Part 143 ~ 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.

We had a bit of a rough patch during the Pregame Show yesterday evening. Ben had been lining up all of his domino size blocks and had created quite a long chain. He probably has fifty or sixty pieces in various colors. He wanted to keep going but he ran out of blocks. He wanted more, and he wanted them RIGHT NOW!

We looked on my tablet together, found one hundred red plastic ones for around $20, we ordered them. He was still upset though. He was kicking the front door, he moved the stuff blocking the back gate. He used a lot of Angry Words.

Daughter and I were worried he was going to work himself up into a full explosion. I texted Younger to see if she could come if needed. Younger was doing Postmates, but with notice, could come.

I talked to Ben, I told him I knew it was hard to wait. I told him they didn’t have them at the store, only in the mail. I showed him the order confirmation with the words “Arriving Friday” next to the picture. He recognizes the days of the week and months. He can read more words than he lets on. Testing him depends on his cooperation and is rarely accurate.

Anyway, he was still pacing around, telling me to go to the store, getting more and more stuck on the idea. He was probably tired from his sleep being wonky, it was THAT time of day, he ate part of his steak, but hadn’t finished because DOMINOES… Finally, I went and got the other BIG box of chalk I’d ordered for backup since it’s still not in any of the stores I usually go to. I gave him the chalk and he fiddled with it… I’m guessing he was trying to make his brain switch from Dominoes to Chalk. He lined the packs up and knocked then down. Then he opened a few of them and started doing his Chalk Thang.

I know there’s a thing with Dementia patients in the late afternoon/early evening called “Sundowning”, when they seem to get more agitated or confused. A friend recently told me of their experience with it, and Older has experienced it through her work. Ben seems to have a similar reaction to that time of day. I don’t know if it’s an Autism thing, an ADHD thing or a Ben thing, but he’s always had more agitation in the late afternoon. That’s why we give him part of his night meds early.

He was still edgy through the rest of eating, bath and Driving Miss Daisy. He went to bed okay, but he was awake until after 8:00pm. He stayed in his room with Zeus, so it was okay.

I looked at sunset and took a few pictures, gotta document where it sets for my Sciencey Stuff, but it was just an average sunset. It was pretty, but nothing dramatic. I ate, then dozed as one does… I snapped out of the doze, took my pill and eventually slept.

And woke up sometime before 2am. I was very uncomfortable. No specific pain or problems, just an overall uncomfortable feeling. I flipped and flopped and moved pillows and blankets… and Sophie Cat who thought me being awake meant it was time for more petting. I didn’t go back to sleep until sometime after 3am.

I got the yelling run-by this morning, at the usual time. On the couch I sat staring at a magnet on the fridge for I dont know how long. I was just staring… my brain must’ve stayed behind when I got up.

Meds, Sven and picking Daughter up went as usual. We were a little late getting Daughter because Ben was pooping. Yay, poop! When we got home and past the Dogzilla, Daughter went to her room, Ben and I settled in the living room and another day of Adventures was in progress.

Ben did the chalk thang for a while.

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At 10:30am I closed the windows and switched on the AC. The Guessers’ site’s spinning wheel stopped at 87°F (31°C) for today. The next few days look like AC days too.

I like the look of the overnight low temperatures better. Anyway, then it was meds at 10:45 and Ben took a short break. I thought he was done doing chalk, so I cleaned up. When he saw all the clear floor space, he ended his break and grabbed the coffee cans with the domino blocks and began lining them up.

He had almost all of them lined up when either he or Dogzilla bumped them, and the whole line fell. He said “Gramma fix it.” I asked him what he wanted me to fix, like I didn’t know… Ben said “Gramma, fix dominoes. I need help.” I told him that he was much better at setting them up. He wasn’t buying it. “Gramma! Help! Pweeze!” (Why he can say please other times just fine, but when he wants me to do something I don’t wanna do it’s “Pweeze”, I have no idea.) then he ran to the bathroom. Well, setting up dominoes was better than boogers…

I tried to set them up twice. I got a little smarter the second time and left a gap in the middle of the line I was making, so when the part I’d almost finished collapsed, the other part of the line was still standing. I told Ben I needed a break. It was hurting my leg and my back, squatting on the floor, bending down to line them up.

Ben took over and rebuilt off my still standing bit. When he’d used all the dominoes he had, he danced around, and said “Look! I did it!” I told him he’d done an excellent job, and heaped on the praise. He sat on the couch for about ten seconds, got back up, turned on the big overhead light, then knocked ’em down. So I told him how great he was at that part too. He gathered up the red ones in the front of his nightgown and moved to rebuild in a different area.

A little after 2:00 Daughter came into the living room and said “I did it.” I asked her what she’d done now. She said “I woke up.” I asked her if she was really, truly awake. She gave me a look. Ben was playing with his chalk and making his Happy Noises. I grunted and groaned my way off the couch and went to get Horizontal. Zeus followed, but Ben stayed where he was.

We are entering the Pregame Show. Yesterday things got crazy. Hopefully we’ll get through this last night of Daughter working without stress. His pizza is cooking now and he’s been playing in the living room quietly. He hasn’t come to Bounce me once since I got Horizontal. I think tonight might actually be okay.

I heard Social D on the radio recently. I like Mike Ness’ voice and I like their music. I hope you enjoy…

Thank you for hanging out with us today. No boogers, but there was poop… and dominoes and chalk. Daughter is off tomorrow so we may do something more exciting after she wakes up, or we may not. Hopefully the generally chill vibe will continue. We never know what’s going to happen… See ya tomorrow.

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HUGS!

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