Meghan will be coming home this weekend for her usual biweekly home visit. This visit will be so much more meaningful for all of us because it’s her birthday weekend: Number 14. Do you remember being 14? I do, I was a freshman in high school and small and scrawny. Meghan is not small or scrawny; in fact, she got her…(um, men don’t wince…) menstrual cycle at 10, so she has been a woman for four whole years now. Incredible! I remember the exact moment that her teacher called to tell me that she had gotten her period; I was driving in my car and almost drove off the road, quite honestly! I was stunned. I wasn’t even a woman at 14, let alone 10. It is said that girls are getting their (okay men, once again) “cycle” earlier than ever before. Some suggest that it is due to diet (overeating) and hormones in food.
Interesting research, here, not sure if it's true or not?
Interesting research, here, not sure if it's true or not?
What will also (hopefully) be another treat for her is that we have repainted her room and I bought her a new, fun quilt for the spring and summer (white with pink, green, and blue polka dots—very clean, refreshing, and cute!!). Her room is a huge improvement from what it was before: bright yellow and pink.
Now I have been told that these are the worst colors that one can choose for kids, especially kids with sensory issues since these colors overstimulate the senses and can cause feelings of anger. Pink also increases blood pressure, respiration, heartbeat, and pulse rate. Great!! I’ve been unwittingly working to overstimulate my hyperactive girl for all these years…
So we will soon get to see how she will react to Christopher Robin’s Swing green, since that is the new color of her room. Warm, serene and relaxing. Right there alongside her overstimulating television set!
Nice!
And this is the perfect prelude to the sweet story about her bed. Actually, it’s 1/2 sweet and 1/2 disturbing…
My sister and I grew up sharing the same bedroom (ahh, so sweet? Up until I was about 17 and wanted to kill her, but that’s another story…and now I can blame the pink walls!!) and we had a matching (white) bedroom set to share. And over the years, I've inherited the two twin beds, something that I thought Meghan would want. Anyhow, since her room was too small for two single beds (bad house design), I gave away the second bed (to another little girl who needed it and appreciates it, dearly…. at least that is what I am told!), and I gave Meghan my bed (or my sister’s bed, or my bed, or....oh, who can tell, they’re identical!). So that is the sweet and endearing part of the story; that a second generation is enjoying a nostalgic-inducing twin bed. Mother and daughter sharing one childhood bed…Ohhh!!
And No, that doesn’t make it an antique!!
Now wipe away those tears, because the happy story now takes a disturbing turn—well, sort of. You see, as I’ve told you before, Meghan is a little rough and heavy on people, places and things... including the aforementioned not-an-antique bed, and has not only bent the metal bed frame (quite surprisingly—I thought only Superman or Hulk could do that!!), but has also done a number on the box-spring, too. I would show you a picture, but I’m afraid you might freak… so just take my word for it that we had to gut the entire insides of the box-spring (box-spring without springs… why is that, anyway?) and fix it to make it stable, or simply go without it altogether.
Now you might be thinking, Hey, why not just buy her a new box- spring, crazy people!!? Well, it’s simple, because she will break that one too. And then the next one, and the next…, most likely. So we are going on the concept that we will be repairing it with heavy-duty wood pieces and a good prayer that she will be more gentle with her new and improved not-an-antique bed, since she will no longer be overstimulated by the bright-as-a-stop-sign yellow and angry pink!!
One can only hope.
And, of course, she will also be getting yummy, over-stimulating chocolate cake…
And she can eat it too!!
Now I have been told that these are the worst colors that one can choose for kids, especially kids with sensory issues since these colors overstimulate the senses and can cause feelings of anger. Pink also increases blood pressure, respiration, heartbeat, and pulse rate. Great!! I’ve been unwittingly working to overstimulate my hyperactive girl for all these years…
So we will soon get to see how she will react to Christopher Robin’s Swing green, since that is the new color of her room. Warm, serene and relaxing. Right there alongside her overstimulating television set!
Nice!
And this is the perfect prelude to the sweet story about her bed. Actually, it’s 1/2 sweet and 1/2 disturbing…
My sister and I grew up sharing the same bedroom (ahh, so sweet? Up until I was about 17 and wanted to kill her, but that’s another story…and now I can blame the pink walls!!) and we had a matching (white) bedroom set to share. And over the years, I've inherited the two twin beds, something that I thought Meghan would want. Anyhow, since her room was too small for two single beds (bad house design), I gave away the second bed (to another little girl who needed it and appreciates it, dearly…. at least that is what I am told!), and I gave Meghan my bed (or my sister’s bed, or my bed, or....oh, who can tell, they’re identical!). So that is the sweet and endearing part of the story; that a second generation is enjoying a nostalgic-inducing twin bed. Mother and daughter sharing one childhood bed…Ohhh!!
And No, that doesn’t make it an antique!!
Now wipe away those tears, because the happy story now takes a disturbing turn—well, sort of. You see, as I’ve told you before, Meghan is a little rough and heavy on people, places and things... including the aforementioned not-an-antique bed, and has not only bent the metal bed frame (quite surprisingly—I thought only Superman or Hulk could do that!!), but has also done a number on the box-spring, too. I would show you a picture, but I’m afraid you might freak… so just take my word for it that we had to gut the entire insides of the box-spring (box-spring without springs… why is that, anyway?) and fix it to make it stable, or simply go without it altogether.
Now you might be thinking, Hey, why not just buy her a new box- spring, crazy people!!? Well, it’s simple, because she will break that one too. And then the next one, and the next…, most likely. So we are going on the concept that we will be repairing it with heavy-duty wood pieces and a good prayer that she will be more gentle with her new and improved not-an-antique bed, since she will no longer be overstimulated by the bright-as-a-stop-sign yellow and angry pink!!
One can only hope.
And, of course, she will also be getting yummy, over-stimulating chocolate cake…
And she can eat it too!!
More, here, about how to handle girls and puberty, autistic and typical girls alike.
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5 comments:
Wow - Happy Birthday to Meghan! The green walls sound lovely and soothing. I never knew that about pink - makes all kinds of sense now, since I had pink walls during my teen years! I always felt out of sorts!
Good Luck!!! Hope you all have a good visit.
I never had painted walls as a kid. i think that can be just as depressing.
Lost count of the number of beds C has broken! He now just has 3 mattresses on top of each other - works really well.
Happy birthday to Megan, hope she has a wonderful weekend.
Interesting info about the color pink!
The room sounds really lovely. Dare I ask for a picture? Not a "Home beautiful" picture. A "here - this is what it looks like-picture.
Have a nice time with your girl!
Oh yes the lovely coming-of-age bits... *sigh* Little Miss's teacher called this week to tell me that the child had been complaining that her tummy hurt "down there"--at almost 10-- and I'm yelling NO SHE DIDN'T!! But fortunately three bananas later, it's turned out to be constipation. THIS time. But it's coming. As you say.
Happy birthday to Meghan! Let's hope we all live till our child makes # 14....
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