s simply not true. Maybe you don’t follow my Twitter but that’s the best way to directly address them. Facebook as well. I’ve thanked them countless times in almost every post I’ve written on the topic.
Something else to think about is that I may also be respecting the wishes of the parties involved.
There are people who were obviously involved but didn’t want credit. I don’t feel good doing that but I respect their wishes and understand their reasons. T-Mobile is a perfect example of this.
All I ask is that you provide me the benefit of the doubt when something like this comes up. I meet or exceed in all areas where credit needs to be given.
I do remember you said you would willingly take your licks for that one, but let’s just move on..
I used to follow you on Twitter but I was getting too many notifications about old posts that it started to feel like clickbait. I understand that the presentation wan’t really a presentation at all and my apologies for assuming otherwise. That said-this: “I meet or exceed in all areas where credit needs to be given” isn’t 100% true. You have failed to review your Casper mattress for MONTHS. That company gave you a $1000 mattress and aside from you referencing your awesome mattress, you have mostly ignored them. If I am to be honest, that mattress sticks with me and is probably a decent part of the reason that I didn’t you give the benefit of the doubt with Wishes Can Happen.
All that said, I am glad that you all had a nice vacation and am super happy that Gavin made it to Legoland. I hope he was able to get his Ninjago Lego set. It’s nice to see a child who has such a simple desire out of life, it’s just so bittersweet that his health was the reason that he got such an amazing trip. Also, it looked like everyone loved the ocean. If you have more pics of that I would like to see them. I have lived near the water all my life and can’t get enough of it.
Kim, what you don’t know about the Casper mattress is that the one we received ended up being defective. The adhesive between the layers let go and it eventually had to be replaced. As a result, the review was delayed.
I wanted to at least sleep on the mattress for three for four months before making an honest recommendation and because the first one went bad, that clock started over.
I took stock of the defect but also how well customer service addressed the issue. That was only a few months ago.
I’m well within what Casper and I agreed to.
I appreciate your concern but these things would have been addressed when I do my review.
As for Gavin, he did find his Ninjago set and had it put together the moment we got back to the condo.
I guess the lesson here is this. The agreements I have with companies that I work with, are very specific and if I wasn’t living up to my end, they wouldn’t be working with me. If I need to disclose something to my readers, I will.
The idea behind the review I was doing for Casper was very specific. I see so many reviews from people who use the bed for a week or a month before reviewing it. I wanted to focus on a more long term approach.
I’ve bought new mattresses and they become more and more uncomfortable, the longer they are used. I simply wanted to let a decent amount of time go by so I could honestly tell people about my experience with the mattress, even at the six month mark.
Again, I appreciate your concern but I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to.