Julyamsh Update

We were as prepared as we were going to be for experiencing Julyamsh. As we drove up to the Event Center I realized quickly there was one thing we were absolutely not prepared for. Bounce Houses. With water.

The kiddo saw the Houses immediately and of course perseverated on them until we could get there. Not only was it rather spendy for him to bounce (they were charging per house and you only got 5 minutes on the thing until you had to pay more), but we didn't have a towel with us.

Those dealing with Sensory Integration issues understand this predicament immediately. Wet clothing can be a VERY difficult thing to manage. My kiddo was trying to negotiate in the beginning: "Swimtrunks?" - no honey, you have to just wear your clothes. "Take your shorts (off)?" - no honey, you have to just wear your clothes. Once he got going, he had a ball. He did not however, take to the whole five minute limit rule (or even the 'you have to just stay on this one' rule).

I would like to say that after our time at the bounce house corner, we were able to walk around and look at all the art work and crafts, sit down in the shade and watch the dancers, get a bit of food and something to drink but we needed to head back home because nothing beyond the bounce house was going to happen today.

To Julyamsh or Not to Julyamsh, That is the Question

Julyamsh is the annual Pow-Wow of the Coeur d' Alene Tribe. I've never been to this event although I've always wanted to go and this year I'm thinking about taking the kiddo.

Here are the Pros:
New experience with lots to see like the horse parade, dancing and drumming.

An opportunity to practice our "out in public" social skills.

Exposure to another culture (and not of the fungal variety).

It's free! Frequently with new places, kiddo stays about 30 minutes and then wants to go home so free is always good!

It's an activity for us to do as a family on the weekend. Weekends can be tough around here because there is less structure than school.

Now the Cons:
It's a new experience with lots to see like the horse parade, dancing and drumming. There's a good chance that kiddo might be overwhelmed by the activity and sounds. There's also a good chance that he'll have zero interest in the parade, dancing and drumming and will find a pile of dirt that he'd rather throw into the air. I should mention that kiddo will be 8 this October so the dirt throwing activity garners a bit of unwanted attention.

I was reading the Julyamsh web-site about how people need to be respectful of the tribal traditions and outfits. No taking pictures without permission, no touching the outfits etc. So if kiddo IS interested in the dancers and drummers, he's going to want to fully experience it by touching the beautiful beads, feathers, drums etc. When I move to block him from grabbing someone's sacred necklace, he's going to react very loudly and then I'll feel obligated to launch into the "autism elevator speech".

There's going to be a lot of me saying "stay over here", "no touching", "inside voice", "no eating", "not a choice", "no screaming", "bubble space", "it's OK", "we'll watch Jeopardy when we're done". I'm usually pretty exhausted at the end of one of these excursions regardless of whether the outcome was good or bad or somewhere in between.

I have not been to the Post Falls Event center before so I'm flying blind in regards to what things might be there that could be potential problems for us.

So, we'll plan on going and hope for the best because staying at home, isolated because things might not go as well as I would like is not an option. A 30 minute trip will take about 2 hours to prepare for because I'm going to have to create a social story for the kiddo and that takes some time finding pictures a la Google and putting the story together in Powerpoint.

My mantra for tomorrow - breathe deeply and remember to have a good time.