Happy New Year – Are we in 2023 or 2024?

Well….Happy New Year! The start of a new year, a fresh start, the beginning of time isn’t it. It’s a time for reflection, to look back on over the last year and a time for plan making, thinking about what you want to achieve in the coming year. For us though it was a minefield of questions. I am writing this at 7pm on New Year’s Eve. And at this time I can honestly say I was about 3 million questions deep on time, the concept of time, when does a year start etc etc.

The day started off really well with a good sleep and lie in, followed by a New Year’s Eve breakfast at my brother’s. I had prepped my son for this as per usual and he was excited. He had actually woken me up in the middle of the night to ask me what time we were going there. There would be 13 people there (all family) and a dog and he seemed fine with it. Until the very moment we had to actually go and put our shoes on. The mood turned in an instant and I knew straight away this wouldn’t go well. My son couldn’t decide on shoes and after telling him we were driving, he wanted to walk to my brother’s not drive. I knew this wasn’t the issue, he was simply trying to delay going because he was already feeling anxious about it. The longer we debated about walking or driving the worse it was getting and I knew by this point that we would be last to arrive. Disaster. I liked to be first, it suited my son better, allowed him to settle in before anyone else arrived but now we would have to walk into a full room and he wouldn’t be able to deal with it. And that’s exactly what happened. We got there and he walked in the room, and walked straight back out. We stood hidden round the corner and he whispered to me:

“It’s too scary in there”

Followed by

“It’s too noisy”

So I stayed outside in the hall with him and we looked round my brother’s living room while everyone else sat in the kitchen. We kept popping our heads in but then going back out. As annoying and frustrating this was for me, as selfishly I wanted to join the party I was pleased that my son had opened up to me and told me he couldn’t go in. Previously he would have gone and sat in there but unbeknownst to me would have hated it and this would have had dire consequences resulting in sensory overload and a meltdown so I was pleased he could say he was scared. After about ten minutes I decided to move two chairs to the far side of the room away from everyone, close to the door we kept popping in and out of and I managed to get my son to come in and sit on one of the chairs right by the door, away from everyone else but at least in the same room. And that is where we stayed for the breakfast. And throughout it all he kept asking me:

“What time is it?”

When this question came out I knew he was struggling. That question is his go to question. It reassures him. We had been invited to a New Year’s Eve party tonight too at my other brother’s but I knew after this morning I couldn’t go through it again. After leaving the breakfast the day started to hang by a thread and there was numerous questions around the new year such as:

“Is my birthday this year or next year?”
“How many months are in the year?”
“Am I 6 this year or next year?”
“What are the months of the year?”
“How many hours are in a day?”
“How many days are in a year?”
“Are we in 2023 or 2024?”
“Does 2024 start tomorrow?”

My mind was busting. And just when I thought the questions had settled down he then decided to run. He’s a runner. He loves running and the way our house is laid out you can run from one end of the house to the other without having to turn any corners (as long as the doors are left open). It’s all wood flooring on this particular route through the house so as he ran his feet made loud noises. And he ran quickly. And from one end of the house to the other and back again…..and back again…..and back again…..all while asking questions. Can you imagine listening to this while answering quick fire questions….

“What time is it?”

“Is it next year yet?”

“How many months are in a year?”

From reading and researching various things I knew that he needed to do this in order to recover from the morning that we had had. It would regulate his nervous system and bring some reassurance to him. And I should let him. So I did. And that is how we ended 2023. With him asking questions and running up and down. Now I’m not sure what 2024 will bring but I do know it will bring lots of questions!!!

Happy New Year….from me….my son….and all other members of my family that make an appearance in this blog!!