Wednesday, February 6, 2013

I Just Want To Dance In The Rain...

 
 
 
 
Dancing in the rain last summer
 
 
Monday morning I woke up feeling really crummy.  I tried to push myself to get the kids out of bed so that they could get ready for school.  The girl was sick too.  Nice.  After a friend offered to take the boy to school, we got settled in on the couch; I figured we could keep the little boy at bay if we popped a cartoon in the DVD player.  After an uneventful day, we made it to bedtime, & the girl seemed to be ready for school the next day.
 
Tuesday morning came & I felt worse than ever.  My fever was holding strong at 101, but the husband got the boy & the girl off to school & went in to work late.  I called the little boys preschool teacher & told her that I was ill & would not be making the drive in, only to have to turn around & pick him up 2 hours later.  The little boy was full of salt & vinegar, but I managed to get him to play quietly so I could rest & try to get some sleep.  TRY is the operative word here.  Each time I got comfy. the little boy needed something that required my attention:  a drink, his blanket, help wiping his bottom, & a "teeny tiny snack for my tummy Momma". 
 
Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (a spin off of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood) came on, & I knew that rest time was finally here.  My little boy loves this show like no other.  just as I got cozy under the covers, my phone rang.  Drat!  It was the boys' teacher.  He was having behavior issues today.  He was refusing to work & disrupting learning time.  I had her put him on the phone & he got his Mom lecture on doing his work & what the consequences would be, should he make the wrong choice.  His teacher cut the call short when he took off running down the hall after he & I spoke. 
 
I knew there would be more to come.
 
Thirty minutes later my phone rang again.  It was the school asking me to come & get the big boy.  He was interfering with other children's ability to work, they were short staffed, & could not control him.  Nice.  SIL was home, so I asked her to keep an eye on little boy so that I may get big boy from school.  I threw a coat on over my pajamas, put on my tennis shoes, & popped a stick of gum in my mouth (to mask my 'sick breath') & was on my way. 
 
When I got to the school, the boy was sitting in a chair sobbing, growling, & rocking back & forth.  He had a glazed look in his eyes that I've come to notice in recent months; he seems to be shutting out outside chaos when he gets this look on his face.
 
When we got home, I told him that there would be no Pokemon cards, no DS, no Bakugans or Bey Blades, & no TV for the rest of the evening.  I informed him that he would be doing his homework & helping with chores, then he would be able to read a book or he could sit & stare at the wall.  Period.  End of discussion.  I was not going to let him think that coming home from school was going to be a picnic.  His psychologist said to not make a huge deal out of this, as we accidentally reinforce negative attention.  Fine.  I wanted to strangle my formerly well behaved child, but decided that I didn't have time to deal with CPS.
 
The big boy & little boy were claiming to be hungry.  I looked at the clock & saw that it was lunchtime.  Whatever.  I was exhausted, but figured it'd be in my best interest to feed them before any of us did something unthinkable (oh c'mon, I wouldn't harm them; & if I did, I could blame the fever, right?).  Slapping a bowl of cereal in front of each of them, along with some peanut butter toast, & a glass of milk would have to do.  The big boy can't stand cold cereal, he says it's lame.  He didn't complain, though.  I think he knew I meant business.
 
Guess what?  The school called me an hour later.  This time it was to come & pick up the girl.  Seriously?!  Apparently she had vomited, & they frown on keeping vomitters at school.  Once again, I asked SIL to keep an ear on my boys so that I may go & pick up the girl.  When you become a parent, things are no longer all about you; this is just an FYI for those who didn't know this little nugget of information.  Today was proving this to be true in a way that was getting under my skin.
 
We got the girl settle in her jammies & had her snuggles up next to me on the couch, when the little boy decided to get jealous.  He had to squeeze his little body in between the girl & I.  After the squealing & bickering subsided, we were (finally) able to rest until the husband of mine got home from work.  The husband took over with kid & dinner duty, & I was able to take a small nap.
 
Dinnertime was quiet. YAY!!  This can normally be a very loud time in our house.  It was nice to not have everyone trying to speak over each other & argue about who had more milk in their glass, & all that jazz.  Out of the blue the big boy looked up at Daddy & said, "thanks for this awesome food Dad.  SHE made me eat Lucky Charms for lunch, & I thought I was going to die.  This meal reminds me of how happy I was last summer when SHE was nice & let us dance in the rain". 
 
He had settled down, but was still ticked off at me.  I can accept that; it's in my job description.  This morning he said he is going to try to have a super day at school today.  This makes me happy, because his little brother got sick in the middle of the night last night.  On our bed.  I can't do any laundry until after the GE guy gets here to fix our washing machine that has been acting up for 2 weeks. UGH!!
 
As my friend pulled in to our driveway to take the boy & the girl to school, the boy gave me a hug & said, "I am going to think about my dancing in the rain happy feelings today, Mom".  Then he gave me a hug.


4 comments:

  1. Oh, sheila...:-):-) you know what I got out of this post...the last sentence. That he was going to think of those happy, dancing in the rain, feelings. I loved your whole post, but wow, you just proved that our spur of the moment, whimsicle moments as a mom have lasting impressions on our kids. You know what? I was grumpy, I am sick, but now I am going to think of my dancing in the rain moments with LJ and be happy. :-)

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  2. Thank you Heather. When missy dropped him off after school, he came running in the house to announce that he had had a fantastic day. "All I had to do was think about dancing in the rain & going fishing, & I didn't get frustrated one time!". Each day brings something new, but I'm so glad he thought of this one. It's HIS idea & he OWNS it, & is so PROUD of it. Makes my heart smile!

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  3. I know you are sick. :( I hope it only takes days to get better, not weeks.

    I thought you might like to read this: http://www.our-kids.org/Archives/Holland.html It's pretty inspiring.

    I liked the company Fun and Function on FB. They are a site that specializes in stuff for Autism spectrum. I happen to like their stuff so much I bought some things for Mica at Christmas time. If you are interested here's their site: http://funandfunction.com/ They post really great stuff on their FB wall. The above post is from them.

    I hope you get better soon!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Alissa!! I will check them out. I'm interested to see if they have the weighted blankets that are suppose to be calming when things can get out of control at home. This is a new mystery (a puzzle, if you will) for us. It will be a learning experience for all of us, since we need to try new tech inquest to help him. Hopefully, I'll be back to "normal" soon; the doctor says rest (& lots of it) is best.

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