Part 85 ~ 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.

Right after I published yesterday’s Adventures we had problems. The agitation from yesterday morning came back with a vengeance and ended with a meltdown. For the first time in forever Ben cried himself to sleep. To quote Forrest Gump “And that’s all I have to say about that.”

Sunset pictures

Not as vibrant as the previous night, but welcomed more. The beach and the ocean are my favorite place to commune with nature. Since the Kootie shut down the beaches (and especially the schools) I haven’t been to the ocean. I look forward to sunset every night. It’s my quiet time. My time to let go of any negativity and to recharge my batteries. It’s a perfect metaphor and a beautiful thing to watch and wonder at… even when it’s not showy or spectacular.

I really tried to go to sleep earlier last night. It had been a long, hot, difficult day and I was just OVER it. I took my pill and even put my phone down… no reading. It was probably close to midnight before I slept.

I woke up around 1:30 and found a sleeping Ben in bed with me. The only surprise was that I didn’t wake up when he came in. Yes, of course Zeus was there too. I woke up again at 3:00 when Ben smacked me with a juice. He didn’t mean to, he just wanted it “opened” and sorta flung his arm/hand at me. The next forty-five minutes or so were wiggly, but fairly quiet, then began the requests, then commands for me to drag myself to the living room.

It took a little while to get the corrects blankets in the correct spots and the pillows just right and the tablet and the juice… we finally settled in and about ten minutes later he was “drumming” with two plastic bats on the couch… just a little too close to where I was sitting, I made him scoot. He was in a good mood, vocalizing and drumming and laughing… all a little loud for pre-dawn, pre-coffee hours but that’s life at Casa Cuckoo.

Daughter got up around 5:30 to use the bathroom. Ben was in there, so she had to wait and wait and wait. After her turn, she asked Ben to come to her room with her. His answer was “It’s fine.” meaning he wanted to stay in the living room. Daughter said she would get her stuff. I told her that she didn’t have to. Ben and I were okay, she could chill in her room for a while longer… she said “It’s fine!” and stomped down the hall. Ugh!

She came back, I got up, refilled my coffee, put my stuff in my room and had my turn in the bathroom. She was settled on the couch and Ben was outside when I came out. I uncovered Sven, turned his light on and got him some fresh food.

• 

• 

I went back to my room and found Ben in my bed. I laid down next to him. When the 6:30 med alarm went off I ignored it. I didn’t say anything to Daughter, she was grumpy enough and we all just finished playing a version of musical chairs because of her feelings of guilt.

I started on my Reader and Ben bounced around and watched his tablet and bounced around some more. Daughter brought his meds in at 7:15. Ben pulled the blanket over his head. She said all three of his names in the stern, “you’re in trouble” voice, and pulled the blanket down. I told her that he was just playing. She said she didn’t want to play and gave him the meds.

At 8:00 he was still bouncing all over the place. I think she did something about the stick that was up her butt cuz she came in and asked Ben if he wanted bacon. Of course he said yes. She told him she’d make bacon but he had to come hang out in her room and eat it there. I don’t know if she was trying to give me a break or get him to hang out with her or if it was all about her guilty conscious.

They went to her room with bacon but it didn’t last long. At 9:00 Ben came and commanded me to the living room again. His Gramma Senses must’ve tingled cuz I was mere seconds from drifting away into a doze. Ah Dang!

We got settled on the couch and about fifteen minutes later Ben jumped up and went after the boxes. No stabbing this time, it was punching and kicking, with a lot of grunting and other sound effects thrown in. He needed to burn off energy, I get it. I don’t like the violence, but I get that too. How many cartoons, Disney, Pixar, etc shows have violence? A better question is, can you name one that doesn’t? Maybe I’m just more sensitive to it because I’m a Domestic Violence survivor. Maybe it’s because of the meltdown. Maybe it’s because real violence, and the emotions involved, are painful to be around. All I know is that I don’t like it.

Ben finished beating up all the boxes, they were all lying, defeated on the floor. Ben grabbed his tablet and made Zeus scoot from THE spot, then plopped down beside me, sweaty and panting. I asked if he was done and he said “All done.” Good.

At 10:00 he got up to go do the chalk thang, so I got up to clean up the carnage. A couple of the downed boxes were being used in the thang with the chalk, so those were left where they fell. I happened to glance over at Sven during the cleanup

• 

• 

I guess Sven isn’t quite ready to be awake full-time. I don’t blame him. I wish I had a place where I could hide and sleep. Daughter came back out to the living room to take over again at 10:45.

I have to say that the drop in temperature helped the overall mood of the house a lot. It was nice to have the windows open and the noisy AC off. The Guessers are guessing the next few days will be nice. I hope they’re right.

I was relaxing in my room and I got TOO relaxed because I was jerked from sleep by Daughter’s yelling voice asking me if I used her card to buy gas at 7-11. Huh-wha??? I started to ask her what she was talking about but my voice was croaky. I cleared my throat and tried again… “What?” I yelled back. Then she tells me nevermind, it’s a charge from when she stopped by 7-11 on her way home from work last week… blah blah blah… Dang it! Why am I never allowed to sleep? Okay, yes, I was asleep… but a half hour really doesn’t count.

Ben wandered in to hang out with me and since it was too much trouble to go all the way back to the living room for his tablet, he wanted mine. Okay, sure… whatever. He watched whatever he watched and I tried to clear the fog from my brain. He suddenly jumped up and ran outside. Daughter had turned the AC on after the question yelling and having the door open next to the AC is kinda pointless, so she went to see what Ben was doing. He was sweeping. Very good thing for him to do. It burns off energy and doesn’t destroy anything.

Then the sounds changed… she went to see what his new activity was. Ah, using the broom handle to break the plastic “roof” over the deck. Swell! She went out to him and convinced him to come back inside to cool off. She went to the living room, he came and Bounced me. He started to tell me to “get dressed…” but I stopped that sentence from completion. I asked him what moon is was he wanted me to draw earlier? Did he want a DreamWorks moon or just a round moon? He started searching on the tablet and found a moon. Yes, I offered to do Arts and Crafts Time. It was close to 2:00 meds time and the day had been peaceful. I wanted to keep it that way. So I made moons and Ben Fishing On The Moon and I made clouds and more clouds and more moons. Then there was the tape, and more tape. We sat in my room for about an hour doing Arts and Crafts Time, then he wanted me to go to the living room. Daughter was still out there, I told him that and offered to help carry his clouds and moons for him.

He came and Bounced me about twenty minutes later, punched one of my Eeyores to the floor and said “Gramma? Ben’s tablet.” Yeah, yeah… off I go… HRH commands, I obey. I got the tablet and brought it to him, picking up my Eeyore and telling Ben it makes me sad when he hurts my Eeyores. Maybe it’s silly, but it does hurt my heart. Ben settled into surfing on his tablet. Then he wanted me to Write The Words. Dang! I wrote the words. Around 4:00 he took his newest bag of words into the living room.

Daughter is getting ready to start his dinner… steak tonight. He didn’t have any of the pizza last night. Zeus will eat it. I think it’s time to play a song and take a few breaths before the evening routine goes into full force

I’m hoping that after I press publish things won’t change like they did last night. It’s been a better day overall, so I think we’ll be okay. Thank you for stopping by and hanging out. Can you believe this is our EIGHTY-FIFTH Adventure? I can’t tell you all how much I appreciate your support! I don’t know if I would’ve been able to hold things together as long as I have without you. I’m feeling emotional and tired so I’m gonna stop blabbering… See ya tomorrow.

.

.

HUGS!!

.

.