Spaceship Max: Overwhelmed on Halloween

Being overwhelmed is such an awful feeling.
It can be described as:
-to overpower or overcome, especially with superior forces; destroy; crush.
-to cover or bury beneath a mass of something
-to load, heap, treat, or address with an overpowering or excessive amount of anything

(a child overwhelmed with presents; to overwhelm someone with questions.)

I get overwhelmed and anxious when I have to much scheduled in one day. I start the day feeling tied and worried about the long-jammed-packed day ahead. I also get overwhelmed if I get behind on grading and the piles are stacking up against me.

This year for Halloween we were prepared for Max to be overwhelmed by the end of the two day holiday. This year Halloween was two days because it was celebrated in school on Friday and also on the actual day of Halloween. This year was better than last year, and I am sure in years to come will be even better than the last.

Max gets overwhelmed easily. He doesn't lash out, or hurt himself like he used to, but he gets very emotional and screams and cries. His overwhelming behavior might not be apparent until later that night or the next day. His mind can only take so much stimulation and once it hits maximum capacity he spins downward. He goes into manic behaviors especially at night. He can't fall asleep, he talks very fast and in gibberish, he cries, and can get physically violent. It is very hard to watch. This is why we have to be careful as parents to pick and choose what activities we do around the holidays. We want Max to be involved but not at his expense.

Children and teens having a manic episode may:

Feel very happy or act silly in a way that's unusual
Have a very short temper
Talk really fast about a lot of different things
Have trouble sleeping but not feel tired
Have trouble staying focused
Do risky things.

This year Max had two packed days. Between his classroom party and then trick-or-treating on Saturday with his cousins Max was done. Saturday night he was up until 2am and mad at the world. Will and I knew this would happen, and we prepared for it. But finally on Sunday his body crashed. He wanted to do nothing but sit and watch his i-pad. Which we let him. He needed his brain to relax. He needed to re-focus. It is all about balance and being okay with taking a day (or even two) to regroup. And yes, that means Max has a lot of "screen" time, and yes we are okay with this.

We are learning on step at a time.

This year the boys were Mario Brothers. It was a perfect, simple, cotton costume.