New Year, New Routines

Had a pretty good New Year's Day.  Family day spent Bowling, Book Shopping and Dinner together at the dining room table.  We all agreed that eating dinner together without the TV on and the candles lit was fun.  So from now on that is how we will dine.  We also talked as a family about needing to eat healthier this year and making sure we are all moving throughout the day.  Austin's weight has been continuing to creep up with this new medication and we are concerned about his blood sugar levels, normally with his anxiety we don't fill him in on everything but this time we had to because he is so picky about the foods he will eat that we are going to have to limit his carbs, sugars and encourage more healthy grains and veggies.  He didn't take the news very well (pretty full on meltdown)* but after we agreed to do this together he was actually somewhat excited.  He and Jimmy now have joined a gym together and we are using the Wii fit and Kinect to get all of us up and moving.  Let me just say that it is a good thing no one can see me doing Just Dance 3. LOL.  We had fun cleaning out the freezer and pantry of all the holiday goody leftovers and making out our 2 week menu. 

So to recap we danced, bowled, shopped... hey that burns calories too and it was for books so educational, and ate dinner together as a family.  We had a lot to choose to write about in our grateful journals we just started.  I think this was a good start to our 2012.  Out with the old and in with the new.
Happy New Year Everyone!

* I thought I should give you a description of what a meltdown of Austin's usually looks like.  Generally it starts off with grunting and groaning, then he will start yelling and sometimes thrashing about.  If we are at home I request he goes to his room, sometimes he needs assistance getting there.  Once there he continues on for a few minutes and when I notice that he is quieting down (just a few minutes later) I go into his room shut off the light and use his special cube hugging chair to give him deep pressure.  At this point he usually is crying and then he quiets. 
If you could imagine how much help a Autism Service Dog could help avoid these situations and calm him quickly as well as provide the pressure he needs when he needs it.  After all I am not always with him and the dog would be.