Big Birthday!

Robyn Autism, Birthday Party, Social Interaction, Social Skills 33 Comments
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“Declan let’s talk,” my husband sat down and continued, “What are you going to say to someone who gives you a birthday gift that you don’t like.”

“No thank you,” Declan answered.

“Okay, you can’t say that.  You say “thank you” and smile.  Let’s try again.  I will pretend I am a person coming to your party giving you a gift.  Okay?”

Declan nodded.  Encouraged, my husband continued.

“Hi Declan!  Here I got you a gift!  It’s Spiderman’s dirty socks!”

“I DON’T WANT THAT!”

“I’m just kidding.  They are brand new clean Spiderman socks though!  Look, they are really cool!”

“I don’t want that!”  Declan yelled, shook his head and continued watching his You Tube video on Octopus suckers.

 

Our little man celebrated his 7th birthday earlier this week.  And now we are getting ready for his party!

Theme?  The Deep Sea.

About a month ago we lost our cable.  Prognosis?  Bad cable box.

While we waited for the cable guy and a new box, we turned to Netflix.

After scrolling through some choices we landed on a familiar movie that Declan enjoyed, “Finding Dory.”

I don’t think Declan is alone with this, but when he finds a movie he likes, he watches it over and over and over and over…….Finding Dory was on our TV 5, 6, 7 times a day.  It was on repeat.

One might think that he fell in love with Dory, or one of the characters in the show.  He didn’t.  He fell in love with sea creatures.  And after watching the characters on the show, he was handing me his device stating, “Please type in ‘learn about sea creatures” and off he went.

Now, thanks to National Geographic YouTube videos – well, we all know A LOT about deep-sea creatures.

And that is what he wanted to see on his birthday.  Deep sea creatures.

Thanks to Pinterest I was able to oblige his request.  And found some really cool ideas for his party.

But for his actual birthday, he wanted DECORATIONS!  So, we converted our TV room into the deep-sea.  And added an octopus and jellies to our ceiling.

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Later, he spent a couple of hours in the afternoon playing with his deep-sea creatures at the pool.  He was very polite in asking all the other swimmers nearby if they wanted to learn about deep-sea creatures.  He had a couple of polite listeners, and one very polite, “Umm, no thank you.”

Here is re-enacting dolphin feeding time under the water.  Then getting ready for the Orca to eat as well.

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And then I took him to another favorite place.  The trampoline park, where he got to jump to his heart’s content.

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I love this little plop – could watch it all day 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFtEC65W690

Now we prepare for the party.  Declan’s party guests are of all ages.  They are the people who know him and bring a smile to his face.

And they are the people who understand Declan, and who he is okay being himself around.

Because there is a good chance Declan may be a little too honest about the gift he is being given.  (And we will keep working on saying “Thank you” with a smile 😊 )

33 thoughts on “Big Birthday!”

    1. Yes, we were at a friends birthday party when I thought – uh-oh – we need to have this talk before his party! Could be awkward if we don’t try and teach him this now! 🙂 Thank you!

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  6. Happy Birthday to Declan 🎉✨🎁🎊🎂 I can’t believe he’s seven! Ben will be ten in September. TEN!😱
    I love your undersea TV room! I know what you mean about movies on repeat! We’ve been watching The Corpse Bride for about a month. I’m not complaining…one summer it was Alvin and the Chipmunks for two months.
    At least Declan is polite when he doesn’t want something, right?! “No, thank you” 😆 We’ve tried to make sure Ben remembers his please and thank yous too. It gets comical sometimes.

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    1. I know! 7 seems old now because he is my youngest – so much is passed us now. Crazy – and Ben is going to be 10 – wow! Double digits! I’m getting pretty good at reciting lines from Dory too. I’ve seen it so much lately! Declan is in to repeating all of his National Geographic facts – the same way the guy in the video says them (but I think he is still retaining the facts (?) ) Hahaha…I laughed about that too – “Well, he did say No thank you…that is kind of a nice refusal….” Haha – it does! Thanks for the birthday wishes!! 🙂

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  9. Aww, happy birthday, sweetheart! The world will be a better place for flexing for you – you get to say what we think. 😀 That’s some serious creative chops, Robyn! Dori rocks, there are several lines in that movie that mean much more than they do in that context.

    Congratulations on Declan’s 7! What a journey, huh? Hugs!

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  10. Wonderful party decorations! At least he says “No Thank You” when he gets a gift he doesn’t like. Beats just ignoring the giver.

    Declan has really made it to the age of 7 years old? Think how many other birthdays for him you have successfully rocked!

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    1. I know! I laughed at that too thinking, “well, at least is polite about it!” 🙂 Thank you so much!

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  11. Happy Birthday Declan!🎂
    Those decorations are real cool. I hope you had some luck in teaching social niceties to an honest boy.

    Reply

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