It’s nearly the end of of October which means the season of festivals is beginning. First we start off with Halloween and this year we have a party to go to, then we have bonfire night followed by……THE C WORD!

All this means a nightmare for me, and for MLA. As it gets closer to each festival his anxiety levels rise with Christmas being the worst. So this year he is not getting secret Christmas present, last year he had weeks of anxiety attacks and Christmas day he was physically shaking. No this year he is to be shown what he is getting for Christmas and then it will be wrapped up. That will be spoiling his fun I here you say but the unknown is not fun for MLA. It’s terrifying for him!

So now we have to deal with Halloween.  He has chosen his outfit, a scary ghost and we have the party in a few days.  I don’t need to do to much to reduce his anxieties for this because the party he is going to is that of a couple of friends of his that also have autism which means he, and I, know that the party goers will be informed before each activity what to expect.  So I am unlikely to have all the bad nights, wetting but still have the ‘forgetting’ to eat to deal with.

Next is bonfire night, which is even easier to deal with.  We don’t do a lot on bonfire night as fireworks and dogs don’t go well together.  MLA can watch fireworks from the top of our hill without the dog having a nervous break down

Oh the joys of winter!