For Jillian, I bought a pacifier. I found out that a pacifier soothes her. The constant pressure and sucking calms her nerves.
For Julie, I bought a coloring book. She loves to color but has no coloring book of her own. She likes to color and give her pictures to Doc.
For Jackie, I bought a toy. It was a little remote control car with a "My Little Pony" to go with it. Jackie hasn't used her car yet. She is upset about that. I promised her tomorrow she could use it and play all day.
Of course they all were with me and picked out what they wanted. Jackie was the most difficult. She looked and looked around the toy aisle for about 30 minutes until we were able to find something she wanted. (I'm sure people thought I was crazy talking to "myself" walking around.)
They were very excited to go and get something that is their very own. It was a very interesting experience.
UPDATE!!! May 1, 2012
Jackie was able to play with her toy car last night. She thoroughly enjoyed it. I gave her 10 minutes and then told her she had to put it up. She whined and didn't want to but I reminded her that if she did it, Doc and I would be so proud of her and she would get to come out more for playing and having fun. She agreed and when we switched back it was like we got stuck. I was out but she was still controlling me. I told her to let go that it would be ok and she would get time out again. She finally let go and we fully switched.
It was an interesting experience; since, this is the first time I had let an alter out to "play" with a toy that was their own.
Just to know how happy it made her, made me want to work better with the system.
I have a little purple pick-up truck I got last fall, some plastic toy soldiers, a little Woody but I can't find him and a box of paper, pencils, markers and stickers for drawing. But I haven't used any of them for about 4 months now. I did draw somethings for the ex-therapist...you know, the one whose butt I want to kick? Not motivated to put anything out there now.
ReplyDeleteI think it Is a good idea to have things laying around for them. Things that are just theirs. That no one else can use. It makes them feel better about sharing the body and their time out. Make sure you continue to draw and if you can't give them to your therapist, keep them in a folder especially for that alter to have their drawings. It will be nice for them.
DeleteWe have things for each alter as well. Ellie (6yrs) has a Rainbow Dash MLP toy as well as coloring stuff. The rest of us are a bit older and we share a lot of things (our Nintindo DS, computer, various other fun things like that). However, one of the things that has been really important to us is for each of us to have clothes that are alter specific. Tommi has some plaid flannels, I have some plain white shirts, Bloomer has a nice over-shirt. Wearing things that are our own makes us feel more comfortable. -- Morrigan
ReplyDeleteWe have no clothes that are specific for alters. My closet is very diverse and each alter can choose what they feel comfortable in. However, I have not taken alters shopping for specific clothes. Perhaps this would help them feel more comfortable in our body...
DeleteThanks for the idea. :)