These days he carries around much larger blankets. He has a few he rotates between, which is nice because I can now wash them without him freaking out. He would take them to school if we let him. And like Linus from Peanuts uses them instead of jackets.
I have since learned in my reading that his desire to carry around blankets and to always be wrapped tight in them (we used to call him Bundles, because he liked to be wrapped so tight in a "baby bundle" if you will), as well as his need to sleep in small spaced and or sleep with others (human or the stuffed variety) are traits of Asperger's.
Who would have guessed. When I first reflected on this I somehow wondered if I helped "cause" his Asperger's by bundling him so tight to sleep. But really Asperger's is much more complicated than just how one prefers to sleep... so now I just pat myself on the back for realizing what worked well for him from an early age.
Monkey on the other hand is a totally different baby, and while swaddling was wonderful for the first 3+ months (what is often called the 4th trimester) I wonder if it's the way forward for us. But more to follow on that tomorrow.
2 comments:
Have you ever heard of Temple Grandin? If not, you should check her out--she's autistic and an author and engineer, she is really awesome and brilliant and excellent at writing about living with autism.
Anyway, at a young age she realized that it relaxed her to squeeze herself in this contraption used for holding cattle (she grew up on a farm). Later, joint compression therapy and weighted therapy were developed because of the same concept that she had insight into at an early age (maybe similar to your insights about your guy) . . . if he likes lots of blankets give the boy blankets!
I think as parents we all find what works best for our LO's and it's not always what we planned but oh well, we do it anyway for them. ;-)
I've read it, just finished it a few weeks ago. Good book.
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