Part 178 ~ 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 went out of order, Ben had his bath first, then he ate the steak Daughter cooked for him. He did surprisingly well considering he’d been awake since 2:30am. He asked about Auntie coming, and I told him she couldn’t come. He complained a little, but he was clean, fed and tired. He was fading.

About five minutes before we were going to leave, Younger was at the door. She’d decided to come by anyway. Ben was happy. He ran off to bed and didn’t say Goodnight to his Mama or me. Little Bootyhead. I took Daughter to work and came back home.

I took pictures before and after Driving Miss Daisy. Keeping my data gathering consistent. I’m very serious about my Sciencey Stuff.

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Younger didnt stay long after I got back. She was tired from walking around down by Seaport Village, which is a touristy area down on the waterfront, near the harbor. She’d spent the day with friends, celebrating a birthday. Hugs and thanks and I locked up and watched the rest of sunset.

After sunset I nuked a lasagne, did the Night Stuff, and got Horizontal. I was reading and I started to doze off… I twitched and thwacked myself right on my brow bone with my phone. (see? new and creative ways of injuring myself) I wasn’t so sleepy after that. Older Daughter was texting me from around 9:45 until 10:30 or so… I couldn’t tell her sorry, cant talk, gotta sleep. She’s my daughter! I took my pill around 11:30pm. I was out pretty quickly.

Ben did the yelling run-by, Zeus did the sniffing… at least it was light out. When I found my phone to check the time, it was 6:10am. I headed to the living room, got Ben settled, got his stuff, uncovered Sven and turned his lights on and took pictures throughout the morning until we went to get Daughter from work.

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The sky was white with clouds and trapped smoke. No pretty sunrise today. When the Sun finally did show, it was red. Ben said “Moon!” I told him it looked like the Moon, but it was the Sun and that all the yucky smoke from the fires was making it look like that.

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Ben dumped his Jenga size “dominoes” at 7:08. We usually leave to get Daughter at 7:15, but I knew if he got started he wouldn’t be able to leave until he finished setting them up, so we left early. I drove slow pointing things out to Ben along the way. We picked Daughter up and came home.

Ben had to bang his head on the door and fall down again this morning. I really, really hope this is not going to be part of the morning drive. Dogzilla had been in the trash again. I was careful about scolding him after Ben flipped out the last time. I just gave Zeus The Look and told him “no trash!” He didn’t even try to pretend to look ashamed. Big Dumb Dog!

Daughter went to her room to change, lay down and unwind before going to sleep. I was just getting settled when Ben asked for Starburts. I gave him the ones Daughter had bought on the “wrong route home” stop last week. He refuses to eat them because they are the wrong kind. Daughter bought a pack that was all pink and red, because Ben prefers the pink and red ones. But wrong pack=Nope! Being the good peasant and trying to avoid starting the day with arguments, I got Daughter to sit with Ben while I went to buy Original Starburts.

The market was closed. I guess they changed their hours and open at 8am on Sundays, so I called Daughter so she wouldn’t freak out, and walked across the street to 7-11.

Misson accomplished, Daughter went back to her room and I settled into Couch Sittin Duty. Ben nom’d his Starburst, Dogzilla squeezed in between us… me and The Boys, Couch Sittin. High Adventures at the Casa today.

Ben got up to play with the Jenga dominoes, that were still on the floor, around 9:30. I picked up all the Starbursts wrappers and Zeus stretched out.

Ben spent time doing dominoes, then came back to the couch for tablet watching. After I picked up the dominoes, he dumped the chalk and played with that for a while. Then back to the couch and tablet. Oh, and poofs. He ate poofs too.

It was pretty mellow all morning. After I got the Starbursts, anyway. Only the 1pm med alarm marked the passage of time from morning to afternoon. I had taken Sven outside for some sunlight. Smoke, clouded sunlight, but still sunlight. We only stayed outside a few minutes, the air isnt healthy right now. He seemed happy to be outside though.

I washed a small load of clothes and hung them to dry. Mostly I wanted to wash Ben’s Jack Skellington onesie jammas. Tonight is Daughter’s last night until Thursday, and Younger probably wont be able to be here in time to sit with Ben, so I wanted him to have his current favorite jammas to wear. It might make getting him ready to Drive Miss Daisy easier, AND it might make Zooming easier tomorrow. He might want to show them off. Oh, and I managed to get over the fence thingy FOUR times without falling. YAY ME!

Daughter got up and took over Couch Sittin around 2:45. Ben had just climbed up on the couch with his tablet. I was SO hoping he’d stay there when Daughter sat down. She needs some affection from Ben. Ben-style affection is him sitting next to you. He’ll give hugs when asked, or give kisses when asked, but he rarely initiates. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t love us, he’s just not one to initiate hugs. I know that hugs and touching can be very painful or feel intrusive to some autistic folks, but Ben doesn’t seem bothered. He just doesn’t care one way or the other.

Anyway, I gave a short report and went to get Horizontal. I was tired and even though I got up and moved around periodically, that couch was hurting my back.

Ben stayed in the living room with Daughter after I left. I was very glad for two reasons, first was that it was good for Daughter’s feelings that he didn’t leave and follow me as soon as she got up, second because he was saying “it’s a girl guy” over and over in his Angry Voice. Daughter is much better at tuning him out than I am.

Daughter came into my room around 4:15 to tell me that she’d asked Ben if he was going to ride along to take Mom to work. He said “Auntie stay with Ben” Daughter told him she wanted him to come along, didn’t he want to? He said “No”. Of course, that made her cry. She’s extremely emotional right now. She has mental health issues she refuses to seek treatment for. She admits she needs treatment, but won’t do it. Stubborn. Plus, she’s tired from two nights of twelve hour shifts and the stress of her delayed/missing check.

Anyway, she texted her sister to ask her to come sit with Ben. She rarely communicates with her sister, they don’t get along that great, but they DO love each other and would do anything to help each other. Older said Younger told her that she’d be here.

So now we get ready for Pregame Show, except there’s not really a “game”. Daughter is cooking pizza for Ben tonight, then into the tub and into his jammas. I’ll Drive Miss Daisy around 6:30 and Younger will stay with Ben.

I heard INXS on the radio recently, I’ve always liked this song.

Thanks for hanging out with us. I guess we did slightly more than nothing, but not much. A bit of Driving Miss Daisy, a walk all the way to the corner across the street, and a load of laundry, but no laundromat or Quarter Lady. There were a few little bumps, but there always are. Mostly we had a relaxed day under a gross fire sky. (The fire is 79% contained, but the smoke and haze are expected to last until mid-week at least) Come back tomorrow for Zoom and probably a couple errands. Who knows? I never know what’s going to happen, I just try to have as much fun as possible. ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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