comfort items

Hi @unknown .... 😊

I sucked at bowling last night .... but my Daugher3 sucked along with me lol ..... even Daughter2 romped it in ahead of us, and she uses the rails ...

Still, it was good to be all together .... married son (S1) and wife (DIL) came too, so it was good to have that family time regardless, and Wayward Husband (WH) bowled better than when we went last week and I won, so that put a bit of a smile on his face at least .....

Hi @unknown and @Queenie, I have a pillow pet too! I have a turtle and I carry him around a lot. He always comes with me when I go to my psychologist. My psychologist works in a medical centre, which has the largest waiting room in the Universe. I do feel self conscious walking through the waiting room with my turtle, but hey, what other people think of me is really none of my business. @Queenie I wonder if your caterpillar and my turtle were friends when they were in the pillow pet factory.

My other comfort object is my weighted blanket. It helps me to feel super calm. It is normally on my bed, but sometimes I drag it into the loungeroom where it is super sunny in the mornings, and I lie under my blanket on the floor.

@Phoenix_Rising it is quite possible they were pillow pet buddies... Victor is super friendly!

despite not winning it still sounded like you ahd fun being with the family @Faith-and-Hope and having fun is better than winning 🙂

aww a turtle, sounds super cute. im pretty sure Zoe? said that you were the little turtle in the octagonal room... is that right? is that why you got the turtle pillow pet?

a weighted blanket sounds good to but i think being weighed down would make me feel abit trapped but im glad it works for you 🙂 @Phoenix_Rising

Hi @unknown,

Yes, I am the sea turtle that often hangs out in the octagonal room. I super like turtles so yep, that's why I have a turtle pillow pet.

I find my weighted blanket super calming, but I appreciate it wouldn't be for everyone. A lot of people with autism find them helpful, although there are a whole lot of other reasons people use them too. It is based on the same idea as swaddling a baby. Also, you can now get "thunder jackets" for dogs who get anxious during storms, and again, this is the same principle. The deep pressure causes the brain to produce "feel-good" hormones, which account for the calming effect.

For many years, I went through phases where I would only sleep in a sleeping bag. I now realise that I was using a sleeping bag to get the same effect as the blanket. I have never really seen the idea of weighted blankets discussed much in mental health circles, but they (along with weighted toys, weighted vests etc) are commonly discussed in autism circles.