Part 192 ~ 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.

I got Ben in the bath and washed his hair. I brushed through it with the conditioner on, hoping that would help with the tangles, but he was flipping around and laying down in the water… I got a serious workout and he had a few really bad tangles. I told Daughter we need to take better care of his hair. We have to risk making him mad to brush it. We need to wash it more often if he’s sweeping dirt and sweating. I know I hurt him and I felt horrible about it. I’m very glad I did it and got it overwith though.

After his bath he sat down to eat his “orange chicken” (TGIFriday’s frozen nuggets) He was tired, but he was mellow and seemed okay, even after the hair washing. I told him we needed to take Mom to work soon and he said “Auntie’s on her way.” I told him not this time. I told him that Auntie can’t come all the time, sometimes he needs to come with Gramma. He didn’t seem too bothered by that either. Younger called me right after that, and I told her we were doing okay. She said she would be around if things got really bad.

Ben was tired, I could see it in his eyes, but he was building stuff. Daughter got ready for work and I took pictures. Daughter had given Ben all of his night meds at 5:45 instead of just half, we wanted to keep the mellow groove going and Ben was asking about CVS again. It would’ve been totally like Ben to be fine one minute and flipping out the next, and it was too late to have Auntie come if he flipped. Anyway, I got his socks and shoes, and a long sweater on him so he was ready to go. He continued to build and play around, and I took more pictures, with Zeus following me the entire time.

Around 6:15pm Daughter was ready and we decided to just go. She would be early but we wanted to get the drive over. Ben had a hard time stopping the building, I finally walked out to the car and he followed. I drove slowly to kill time and to give Ben time to let go of the building obsession. We dropped Daughter off and I headed home. Ben asked about CVS a couple more times, and I told him we were going home to bedtime.

It took a little longer than usual to get him tucked in. He needed this, that and something else. I finally got him settled and told The Boys “Goodnight”.

A few more pictures, then I covered Sven and turned his lights off. I couldn’t do it earlier cuz that’s where Ben was doing his building. Poor Sven…

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Night things, Stuff… the usual. I ate the rest of my pasta and a couple peanut butter cookies… protien in peanut butter, right?! I wrote an email and was gonna take my pill and crash, but Older Daughter was on a break and texting me. I didn’t wanna be rude and tell her to leave me alone, she’s my daughter. Anyway, I took my pill around 11:45 but didn’t sleep until after 1am. It’s really frustrating getting that second wind.

I was awakened by cuddles around 6am. Very nice! I know he’s just stealing my body heat and the warmth under the blankets, but I can pretend he wants to cuddle with me. He basically pushed me out of bed with his “cuddles”. He might only be twelve years old but he’s tall, beefy and strong. He wanted to lay ON the warm spot.

I got the stuff, did the stuff and Doped His Face when the alarm told me to. Sven was very unhappy with the lack of worms. I gave him a blackberry and a canned grasshopper… he spent an hour or so staring at his dish and glaring at me, then moved to the Judgey Corner.

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We left to pick Daughter up at the usual time, I talked to Ben on the way, telling him tomorrow after we pick up Mom, we’ll park in the parking lot and wait for the school bus. That he would have his backpack, lunchbox, water bottle and his Pink Kitty too if he wanted. He would wear his mask and go see his teachers. He said “No school tomorrow” and “Run away up the stairs” These are things he always says about school, it’s like his way of saying he heard and understood what I told him. I told him no school today, stay with Gramma today, bus comes tomorrow. Then I let it drop. We got Daughter and came home. Ben even put his window up without being asked. YAY, Ben!

Daughter went to her room, Ben settled on the couch and I put my wallet away and took off my shoes, followed by Dogzilla, who wiggled and whined… we had left him ALL ALONE for twenty whole minutes, maybe even twenty-two or three… an eternity! Big. Dumb. Dog! He’s a Good Dog though! Mostly…

I’d been periodically looking at the eastern sky since I got up. It was overcast again this morning. The sun started burning through around 8:45am. I took some pictures. I’m really enjoying photography. Waiting for XMas to get a new camera is going to be difficult. Especially since Winter Solstice is three days before Santa Day.

At 9:30 Daughter came out and said she couldn’t sleep, she might as well take on Couch Sittin Duty for a little while. I went to stretch out, Horizontal style and charge my phone. At 10:30 I hollered out the med alarm, she Doped His Face and at 11am she went to lay down. I went to do my third tour of Couch Sittin Duty.

Around noon Ben said “Gramma?” Yes? “Gramma, I want taters, please. Tater bweckfast.” How could I resist such a request? Gotta keep working on his speech though. So I peeled, cut and fried three big taters. He did his chalk thang while I slaved over a hot stove.

He didn’t even eat the dang taters til about 2:30pm. I’d given him his 1pm and his 2:30pm meds while he was doing his thang with the chalk. He kept moving and rearranging. He had two new boxes of chalk to work with and I think it was throwing him off.

Daughter got up at 3pm and zombie shuffled out to take over Couch Sittin Duty. I gave my report, including the washing of two of his black jackets, splitting of meds to send, and cleaning of lunchbox. I suggested that she could bag up some snacks to send, but she gave me a blank stare. Yep… I was on my own. I finished my report and went to get Horizontal.

Pregame Show time… dinner, bath, Driving Miss Daisy, then bedtime. He just came and Bounced me and is chilling with his tablet. Very nice… let’s hope it ALL goes easy peasy.

In honor of the Glorious Little Yellow School Bus arriving tomorrow (Monday) morning

Thanks for coming along as I Drive Miss Daisy to and from work. That seems to be the most exciting part of the day. Ben and I just hung out most of the day. Nice and mellow is perfect. Tomorrow is the Big Day… the last time we saw the bus was when it dropped Ben off after school on Friday, March 13th, over six months ago. It’s only two days a week for now, and there’s a very real possibility that the school will be forced to shut back down on Tuesday. It all depends on meeting certain conditions that are evaluated weekly. But the bus IS coming tomorrow. That doesn’t mean our adventures are over, so I hope you’ll keep coming by. ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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