Part 315 ~ 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.

Sunset was nice last night, and the almost full Moon was very bright and pretty. Daughter got up and took over Couch Sittin Duty again, so I was able to enjoy sunset without checking on Ben every five minutes.

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The PreGame Show and Driving Miss Daisy went as usual. I did have one bad moment on the drive to the hospital though. Daughter told me that she’d gotten an email from Ben’s teacher that the head of our home district’s Special Ed department wanted to sit in on one of Ben’s Zooms. It was scheduled for February 3rd. Just hearing February 3rd dropped an anvil on my head and almost made me cry. I knew school wasn’t starting anytime soon, but hearing it out loud made it real.

Ben was repeating the same phrase over and over during the entire drive to and from the hospital. I was SO ready for him to go to bedtime. I got him tucked in, and texted Daughter.

I did the usual, hearing Ben goofing in his room occasionally but not too worried about it until 10:30pm or so, when he was still awake. At 11:30pm I went in and told him to get back in bed, it was time to sleep, then I took my pill and konked a little after midnight.

At 2:15am Ben and Zeus Bounced me with Ben announcing that it was morning. I told him it was definitely NOT morning, that he should get his tablet and come lay down with me. He woke me up approximately every forty-five minutes until just before 5am when I gave up, and got up. He was awake all night. UGH!

Around 6am I started going outside to look at the sky. Ben had asked for chalk so I gave him some, and he spent the morning doing his chalk thang. I was in and out, taking pictures of the predawn Moon and sunrise, plus doing the regular morning stuff.

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At 7:10 we left to get Daughter, and on the drive back to the house, Ben fell asleep. I was NOT surprised. The Adderall he’d taken at 6:30 calmed his ADHD enough for him to finally relax. We put him on the couch and left him to sleep for a few hours.

Daughter emailed his teacher that he wouldn’t be Zooming, and the reason why. She gave me very strict instructions that I was to come get her out of bed at 1:45pm if she wasn’t awake. She took benadryl to help her fall asleep earlier, and said she wants to start getting up at 1:30pm every day. She said she set two alarms, but she asked me to please come get her at 1:45pm if she wasn’t up. Yeah, okay…

I settled in my room and went through my email, and started going through my WP Reader and comments. I dozed a little bit here and there, but tried to stay mostly awake. I didn’t want my sleep schedule to get all messed up. I’m used to four or five hours a night, and although it was broken, I got close to that last night.

I went to go wake Ben up at 12:30pm, figuring that five hours was enough to hold him until bedtime tonight, but he was already awake. I thought I’d heard him around noon, but he didn’t come get me or call out for me. He’d missed his 9:30am half Adderall and his 10:30am Seroquel, now it was time for his 12:30pm half Adderall. I was trying to figure out what to do about the Seroquel… I decided to give him the whole, and hold the half at 2:30pm. He takes more with his night meds. Anyway, I gave him meds, then got my stuff and started Couch Sittin Duty.

Daughter stumbled into the living room at 1:40pm. I made sure my tone was congratulatory and said “You did it!” I then asked if she’d been able to go to sleep right away. She said she hadn’t, and we talked a little about changing sleep schedules and ways she might be able to go to sleep earlier. Then we segued into Ben’s sleep, and I told her when he got up and what I’d done about his meds. She took over Couch Sittin, I taped some stuff for his latest Sweeney Todd Barber Chair, then went to get Horizontal.

At 3pm I decided to go get a few things from the grocery store, namely Pink Cookies and Blue Ramen. Ben had meds ready at the pharmacy too. I may have all the other stuff delivered or do a pick up, but some stuff is only available from certain stores. I picked a good time to go, it wasn’t crowded at all, and I was in, out and home within forty-five minutes. I think I spent more time at traffic lights than I did inside the store.

Now it’s time to rest a little while before sunset and the PreGame Show. There are lots of wispy clouds, like last night, and tonight’s Moon is full. I predict WAY too many pictures will be taken.

A fun little blast from the past…

A rough night, a weird morning and a regular afternoon… A “normal” Casa Cuckoo day. I often write that literally anything could happen, and this is a perfect example. I want to say THANK YOU! again to all of you for keeping me company through these past three hundred plus days. Having Ben home full time is incredibly stressful and without all of you awesome dudes, I seriously doubt I’d be doing as well as I am, mental health wise. The Zen falters here and there, but generally speaking, I’m still riding the wave. No complete wipeout yet. Tomorrow is Driving Miss Daisy morning and evening, with Couch Sittin in between. Unless something else happens, which we all know is possible. ¡Hasta mañana!

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HUGS!

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