Out With The Old

Dear Addie,

There is a classic childhood story that says, "Mama called the doctor, and the doctor said, 'No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" It's a tale of a bunch of monkey babies who keep jumping on the bed and falling off, ultimately hurting themselves. Mama monkey basically has the monkey doctor on speed dial, and he gives her sound advice, which her monkey children take in one ear and out the other while they continue jumping until inevitable they are all injured. Dont' worry though, they all recover and start jumping on the couch. Ya know, lesson NOT learned. But I digress.

This week, you got a new bed because, like those monkeys, you enjoy jumping on it. Fortunately for us, unlike those monkeys, you haven’t fallen off...yet. However, when you are almost 5'10" and your bed being above the kitchen it sounds and feels like you might break through the kitchen ceiling at any moment, so it was time to try something new. Enter Operation: New Bed for Addie! ...Don't worry; you still have plenty of other jumping options available to fulfill your proprioceptive input, which is when our muscles and joints send signals to the brain about the position and movement of our bodies. As well as your vestibular input which helps maintain balance and spatial orientation by detecting changes in acceleration and deceleration through the inner ear.

Let's do this!

The master plan was to dismantle and dispose of the current bed and mattress, replacing them with a lower-profile platform bed and a memory foam mattress all while trying not to disrupt your strategically placed toys and objects around your room. While this may sound straightforward, changes can be particularly challenging for individuals with autism like yourself. To address this, we discussed the plan over the course of a few weeks and ensured that you were present and actively involved in the process as much as possible. Like any major project, we all happily pitched in, even Clara, who was home for the weekend from her internship—One Team, One Dream.

Not gonna lie; this bed has been used by each of you kids at some point, and it most recently had been reinforced with two-by-four boards to support your inner monkey jumping needs. It definitely took a while to take it apart, but seeing it was that we have been doing some renovations around the house we had a dumpster easily accessible in the driveway! Score!

Addie, I'm happy to report you actively participated in the dismantling process and with a smile to boot! Your new bed has been assembled, no toys or objects were harmed in the process, I do not need a monkey doctor on speed dial and we all feel a little safer walking through the kitchen. Everyone is winning!

I know change can be hard, but you once again you are proving you can do hard things baby girl.

I'm forever proud of you and love you so very much! Enjoy your new bed!

Love,

Mom

(and of course I did not get a pic of the final product lol - but it's great and you love it!)