Part 76 ~ 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.

I kept my date with the sunset last night. Wow! What a show

I was very relaxed and very tired but no sleeping until Daughter was safely at work. Then it took a little while to get that groovy, dozy feeling back, even with the help of 30mg of Restoril. It was probably around midnight again.

No Bounce this morning, just some ear sniffing and the Royal Command to move locations. I tried to talk him into cuddles instead, but was met with obstinate repetition. Sigh… yes, Gramma went to the living room… it wasn’t quite 4am.

He was full of energy, wanting to stab boxes. He couldn’t find the butter knife that he likes to use, so he was pacing, saying “Where is she?” (I guess the knife is female?) I told him it was too early to be stabbing boxes, but I was ignored. He found the knife and started scattering the boxes around so he could pick them up, stab them, then throw them down and move on to the next. I would have sent him outside with that nonsense, but it wasn’t even 5am yet, stil dark. He got the stabbing spree over with and came to sit by me and watch the tablet.

After a while the sky was getting light… the sun was peeking over the hills in the east. I got a couple pictures from the kitchen window (Christmas lights) and a couple through the screen in the bathroom window.

I’m sure I could’ve gotten better pictures from out in front of the house, but I don’t go near the front door when I’m alone with Ben.

We were in the middle of another session of Arts and Crafts Time when the alarm went off for meds. I doped his face and uncovered Sven.

I caught him looking at the blueberries yesterday, but he hasn’t moved. I guess he thinks he’s in Australia and Winter is approaching. If he hadn’t brumated every Summer since we got him, I’d be freaking out. I still want to see his eyes open every day. Anyway, I went back to cutting clouds and coloring paper blue for HRH. Oh yes, we were doing the same project again… this is autism.

Daughter texted that she was leaving work.

He had moved to doing the chalk thang by the time she walked home. Zeus actually sat and waited for her to come out of the bathroom after she ignored him and his whining wiggles when she first arrived. She went over to him, pet him and told him he was a Very Good Dog for waiting. He immediately came to me with the “Did you see? Did you hear?” goofiness all over his face. Daughter then said hello to Ben, who had been in the Chalk Zone. It took a couple tries to get through, but she finally got an acknowledgement. He said “Mommy! You came back.” She told him he was silly, of course she came back. Then she asked if he was going to her room? He was back in the Zone. She got something to drink and something to eat and told him she was going to her room and that he should come too. He continued with the chalk.

After she left, I asked if he was gonna go to Mommy’s room. He told me he needed help with the chalk. I was more than happy to speed him on his way, so I started picking up the chalk for him. I also carried the tablet to Daughter’s room for him. I wanted to go lay down on my bed, which I was finally able to do around 8:30.

Still very sleepy, I kept almost nodding off. I stopped myself every time. I figured he would be coming to get me soon. He and Daughter were both in and out of her room, up and down the hall past my room. Daughter walks heavy and Ben runs, jumps, skips or stomps most of the time. I couldn’tve slept anyway with all the noise. Plus Diesel Cat was trying to lay on my head and Zeus was whining at him.

He came and got me at 10:00. Back to the living room. He was pacing and grunting and making other noises. His morning meds were wearing off and he was feeling it. I gave him his meds at 10:25. The pacing was starting to get on my nerves.

Then he started with the stabbing of the boxes again. That wasn’t fun enough when Daughter came out of her room complaining that she was still awake, he decided he needed to turn off the AC unit too. Daughter stood over him, asking him to turn it back on, over and over, while he ignored her and paced and scripted. He was so spazzed out that he couldn’t complete a sentence. He would repeat a word or a phase several times before he could get the whole thing out. All while pacing, and pacing and pacing. Daughter got frustrated, gave up and went back to her room. I asked Ben to sit down and to just stop and take a breath. Thankfully, he did. I told him he was too wound up, he needed to calm down a little bit. We just sat for about two minutes with him on the couch and me squatting in front of him. I asked if he wanted the tablet. I got it and gave it to him and he sat back and started surfin the web. It was 11:15am

Noon half Adderall was given in between more work on the second Warner Bros thingy. He got tired of that and said those words I hate to hear… “Gramma! Write the words.” Dang!

For the next two hours I wrote the cast names and the producers, costume designers, special effects, castings, etc names on slips of paper and cut them out so they were nice and rounded. I also added some names from Ben’s head like “Co Directed By – Benjamin Burton” (ever heard of a co-director? Tim Burton is his favorite) all for a movie I’ve never seen because the star irritates the bejeezus out of me… Jim Carrey in How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Gag!!

The alarm for his 2:00 meds went off as I was cutting the last name. I got the meds ready and doped his face. Daughter stumbled out a few minutes later to take over. I was ready for a break from the couch and from writing words. He wasn’t done with me though. He pounded on the bathroom door, he followed me to my room… I was starting to lose it. I knew he was tired and maybe his ability to articulate what he wanted wasn’t functioning so well, but I can only take so many “like this” or “right there” or obscure finger motions or hand gestures before I go Linda Blair. I was tired too! I’d had less sleep than him. At one point after several frustrating minutes, I figured out he wanted me to cut out a comma. A comma! Then he wanted it taped after a name. He went back to the living room after that. I think he understood that Gramma was about to explode and he didn’t want to get any on him. (it was 90°F [32°C] today. I’m sure the high pressure added to ADHD overdrive)

He found his way into my room several times of the next couple of hours. No AC in my room, so it was hot and there was a near constant bedquake from the Big Dumb Dog panting. Twice Ben asked me to write words again. I told him no way, Gramma needed a break. He never likes to hear any version of the word “No”, especially when he’s tired, hot, uncomfortable, hangry or just out of sorts. He started babbling in his Angry Voice both times I declined to write more words. I was also tired, hot, uncomfortable and I’ll admit to Spineless… I gave in, I wrote the words. But only the name(s) on his screen at that time. I didn’t want to give in, but I didn’t want to fight either. After twelve hours of intense Ben Time, I’ve got my sights set on bedtime and the easiest way to get there.

Daughter is getting ready to cook some steak for Ben. We’re entering the homestretch… I hope we can get there without me spewing pea soup. For real though… Ben wanders in periodically wanting me to write more words… So, I’m gonna play a song for you awesome Dudes

and I’m going to thank you, like I do every day. I really DO appreciate all of you continuing to read about my kooky life at Casa Cuckoo. I hope you’ll come by tomorrow. Hopefully I won’t be writing words at 4am, but it’s possible. Anything is possible with this crew, in this house. See ya tomorrow.

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HUGS!!

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