Part 93 ~ 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.

Yesterday I left you and dashed off to the grocery store. It was kinda busy but not horribly so. I got all the things on my short list and hurried back home, hoping to get there before Ben woke up.

He was awake and Daughter was trying to talk him into eating some steak. I carried my first load of bags past the wiggling, whining Big Dumb Dog and went back for the second load. I got those in the house and set down, went to kick off my shoes, and drop my wallet and stuff, then put the stuff away. Zeus was still wiggling, whining and running around right in front of me. It’s great that he loves me so much, but some chill would be appreciated.

Ben wanted to know where his toy was. That is why I wanted to get home before he woke up and why I usually run errands when he’s asleep. I told him no toys, only food. I showed him the two six-packs of mini soda I got for him, one Diet Coke and one Sprite. He was grumpy, tired, sick and wanted a toy. I tried for another ten or fifteen minutes to bring him around but he and Daughter were both getting grumpier. I went to the nearly depleted stash and got a new Hello Kitty plush. Satisfied, he hugged it.

He decided he was ready for bed. Daughter and I both told him it wasn’t bedtime yet, he needed to eat, bathe, take meds… he said “Ready to go bedtime!” so Daughter told him to go to bed then. He went to the bathroom, grabbed the wipes and went and laid in his bed. Alrighty then. Is there anything worse than a tired, sick, grumpy child? (Yes… I know, substitute partner for child, it can be worse) I stayed out of it.

Daughter went in about twenty minutes later, got him to eat, take meds and used the wipes. No bath last night, but that’s okay. He was asleep by 6:00.

Then I relaxed, ate the rest of my Greek food and waited for sunset. It was… WOW! See for yourself

I omitted a bunch of pictures. I’ve been going a little crazy with the sunset pictures, haven’t I? My phone camera doesn’t capture the true brilliance of some of the yellows, oranges and pinks. A gorgeous hour of time well spent.

I took my pill and was asleep by 10:00 or so.

And the Bounce came at 2:30, immediately followed by the relocation command. I got him settled on the couch, went to wake Daughter and then got his tablet and water bottle. I started a pot of coffee and hung around, waiting for Daughter. Ben kept telling me to sit in THE spot. I didn’t want to sit there, I was going back to bed. It took Daughter until almost 3:00 to stumble down the hall, but as soon as she was settled, I went back to bed. Ben followed.

Another kick in the stomach for Daughter. I don’t know how to help them repair their relationship and at 3:00am I didn’t want to worry about it. I went back to sleep. It wasn’t deep sleep, it was more of a heavy doze, but it was better than nothing.

The 6:30 med alarm woke me but I ignored it. Daughter was on Duty. At 7:30 I was Bounced and cuddled so aggressively that I nearly fell out of bed. Okay, okay… I’m awake, I’m getting up… sheesh!

I noticed Sven was still covered up when I went to the bathroom, so I uncovered him and turned his lights on. He hadn’t moved since yesterday, except to flatten out.

On my way back to my room I told Daughter she could go back to her room whenever, I was awake now and I would take over peasant duty for HRH. She said she’d let me know.

Ben pretty much stayed in my room with me, occasionally wandering out to the living room, then coming back.

At 10:15 Daughter went to her room to stretch out, charge her devices and possibly sleep. Ben immediately wanted us to move to the living room. I told him to go ahead, I’d be out in a few when it was time for meds. He went and I waited until 10:30 to follow.

He swallowed the pill no problem. (Something new to let his school know. I’m sure they’ll be happy not having to crush and mix with water, etc.) I made him finish off the last couple ounces of water in his bottle and get up and use the bathroom. We were a little concerned he might have developed or could develop a UTI from holding it, so we make him go every few hours. His hydration is improving, another good sign.

Then we just hung out on the couch, him with his tablet and the blanket pulled over his head, me in THE spot with my phone. We skipped the noon half Adderall. I don’t anticipate adding it back in until he’s 100% and/or bouncing off the walls.

Ben and I continued to just hang out through his 2:00 meds. He kept asking me for pink cupcakes. I told him we didn’t have any pink cupcakes. He said to go to the market. I told him I didn’t think the Corner Market had pink cupcakes either… maybe chocolate… he said “PINK!” Well, alrighty then…

At 3:00 Daughter came out to take over. I went to my room, Ben stayed on the couch… nice for Daughter. Then at 3:30 she yells that he’s trying to go to sleep. Since we’d like to get him back on a regular schedule, I told her to try and wake him, but don’t make it a fight.

She was able to wake him up, but he got up and came to my room. I told him I wasn’t gonna let him sleep either. He started talking about pink cupcakes again. I asked if he wanted a soda. He said “Coke” so I gave him the open can with the straw. He said “New Coke.” I told him to finish that one and I’d get a new one. He took the straw out and chugged the last few drinks. I got him a new Coke.

I think I’ll bring this to a close here. It’s been a pretty mellow day. I was able to get a tiny bit more sleep than usual and I didn’t have to spend half the night on the couch. Ben continues to improve, even if it’s only a very small improvement. Daughter has her first twelve hour shift tonight. She’s going to be exhausted when we pick her up in the morning, since she wasn’t able to nap this afternoon. All in all, a decent start to summer.

Yes, today is Solstice. According to Goigle it was officially at 2:43pm PDT or 5:43pm EDT or 10:43pm GMT… it’s the first day of Summer. I wrote about Solstice a few years ago, it’s here if you’re interested. (No test, skip it if you want to) Okay, a song that makes me think of summer…

Thanks for hanging out today. Stop on by tomorrow, I’ll tell you how Daughter’s first full shift went and all the other adventures of Casa Cuckoo. There may be fewer sunset pictures, depending on if I get to watch all of it with Daughter’s schedule and me having to drop her off. Guess we’ll find out together, tomorrow.

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HUGS!!

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