Part 190 ~ 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 was in his room, playing with his Kittys. He said something about a new baby pink kitty. I asked if he wanted to go to Vons and see if they had any pink baby Kittys. Of course he said “Yes”. I brought him into the living room, put some clothes on him, socks and shoes, then told him I needed to fix his ponytail. I brushed and rebraided his hair. He fought me the whole time I was brushing, but I got it done. Then I cleaned his face and Daughter helped him wash his hands. She put a mask on him and told him he had to wear it the entire time we were in the store. I grabbed his backpack so he could carry all his stuff (kittys, tablet, water bottle) and he packed it. He also grabbed a jacket and tie. That’s Ben.

By then it was 4:25 so we left. On the short drive over, Daughter told me she was having anxiety. I asked if it was because of the shot for Ben. She said it was that we were going inside Vons. She gave voice to something I knew, but never really thought about. Except for office buildings on work related things, she hasn’t been in a public place in over six months. She hasn’t been inside a store in over six months. She was having anxiety about interacting with the general public. Yes, she works in a hospital, but each patient is in their own room and her colleagues are medical personnel who wear PPE.

We got to Vons and reminded Ben that he needed to keep his mask on. We asked that he hold one of our hands and at first he was holding Daughter’s, then he switched to me. We walked straight back to the pharmacy and I took Ben into the waiting room while Daughter did the paperwork and paid. The TV in the small waiting room was playing a relaxing video of sea creatures. I had him name the sea creatures. I also told him that Pete (MY pharmacist, that I’ve been doing business with for over twenty years) was going to give him a little poke in the arm, then we’d look for a baby pink kitty.

When Ben saw the needle he flinched back and made a horrified face. I asked him what he was doing, told him to quit being silly. It was just a little poke. He hasn’t had a shot since Kindergarten, seven years. He was obviously acting out something he’d seen in a video. When Pete did the injection, Ben didn’t flinch. This is a child who peels his own finger and toe nails off, an injection wouldn’t hurt him. Pete put a bandage over it, then we put Ben’s jacket back on him and we were on our way. He stopped to script something to Pete, but he just muttered a few sounds as he fast forwarded in his head, looking for the words he wanted to say. Pete put his fist out for a fist bump and Ben gave him one.

Ben led the way, he walked us around the entire perimeter of the store, then out the door. We got to the car, telling him that we were going to Rite Aid next. He remembers Rite Aid, Vons and CVS from when I used to walk there, pushing him in a stroller about six year ago. We drove to the other side of the mini-mall.

We went into Rite Aid and he went straight to where the Ty animals and the die cast cars are, in front by the ice cream counter (who remembers when it was Thrifty and a cone was a dime or quarter?). We found a small pink unicorn, he also found a car he had to have. I’d left him and Daughter looking at cars and went to get her jugs o’ wine. He grabbed the handle of the pull basket from Daughter and started going further into the store. We told him there were no more toys, except the Halloween stuff. We got three little light up thingies, then stood on the floor decal to wait our turn at the register. Daughter went to the register and I followed Ben back to the cars. He wanted a police car, they didn’t have one. Daughter was checking out and he grabbed another car and took it to the register. We knew he was gonna want stuff, and in his mind, the purpose of the trip was to buy him stuff.

We left Rite Aid and he started talking about going to CVS. The past few times I’ve been in CVS they haven’t had a die cast car display. I told him we already got him stuff, and asked if he wanted McDonald’s for dinner. He said yes. Then he started talking about CVS in Angry Words. I told him to stop with the Angry Words, we weren’t going to CVS, we could go to McDonald’s or home. He said “Donald’s”.

I thought the time driving across town, and a Happy Meal for dinner would make for an easier transition. We got the food and went home. By this time it was 5:30pm. We got in the house and he started kicking the door. I got him away from the front door and he ran out the side door to move all the stuff from the back gate. I went out and asked him if he wanted me to sit with him while he ate, he said yes. I asked if he was done kicking the door and messing with the gate, he said yes, so we came inside.

It didnt go full meltdown and Daughter was handling it badly at first, but by 6pm she’d gotten him back in the house. I ran his bath at 6pm, like usual. Daughter gave him his meds while the water was running, and I picked up chalk. I also got a couple pictures.

After he was clean, I left him to play and went to take more pictures. It was sunset time, and Sciencey Stuff is important stuff too. When he was done playing he got out, I helped him put his bathrobe on. I figured he want to eat, but he grabbed his tablet and went to his room. Daughter got him into pajamas and all cozy in bed. I took pictures.

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After sunset I got my penne pasta mixed up and covered with some extra sharp cheddar and nuked it to melt the cheese. Then it was too hot to eat so I put it aside to cool, and did my Night Things. Then I wrote a couple emails, finally got caught up with Thor’sDay WP, and chatted with Daughter when she flopped on my bed. I ate half of my pasta around midnight and didn’t end up taking my pill until 1:40am. Not the best way to start Friday.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Was the sound that woke me up. Ben was kicking the door… at 4:15 am. I’d slept for two and a half hours. I got up, stopped his kicking, got him to sit on the couch and got his stuff and my stuff. I got coffee but it didn’t help a whole lot. My sleeping med was still very much active in my system and I was moving on autopilot and willpower.

Once I was sure Ben was settled, I sat down and began my first Couch Sittin Duty. I dozed… I couldn’t help it. I tried to stay awake but the chemicals in my body were singing a lullaby. I didn’t doze long any of the times my eyes slipped closed.

Ben got off the couch and headed to the baño. When he came out I asked him if he pooped. Apparently Ben was having a short circuit in the spoken language area this morning, probably the reason for the door kicking and probably the reason he didn’t answer my question. I got up to look. YAY! Poop! I told him “Good Job!” as I attempted to flush. “Low flow”, water saving toilets are required in rentals. They suck, or rather they don’t suck and often require the assistance of a plunger. Then I got a diaper wipe and cleaned Ben up.

Back to Couch Sittin…and dozing for twenty minute intervals. The Boys made sure I didn’t slip off into actual sleep. Yes, Zeus helped. One awakening was caused by Zeus licking my hand. Weird dog. At 6:10am I got up and uncovered Sven and got him fresh greens. There were two worms under the dried out greens, so I put them on top of the fresh.

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As usual, Sven’s aim was horrible. The worm he went after was making a great escape. After he finished eating the greens in his mouth, he went to the Judgey Corner, completely ignoring the worm. I opened the terrarium, got the worm and dropped pieces of greens and put everything back in the dish. Then I moved him to the dish, to show him the worm. I guess he didn’t see it or was still mad cuz he walked across his dish, stomped back and forth a few times, then got on his hammock. I cleaned up the greens again and left him alone.

After the 6:45 med alarm and delivery, I went to look at the eastern sky. I knew it was overcast, no pretty sunrise, but maybe the clouds were pretty or dramatic. I took a few pictures, but there was nothing spectacular. I was happy to see overcast, it meant it wouldn’t get so hot.

Daughter got up around 7:15. Ben was in the bathroom, (another success) so she had to wait. I told her she could go back to bed after. When Ben was cleaned up and she’d taken her turn, I was getting more coffee and Ben dropped one of his tower thingies that has to be on top of Sven’s terrarium. One of the pieces went missing and he was tossing stuff left and right, looking for it. Then he climbed up on the counter to look in the cabinet for a replacement (it was a small bowl, like for dressing) I got him down and she was yelling that she found the piece, did he want her to fix it? Very grumpy. I asked again if she wanted to go back to bed and she yelled at me. I took my coffee into my room.

Ben had Zooms scheduled for 9am, 10am and 11am. At 9am he was running around roaring, very hyper again this morning. Daughter didn’t even attempt the Zoom. At 10am he was outside in his dirt hole, madly sweeping dirt into the air. Again, she left him to it. She called his school to verify Ben would be attending on Monday. She spoke to the nurse about his shot and sent an email with a picture of the verification and talked to her about his ability to swallow pills. Then she called Transportation to make sure they knew to send the bus to get him on Monday. They verified he was scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. It seems that everything is in place, and Ben will be going to school on Mondays and Tuesdays. It didn’t seem real.

I put my clothes in the washer at 10:30. Ben was on the couch with Daughter. At 10:45 I hollered out the med alarm and went back to my WP reader. Daughter took my clothes out and put hers in, bringing my wet clothes in the house. At 12:15pm I put on non-holey clothes, mask and shoes, got Daughter’s clothes and took both baskets to the laundromat across the street.

My eyes went first to my preferred dryers, then to the “office”, looking for the Quarter Lady. Some back story for any newcomers… the Quarter Lady is the owner or manager of the laundromat. She made comments a few times when I used the coin machine to change a $5 bill to quarters. Things to the effect that the quarters were for customers, or I should only get what I need or was I using the machines. I just ignored it or answered her questions politely. There came a point when she disabled the machine and made customers come to her for change. I asked for $5 and she asked why I needed so much. I told her I use two dryers for an hour, that’s $5. She told me she didn’t believe me, basically called me a liar. I guess people get quarters and use them in their complex dryers or something. Coin shortages, yadda yadda yadda, I understood her concern, but don’t call me a liar. She watched me load my clothes and use the entire $5 in quarters… $2.50 into each machine. The next time I went in, I was prepared for more battle, but she was sweet as sugar and smiled and was like my new best friend. I hadn’t seen her again… until today. I walked back to change my $5 and waved to her. She smiled and waved back. So I guess she no longer thinks I’m a quarter stealing liar and she’s nice to me. I wasn’t sure if the complete turn to nice was a one off, or if I’d genuinely convinced her I wasn’t a liar. Today proves that she was convinced.

At 1:25pm I went to the corner market to get Monster energy drinks, diet cokes, Oreos and poofs, then I went and got the clothes from the dryers. Quarter Lady waved at me this time. She must be my new Bestie. I brought all the stuff home, put the market stuff away and folded the clothes and put them away. Then I collapsed in a sweaty heap on my bed. I was tired and just moving feels like it takes all the energy I have. I’m just super tired from only sleeping two and a half hours. And my poor bruised liver doesn’t like all the lifting, carrying, bending and the punch didn’t help. I’m run down and worn out. A temporary state that will be resolved with rest and sleep.

Anyway, the afternoon was pretty mellow. Ben hung out in my room for a while and hung out in the living room with Daughter for a while. I hollered out the 2:45 med alarm, Daughter acknowledged and Doped His Face.

At 3:45 Daughter went to her room to charge her laptop and fold her clothes. When Ben hadn’t come to get me at 4pm, I went to check on him. He’d fallen asleep. I woke him up and he woke up GRUMPY! He was using Angry Words and knocking stuff over… I don’t know if he was upset at being woken up, or the fact that I hadn’t heard from Auntie yet and he might need to go along when we Drive Miss Daisy. Anyway, I don’t know how the night is going to play out, but he’s ramping up. I sure do wish Daughter drove.

A random blast from the past…

Thanks for stopping by to find out about the shot and everything else from last night. And for hanging out and doing Laundry… we got to see the Quarter Lady. It was a fairly relaxed day, even if it started badly and way too early. I’ll be doing a whole lots Couch Sittin tomorrow and I’m sure HRH will find things for me to do. Plus I’ll be Driving Miss Daisy all weekend, starting with dropping her off tonight. There are changes coming… I still can’t grasp it, it doesn’t seem real. Is the bus really coming on Monday?? I have a feeling this is gonna be a weird weekend. Come hang out with us… ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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