Update: Hi ladies, looking for your wisdom

[lucilleaustero]

Hello.

My cousin asked us to mind her three children for their first weekend away since her 5 year old was born. Her 14 year old is NT and will be helping out. Her 5 year old has autism and is non-verbal and engages in pica.Her 3 year old is being evaluated for speech language delay and can get overwhelemd when playing with lots of kids.

I have spent a lot of time with all her children and my 3 year old loves playing with her kids and is particularly close to her 5 year old. But, I have never had them for an overnight, never mind for a weekend. My cousin is giving me their routine, so we will be following that to the letter.

Her 5 year old really enjoys planes and sea animals, so we will be going to the plane musuem and the aquarium , if it is nice out. Do you have any apps that you reocmmend for downtime or if it is crappy weather? If anyone has experience with pica, any suggestions or ways to prepare for that?

I am looking forward to spending time with them, but I am a bit nervous too.

TIA

[typeset]

My first thought is that a plane museum and an aquarium are a lot to handle for a little one who's already dealing with an upheaval and an adult who isn't used to juggling all those things on a regular basis.

[lucilleaustero]

Jan 30, 2015 15:28:22 GMT -5 typeset said:

My first thought is that a plane museum and an aquarium are a lot to handle for a little one who's already dealing with an upheaval and an adult who isn't used to juggling all those things on a regular basis.

Okay, that makes sense. I was trying to come up with activities that would be of interest, but did not really consider that she might be overwhelmed, even if it is high interest.

Do you have any suggestions for activities? All the kids have been to my house several times and we do have a large play area. Is this a bad idea :-(? I really just want to help my cousin out; she and her husband really need some time away.

[hopecounts]

I think doing one of the outings would be fine (depending on the kid) both would be a lot for my kid to handle.
She is usually happy running around 'playing' in a home environment.
I would be prepared with some special interest activities/books/movies for the 5 yr old to enjoy (Nemo for example)
If you have spent time with them before it will likely be fine.
My kid is fine going with people she knows and wouldn't have a hard time with this as long as she had a couple of her favorite things from home with her (which I would assume the parents would realize but maybe make sure)
Ask the parents how the 5 yr old spends his time at home and if they can bring anything special the kids would enjoy or like to have with them.
Other then that follow the 5 yr olds cues, even if he is non-verbal he likely communicates pretty clearly through behavior so if s/he starts struggling look for what might be prompting the behavior (is it almost time to eat/is it noisy or chaotic) and see what you can do to remedy it.
Does s/he use PECS/AAC/sign language to communicate?

[lucilleaustero]

Jan 30, 2015 16:16:39 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

I think doing one of the outings would be fine (depending on the kid) both would be a lot for my kid to handle.
She is usually happy running around 'playing' in a home environment.
I would be prepared with some special interest activities/books/movies for the 5 yr old to enjoy (Nemo for example)
If you have spent time with them before it will likely be fine.
My kid is fine going with people she knows and wouldn't have a hard time with this as long as she had a couple of her favorite things from home with her (which I would assume the parents would realize but maybe make sure)
Ask the parents how the 5 yr old spends his time at home and if they can bring anything special the kids would enjoy or like to have with them.
Other then that follow the 5 yr olds cues, even if he is non-verbal he likely communicates pretty clearly through behavior so if s/he starts struggling look for what might be prompting the behavior (is it almost time to eat/is it noisy or chaotic) and see what you can do to remedy it.
Does s/he use PECS/AAC/sign language to communicate?

Yes. She recently started using a pecs board, but is still pretty new to it. She did not respond well to learning sign language, but she does have a few signs that my cousin taught most of the friends and family that see her regularly.

[hopanka]

I just wanna say that it's awesome of you to do that for your cousin. Kudos!

I agree that doing one activity, rather than both, may make it more successful. Also, have a plan B in case you have to quickly leave. Make sure the amount of adults/responsible teens is the same as the number of kiddos. You don't want to get out-numbered.

Finally, have fun! I'm sure your cousin is very appreciative!

[numbbears]

That's really sweet of you. Hope it's going well. A large play area sounds awesome. If she hasn't already, I'd also make sure your cousin tells you about food schedules for them. DS is a picky eater. When I send him somewhere, I let them know things he'll eat and how he likes them.

[bubbalicious]

Awesome! Have fun! You will do great!

[lucilleaustero]

Update: Thanks so much for the advice. We had a great weekend this past weekend. We found a nice balance of activities and down time and fun was had by all. The only issue was at mealtime because I did not know that her daughter has issues with texture. But, the 14 year old knew and helped me out. I also learned quickly that she will put any kind of wrappers in her mouth, so anything with wrappers (juice box straw, granola bar etc), I unwrapped first and then gave it to her.

As they were leaving she patted my daughter on the shoulder and made really sweet eye contact with me.

My cousin and er husband got some well deserved alone time. We are planning on watching them again in November when they go away for a night with a wedding.

[hopecounts]

Feb 19, 2015 14:09:40 GMT -5 lucilleaustero said:

Update: Thanks so much for the advice. We had a great weekend this past weekend. We found a nice balance of activities and down time and fun was had by all. The only issue was at mealtime because I did not know that her daughter has issues with texture. But, the 14 year old knew and helped me out. I also learned quickly that she will put any kind of wrappers in her mouth, so anything with wrappers (juice box straw, granola bar etc), I unwrapped first and then gave it to her.

As they were leaving she patted my daughter on the shoulder and made really sweet eye contact with me.

My cousin and er husband got some well deserved alone time. We are planning on watching them again in November when they go away for a night with a wedding.

That's great! 
I know they appreciated the break and it'll be even easier in November now that you've done it once!

[mcribster]

yay! glad it went well. good job!

[numbbears]

That's awesome that it went well and so sweet of you to do.