Part 102 ~ 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.

Ben, or Mr Incredible was eating his steak when he suddenly decided he needed more caps for the stupid gun that his stupid Gramma bought for him yesterday. I told him I had more caps, that I would give them to him after dinner and bath.

He was suddenly done with dinner, of course he was, and trying to get out of taking a bath. We had more time to kill so I ran the bath, hoping it would relax him and once in there, he’d want to play… and maybe forget about the gun.

He stayed, and played in the bath until 5:45. I got him into his jammas and gave him the rest of his steak, which he ate. He was watching his tablet and seemed like he was chill, like things were going to be okay. I texted Younger Daughter and told her she didn’t need to come, Ben could go with to drop Older off at work.

Meds at 6:15 and we were just waiting for time to go… another 15-20 minutes or so. Her shift starts at 7:00pm. That’s when Ben decided he needed to get dressed. First it was the costume, then it was the button-down, vest, tie, jacket… we talked him out of that but he wanted the caps for the gun. Okay… fine… I gave him the caps. I bought two packs yesterday… I’m stupid, but not a complete Idjit. Then he wanted a hat… fine, wear a hat. Then he wanted a belt and holster for the gun… fine, tied a scarf around his waist. Then he was READY to go. Uh, NO!

There was NO WAY I was letting him bring the gun in the car. I could just imagine him pointing it at cars while we were driving. BAD idea!! He was very upset but he put the gun down on his own. He wanted to grab it back but he didn’t. He made unhappy noises and called for the gun as we pulled out of the driveway, but he stayed in his seat. Daughter and I praised him for most of the drive to the hospital. He had a rough day but he was able to work it out and not completely lose it.

Dropped Daughter at work and went home. He went immediately to the gun. Right where he’d left it. He shot a couple of the big stuffed animals that serve as his “bad guys”, then I herded him and Zeus to bed. Zeus didn’t want to go, the caps scare him. Ben had hit all but one or two of the caps, and he hit those on the way to bed.

The boys were tucked in, I took the trash and recycle bins down to the street and locked up. No sunset, the clouds started rolling in fast and thick. I took these pictures before the sun was completely hidden

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I made some food and dozed off while I was waiting for it to cool. Older texted me at 9:30 to tell me she was very busy at work. It woke me up, which was good… I needed to eat and also take my pill, which helps me stay asleep too.

No Bounce again this morning. I got ear-sniffing and confusion… it was light outside. I jumped up and went looking for Ben. I found him in the bathroom. He needed dry underwear and jammas, so I got those for him. I also grabbed his tablet and water bottle. I got him settled on the couch and went to get my stuff. It was a little after 6:00am. SIX! Unbelievable!

Time went by pretty fast, and before I knew it the med alarm was going off. I doped his face and uncovered Sven and lit him up. He was still in his house.

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I also got fresh food for Mr Grumpy Beard. Thirty minutes later it was time to get ready to go pick Daughter up from work. We opened the front door and it was drizzling. Did I wake up in an alternate reality? Precipi… tation in late June?!? Ben said “Umbrella” so I grabbed it and escorted HRH to the car.

We picked Daughter up, stopped for more Hershey bars (Ben had the second to last one for breakfast) and headed home. Dogzilla was in the front window barking his fool head off, then knocking things over left and right as we tried to get in the front door. Ben went for his cap gun and started looking for the caps. I had put them in an out of the way place, but still slightly visible. He found them. Aw, dang!

Daughter told me about her shift then went to relax in her room. She was still awake at 9:30 when Ben’s Teacher called. They want to do Zoom class calls. No summer school and two options for Fall. Option One is 100% distance learning. Option Two is on campus class two days a week. Daughter told her “ON CAMPUS” Distance learning doesn’t work for Ben and he needs some socializing. We may have to drop him off and pick him up, but that’s no problem. School starts at 8:00, so if Daughter had work, we’d pick her up at 7:30, then drop Ben off. If we were too early, there’s always drive through breakfast. Only two days… Oh well… it’s two more than I have now.

Ben went to do the chalk thang around 10:00. He was repeating words and phrases over and over while he was playing with the chalk. Hearing the same phrase or word repeated twenty or thirty times in a couple of minutes can be maddening. It was better than the stupid caps though. 10:30 meds are now 10:45 meds and it’s a single pill that I presented to HRH, along with his water bottle, in the chalk area.

Not long after taking his 10:45 med he decided he was done with the chalk and went back to the cap gun. He popped through his last two sets of caps and started going through ones he had put aside in impatience when the barrel thingy wasn’t turning. I showed him how to turn it by hand. He gets SO impatient and just snatches. Whatever Dude… you handle it then. He asked for more caps. I told him maybe later. I have two more packages put away. I probably have all kinds of stuff I’ve forgotten about.

Caps were used up and snacking and YouTube were the next activity on his agenda. For whatever reason YouTube suddenly wouldn’t work. The tablet wasn’t registered? Huh? I tried to register it with Daughter’s info but I had her email or password wrong and she was sleeping so I just registered it under my account. Freakin Amazon! It’s actually all one account, or kind of… Daughter and I “share”. I had done a “free trial” of Prime to save shipping and when lockdown happened I just kept it. It was easier to just order stuff myself than tell her or sign in under her account. Then I found out about the “sharing” thing and she added me to her Prime and I cancelled mine. Blah Blah Blah… tangents… Anyway, Ben’s tablet was registered, parental controls ON so he can’t spend $50 renting movies that he scans for five minutes, and most importantly, YouTube working!!

Noon half Adderall was given. He had discovered the gummy snacks and was working his way through the box. Six packs of gummy snacks… then back to the Goldfish crackers. I’m just glad he’s eating again. He still doesn’t want his “juice”. It’s better in the long run, but Fruit Punch Capri Sun has been a staple of Ben’s for seven or eight years. It’s just weird… Water is MUCH better for him and easier to get, it comes right out of the tap.

Snack time over, he laid down with his tablet, put his ear buds in and covered up with his favorite couch blanket. It was 1:30 and I was thinking that if he decided to nap, 1:30 would be better than 3:00, his other favorite time to get drowzy.

No nap… in fact, around 2:30 right after I gave him meds, he got up and started pacing and wandering. I asked what he was looking for, what he needed, he just paced and wandered. I don’t think he was looking for anything in particular, just something that would catch his eye. He settled on rebuilding his towers and his town. “Gramma! Need help. Need tape.” So it was Arts and Crafts Time again. And it was Gramma defy the laws of physics with masking tape time again. And it was huffing and puffing and Gramma’s head is going to explode and splatter everything with tiny little pieces time again. We got it done and he said “Thank you, Gramma” and I went to my room because Daughter had gotten up at 3:00 and it was now 3:20 and Gramma was on overtime… against union rules, ya know.

Ben stayed in the living room with Daughter. I’m guessing that he was doing the chalk thang again because I could hear him singing “Let’s Go Fly A Kite” and making Happy Noises. He came and flopped on the bed next to me a little after 4:00.

Daughter just came in and asked Ben what he wanted for dinner tonight. He said “Pizza”, she asked if he was hungry now or if she should cook it later, he said “Hungry now” even though he was eating a bag of Cheeto poofs.

I think that’s gonna do it for Adventures today. Daughter is off tonight so there’s no pressure to get things done by a specific time. We’ll keep to the same schedule, but no pressure. It’s been a nice, mellow day. There might even be a sunset tonight, the clouds have pulled back and let some sunshine through.

Tonight’s song popped into my head when I wrote about being on overtime. I work hard but I don’t get paid with money. It might seem corny but I do get paid with love.

Thanks for hanging out at Casa Cuckoo on this Mellow Monday. It’s nice when there’s no drama, no tears, no stress. Things are always changing here, I never know what’s gonna happen next. I’ve always said my life is crazier than “reality TV”. All we’re missing is a love triangle or an evil twin and it could be a Soap Opera. Tune in tomorrow…

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HUGS!

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