Part 18 ~ The Adventures of King Ben & Zeus the Big Dumb Dog

If you missed the start of this series, you can find it here. A lot of things will be the same or very similar.

3:30AM Bounce today. It was one of those AWAKE mornings too. I wish I had a tenth of his energy. By 4:00, he had woken me up completely. No more dozing. He left for the living room at 4:30 and I was finally able to keep the covers over me completely. All his wiggle jiggling kept pulling the blankets off me. At 5:00 he yelled “Gramma come living room!” from the living room. I thought about not responding, but it would have been pointless.

At 5:15 I was squooshing my fingers putting the top on his cave. At 5:30 he was beating on the bathroom door telling me he needed the bathroom… and so it begins.

This was supposed to be the day that school started again after Spring Break. Today was supposed to be Happy Dance after waving goodbye to the Glorious Little Yellow School Bus day. Instead, I got a spazatron, early Bounce. It’s a good lesson on how quickly things can change.

Med time came and went, Daughter texted and arrived on schedule. I dozed on the couch because I couldn’t stay awake. Daughter took Ben to her room and I went to mine. I was asleep immediately.

A little before 9:00AM, the bedquake and the yelled “Gramma come living room!” startled me awake. I’ve learned over the 30+ consecutive years of parenting how to wake up and move before my brain engages. I don’t like it, but I can do it. I’ve also learned how to keep my grumpies to myself. Usually. So, I was out of bed and in the living room before I knew what was what.

Ben started making demands for me to draw a flag, to fix his jail, to do something with tape… He was bouncing from place to place and idea to idea. That urgent tone in his voice agitates me in the best of times. This wasn’t the best of times. My grumpies started to show. I finally got him to show me what flags he wanted (the triangular ones on Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in the Disney logo) and started making some. He settled down with his tablet and an old favorite video from preschool days

It’s got a soothing sound and it’s perfect for anyone who likes numbers.

10:30AM and time for meds. Also time for Sven’s soak. (Remember how I wrote about his peels coming off in little bits? The universe is always proving me wrong, keeping me humble.) After he’d been soaking for 20 minutes or so, I got the toothbrush out, like always. This time the skin started to come loose. I very, very gently used the toothbrush to try to remove it. It was peeling off in one piece. I’ll spare you the play by play, but his entire back peeled.

Pretty cool, huh?

At 1:30PM Daughter staggered out to take over Living Room Duty. She got up earlier than usual because she’s off tonight, she can sleep all night. She also knew how tired I was.  Ben took off for my room before she even got out of the bathroom and before I had gathered my stuff.

I came into my room and saw him standing on my bed, shooting at his reflection in the mirror, and falling down. My mattress was already hanging a few inches off the boxspring. Sigh… He continued a variation of the fighting game until 2:30 or so. Bedquake after bedquake after bedquake, not to mention a few new bruises on my legs from him falling onto me. I gotta move that damn mirror!

Daughter brought his meds at 2:30 and grumbled about it being pointless for her to get up if he was going to follow me. I told her to go back to her room then. Sheesh! It’s not like I wanted him to follow me.

Ben continued to bounce around for another hour or so. Then the clouds started rolling in and his meds were doing their thing and he started to calm down again. Thank goodness! On the way to the bathroom, I glanced at Sven. This is what I saw

He sure looks bright and happy, food stuck to his face and all.

I ran Ben’s bath at 4:45, while Daughter cooked his dinner. I had put off the hair washing, but it needed to be done. I knew I would have a battle, and I did. Before I could even get him into the tub, he had to upend Daughter’s clean, folded clothes from her laundry basket (she should’ve put them away before now. Just sayin…), he had to run away from me three times, in various stages of undress, he had to break the big plastic cup we use to pour the water over his head, and he had to brush his teeth until his gums bled.

I finally got him into the tub and began my workout for the day. I told him it was like wrestling with an octopus. Trying to wash, condition, brush and braid his hair, while he is flailing, splashing, moving away from me, laying down in the water suddenly, and generally being uncooperative. I got it done though. Where’s my cape? I got him out by telling him his chicken was ready. I guess he was hungry after his workout.

Meds at 5:30 and chicken eaten, he settled down to watch the tablet, still in his robe. By 6:00 he was ready to get into his jammies and go to bed. So that’s what he did.

I had to go out to the pharmacy/grocery store to pick up prescriptions for me and for Ben. As soon as he and Zeus were tucked in, I took off. 90% of people wearing masks and/or gloves. Gloves and used wipes laying everywhere. One woman in a mask, said “You should be wearing a mask” to me every time we crossed paths. Grrrr…

I got the meds and a few other things and got in line to check out. The checker, in gloves and mask, had to sneeze in the middle of our transaction. He turned away from me, took his mask off, sneezed several times, then put it back on, and continued processing my payment. People… I just can’t even…

Take care of yourselves, especially if you have to be amongst the people, common sense is in shorter supply than TP. Hugs to you, my Buddies. Come on by Casa Cuckoo tomorrow…