Decompressing at the cottage

We returned last weekend from spending 2 weeks at a cottage we rented along Lake Erie. It was beautiful! My side of the family lives in the area so we had day visitors and some over night visitors as well.

The first 24 hours were the hardest on Superman. He had several meltdowns and two rages which resulted in several bloody scratch marks on my arms. I hate when it gets to the point where he has to be restrained but it's for his protection as well as mine. In the end, when I sit behind him, my legs crossed over his, and my arms crossed over his, he tries to thrash, screaming how much he hates me and he hates everything and everyone around him. Then the anger turns to grief, to guilt, to sadness and then he is racked with sobs. Continuous, heart wrenching sobs that seem to overtake his entire little body. And I cry with him. It's exhausting for both of us.

It was tough on my Mum who was visiting from GA for 5 days and has never seen that happen before. She stands in awe as I walk through the process with Superman who eventually is calmed down and resting on the couch.

We had some down points...argument with my MIL about Superman and his behaviour which we resolved the following day but has changed Superman's relationship with her for awhile. Some transistional issues, some bullying type behaviour towards his little sister. But it's interesting to sit back and look at the situation as if it were an out of body experience because each time I can see factors that were glaring warning signs of the behaviour to come and ways that I could have handled it better. Everything seems to be a trial by fire these days.

Some of the high points were Superman's accomplishments in the lake. He has sensory issues with water and didn't want to go in if the water was deeper than his ankles. Then we met Eddie.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a260/Canuk1975/IMG_1901_4_1.jpg

Eddie is a yellow lab who lived a few houses down. He loves to fetch sticks from the water and he took an immediate liking to Superman. So every day we were out and Eddie saw us, he would bring Superman a new stick and the two would play. Eventually, Superman wanted to be in the water with Eddie and all fears were lost.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a260/Canuk1975/IMG_1914_9_1.jpg

Eddie always stayed close to Superman when they were in the water and when Superman got scared, he grabbed onto Eddie who helped them both swim back to shore. This is what has spurred us on to getting a dog of our own. You just can't put a price on the theraputic benefits that a dog can have in his life.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a260/Canuk1975/IMG_1906_7_1.jpg

Ladybug had a blast as well. Every morning when she woke up, she would crawl to the french doors over looking the water and ask to go out. She had no fear of the water at all and if you held her hand she would go march right in up to her armpits!

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a260/Canuk1975/IMG_1798_1_1.jpg

Since we've been home, it's been a little tough. More transistional issues, but Superman starts daycamp tomorrow and they've had Autistic kids before so they're prepared to handle his needs. He went last year and loved it so I'm expecting good things this year too.

As a Mum who is feeling burned out right now, I have to say that I'm looking forward to it as well.