Part 139 ~ 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.

The countdown or Pregame Show went okay last night. It’s always a rough time, very, very rarely a calm time, but we didn’t have any major problems. We got Daughter to work on time, Ben went with the Guy Fawkes mask and sunglasses on.

Younger was at the house when we got back. She came by to pick up mail and for hugs. She got both and left, Partner was waiting in the car.

I got The Boys settled in bed and went to collapse on my bed. The time between 5:30pm and 7:15pm on Work nights is busy!

Anyway, I veg’d and messed around on my phone, listening for noise coming out of Ben’s room. Unfortunately, he was making it.

A little after 8:00 I got up to get food and to shush Ben. He wasn’t being super loud but I wanted him to go to sleep, so I could go to sleep. I looked at the sky and took a few pictures, I’m still playing around with the settings, learning. My leg doesn’t like holding my weight though, so I went back inside for more Horizontal Time.

Ben didn’t go to sleep until after 10pm. I took my pill at 10:30 and went to sleep sometime after that.

A text message startled me awake-ish around 2:45am. It took me several minutes to figure out who the message was from, and what it was about. I must’ve been deeply asleep because my brain just wouldn’t function. I finally figured out that Younger had transferred money into my bank account. Nice! But of all the messages that don’t get through, why this message and at that time?!

Since I had to work so hard to get my brain to function, it was warmed up and ready to solve some more puzzles, maybe some calculus. I was awake… Hello 3am, my longtime frenemy… Sigh!

I eventually dozed and got the yelling run-by around 6:00am. Same as it ever was… same as it ever was…

I put his shoes on him at 7:10 and told him we’d be going to get Mom in five minutes. Usually he does a mad scramble, looking for things to bring with him. At 7:15 I told him it was time to go and he got up and walked out to the car, carrying only his tablet. I was surprised, but pleased. We picked her up and came home. As soon as we were inside with the door locked and the key removed, he went and banged his head and fell down. I didn’t have any idea why he did it. It’s usually an expression of unhappiness or dissatisfaction. I “helped” him up, Zeus barked, Daughter went to change out of her scrubs and life at Casa Cuckoo continued.

After I’d cleaned up Dogzilla’s destruction and gotten Ben settled, I was getting myself comfortable in The Spot to resume my Couch Sittin, when Daughter came back out and told me to go lay down. I wasn’t going to argue.

I did some stuff on my phone, waiting for Ben to come Bounce me. He came in around 8:30, but I was really still and quiet, hoping he’d go back to the living room. He did, so I let myself start to drift off.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! The sound of the front door being kicked. I ran out to see why, what, why??? Daughter was asleep, Ben was walking away from the door, Mission Accomplished apparently. I went back to my room to get my stuff, and told Daughter to go lay down. She asked what time it was. After I wiped the spilled coffee off my phone, I told her it was 9:20. She shuffled off to her room, (nowhere near Buffalo) and I re-resumed my Couch Sittin. I really hoped it wasn’t going to be like this all day.

Ben tried to set up the domino size blocks, in a rainbow of color of course, but Dogzilla kept knocking them over. Ben even tried to run the line along the bottom of the couch… pretty smart, but Dogzilla’s rampages defy the laws of physics. Ben rebuilt two or three times, then gave up. He grabbed the Oreos to fortify his waning strength.

10:45 and noon meds were given on time, thank you phone alarms. Ben seemed edgy all morning. He was restless, didnt know what to do with himself. I gave him an ibuprofen at some point between 9:30 and noon, but I don’t remember what time.

Around 12:30 he went and dumped his chalk bucket, preparing to do the chalk thang. After a few minutes, I started picking up the dominoes. I hate the clutter. We’re still working on putting one project away before starting another. Sigh! He may never do it.

Imagine trying to raise a child without any of the usual Discipline Tools. Time Out isn’t an option, taking things away causes meltdown or no reaction at all, even the slap on the hand that’s reaching for the stove doesn’t work. The ONLY thing that seems to have any effect is rewarding positive behavior. “Do this and you can have that”. If the child doesn’t want to do the thing, they won’t. Period. And the only way you can stop them from doing something is with words, redirection or physical restraint. And if the child wants to do the thing, they will do everything in their power to do it, pain means nothing, obstacles mean nothing. They will keep trying until it is done. Period. This is our life. We’ve worked hard at reinforcing the “good” and stopping the “bad” or “negative”. But our discipline toolbox is basically empty. This is what Autism looks like in Ben.

Anyway, I got all the dominoes picked up and Ben knocked over one of the coffee cans… on purpose. I said “Uh-oh” and started picking them up again. (he may have been playing, he may have been being a bratty kid. I go with playing first) He jumped up, said “You have to call Auntie” and ran to Daughter’s room and snatched her phone. I reminded him for the umpteenth time that he’s supposed to ask before he touches other people’s things, and told him he should take the phone back. I was ignored or unheard. He pretended to dial a number and “called Auntie” (this is scripting Ms Rabbit’s Rescue Service from that Dag-nabbit Peppa Pig. GRRRR!) After he finished his “call”, I told him I had something for him, but he had to take Mommy’s phone back to her.

While he ran down the hall to return the phone, I grabbed the box that had been delivered, and hidden while he was in the bathtub last night. We sat on the couch and while I pulled at the tape, I asked if he remembered what we ordered. He started to say his standard “I want _____, please.” phrase that we taught him to use to ask for things when he was younger. His brain and his mouth weren’t connected. I got the tape off and opened the box. He was happy enough with a new BIG box of chalk, but he didn’t kiss the box this time.

He opened the box and took out the cellophane wrapped sets. He didn’t want them unwrapped yet. He was still in Domino Mode, so he lined them up, then added his Jenga size blocks to the line. He had been successfully redirected.

Daughter was awake now. It was about time for her to get up anyway. She is off work tonight and tomorrow night. She came out to take over and I gave my report and went back to my room. It was only 1:15pm. The day felt incredibly long and we had hours… the worst hours, still ahead of us.

Everything was pretty chill. Ben opened some of his chalk, he made Happy Noises… good. Around 3:00 Younger called to see if she could use the car for Postmates. I told her yes, that I needed to get prescriptions from the pharmacy before they closed tonight. She said she’d probably be over around 4:00pm. I told her to let me know.

She texted at 3:45 to say Partner left, she might just hang out and enjoy being alone before Partner’s mother gets there. (Partner’s mother lives in Tijuana, Mexico. Crossing the border takes hours. When Mama has work, she stays with Daughter and Partner… in their tiny trailer.) I told her again, let me know.

Since Ben was in a good mood, and Younger couldn’t decide what to do, I decided to go ahead and go to the pharmacy. I was hoping to pick up all seven medications, three for me and four for Ben. Four were ready. Waiting for the doctors to call back on one of mine, and two of Ben’s. I had this same problem with my Protonix before. My doctor is horrible about calling in refills. I’ll probably have to wait until I go in for my next pump fill to get them to refill the med. It’s for my GERD, so there is always OTC remedies if it gets too bad.

Daughter will have to deal with getting Ben’s meds filled. That’s her job. I just fetch and tote. I got back home and all was well. Good. It’s Pregame Show time.

Tonight’s exit song talks specifically about L.A., meaning Hollywood or the entertainment industry. It applies so much further though. I went with the audio only because the song is censored on the video version. Ugh! I’m sure your ears can handle an F Bomb or the word “shit”. I really hate when songs are censored.

Thanks for stopping by on this Wicked Wacky Wren’sDay. It was wicked wacky this morning for sure, but the afternoon seemed to chill. Kinda the reverse of normal. If there is such a thing as “Normal” here at Casa Cuckoo. We’ll see you tomorrow. Who knows what will happen… Something always happens, that’s for sure. We’ll have some fun, whatever it is.

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HUGS!

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