Yeah, we’re not quite there yet.

As I mentioned on Thursday, this weekend marked our first attempt at overnighting in a tent. Now Daphne does occasionally struggle when her routines are disrupted…

…but honestly it’s not all that common an occurrence. In fact, it’s so rare that we don’t often factor it into our plans. This weekend was a good reminder that, while her particular brand of autism allows for a good bit of flexibility, we do still need ensure we adhere to some semblance of scheduling for her.

The initial setup of the tent and subsequent discussions with Daphne went just fine. We talked about camping, told her that we’d be sleeping in a tent that night, and she seemed happy when I started putting together our beds.

Even the chickens (mostly) stayed away from our campsite, as I’d set up an high-tensile electrified fence around the perimeter.

And, in truth, it didn’t really stop them.

With basecamp established and everyone’s beds made, we headed inside for dinner. (Don’t judge. It’s easier to cook in a kitchen. And 97% less buggy!)

Afterward, we got ready for bed and changed into our PJs. At this point I think Daphne expected to get into her own bed, with mom nearby, like she’s done every night for the past 9 years of her life. But, rather than lie down, we instead led her downstairs and out into a very dark backyard that was illuminated only by a Maglite, propane lantern, and raptor fence solar light strand.

That’s when all hell broke loose.

She started to cry. And then began to push away from us. And the whole thing degenerated into gentle coaxing and full-on prodding Daph across the grass and into the tent. We did eventually get her into her sleeping bag on her cot, with Jen and I lying down next to her on the mattresses.

I don’t have any pictures of this part, because there was no small amount of shrieking and crying happening, as well as Daphne desperately grabbing and holding onto Jen, as if she were worried she was going to leave her out there.

Which, I suppose, makes a kind of sense.

Normally Jen would lie down with Daphne until she falls asleep, then quietly make her way out of the room and into our bed. So I’d wager Daphne believed mom was going to do the same thing, but this time leave her outside.

The cries became louder, and sounded more and more panicked, so we moved Daphne off the cot and down onto the mattress next to Jen. Which seemed to work. She stopped crying, her breathing returned to normal, and she calmed down. Unfortunately, this also left Jen with only about 6.5 cubic centimeters of sleeping space on her mattress.

So I got up and took the kiddie cot myself and gave my mattress to Jen so she could sleep and lie next to Daphne.

After all this the rest of the night passed generally uneventfully. Daph did wake up at some point (I didn’t hear her), but Jen coaxed her back to sleep.
I, too, slept fitfully on the cot. But mostly because it was about 3 sizes too small for someone of my stature.
Seriously, I actually had to order a new sleeping bag because the old one I used in college was apparently sized as a “slim fit.”
I got into it and it was so claustrophobic that I almost Hulk Hoganed my way out of it.

I also don’t want to talk about the fact that the new sleeping bag is from a company called, “Big Agnes.” (Apparently they’re not actually the DXL Big n’ Tall of camping gear…it’s just a name.)

Anyway, we all awoke in the morning rather tired from the night’s ordeal.

The other disconcerting find that morning was that Daphne’s Goodnite leaked at some point, and so Jen’s camping mattress was completely soaked in pee.
(“It really brought the tent together, dude.”)
We soaked it up the best we could with paper towels and then brought the mattress inside, still unfurled, where it could air out/get Febrezed.
Unfortunately, Daphne decided to take a nap on it yesterday afternoon and, subsequently, hosed it down a second time.

And so there you have it. Our first overnight camp experience.

I can’t say as it came out exactly the way I envisioned, but then again these things rarely do. We haven’t completely given up on the idea of making this thing work, though. After all, we have a trip to Lake Maidstone coming up pretty soon.

The consensus is that prepping Daphne for bed inside and then going out to the tent was where things went pear-shaped. We simply can’t throw that kind of curveball at her.
That said, next time we’ll have no choice but to change at the campsite itself, since it’s over an hour away from home, so there’s no pivoting away from preconceived nighttime expectations. Also, she’s seen that Mom and Dad will stay next to her all night while in the tent.

Now if I can just convince her to use her cot instead of the Hest mattress… My back still hasn’t quite recovered.

j.s.