Welcome to my Manic Monday.

I used to do this all the time but haven’t for awhile. This is just where I share just how crazy Monday’s are for the Lost and Tired family. I also encourage you to share your Manic Monday stories as well. Parenting in general isn’t easy but special needs parenting is in a whole other league. For some unknown reason, Monday’s are just absolutely crazy for the Lost and Tired clan. I thought it was selfish of me to keep these Manic Monday escapades to myself, so I figured, who better to share them with than you fine folks.

Hey, if I can give you a chuckle by recounting the horror that is Monday then maybe your day will improve. I would love to hear about your Manic Monday as well, so please feel free to share in the comments or send me an email. I could always use a chuckle myself. 🙂

Homeschooling

Today was Emmett’s first, official day of home schooling. We pulled him from his school on Friday of last week. They are grossly inadequate and were punishing Emmett for being unable to sit still in his chair or at circle time. They did this by awarding all the other students a sticker and excluding Emmett from receiving one. Last Thursday, his teacher approached Lizze at pick up time and began listing all of the things Emmett is doing wrong. She did this publicly, in front of all the parents there to pick up their kids. Umm…can you say inappropriate…

While we begin battling the school, we have pulled Emmett from it, and will work with him at home until we locate a better situation. He needs a school that won’t punish him for being Autistic and 3 years old.

Anyway, while Emmett was upset that he was being mistreated, he was still quite upset that he wasn’t going to school today. On the plus side, we have a very good lead on the perfect school for Emmett and they are going to see if they can work with us until we get the Autism Scholarship..

Hey…wait a minute…that’s good news. How did that get in here?

The DeadBOX 360

One of Emmett’s favorite things to do lately is play Angry Birds on his Android4Autism device or Daddy’s phone….mostly Daddy’s phone. If your not familiar with Angry Birds, it’s essentially video game crack. It’s horribly addicting and can be found on most touchscreen devices. Emmett loves the bright colors and funny noises the game makes. The other day I was browsing on XBOX Live and stumbled upon a knock off of Angry Birds, called Angry Fish.  It’s an Indie game and you would be correct in assuming that it’s quite similar to the aforementioned Angry Birds.

Basically, you are shooting fish out of a cannon in a desperate attempt to extract revenge on several cat’s on the other side of the screen. It’s actually quite fun and Emmett really enjoys getting the silly kitties. It also breaks up the monotony just a bit. I was trying to distract Emmett with Angry Fish so he would move beyond the disappointment of not going to school today. The tears dried up and Emmett was anxiously but patiently waiting for the game to load. However, this was about to backfire in a big way.

Upon turning the XBOX 360 on this morning, she (yes, it’s a she) refused to work. All she does is lock up shortly after booting up. I’m a seasoned pro at dead or dying XBOX 360″s and tried all the usual tricks to breathe the miracle of life back in to her. Nothing worked and panic soon began to set in. I’m not talking Emmett panic either, I’m talking Daddy panic

. Emmett was more than happy to get his little hands on Daddy’s phone for a few rounds of Angry Birds. Daddy was panicking because, you know, how this couldn’t be happening? This was one of my very few escapes from the trials and tribulations of my life…..and I think I might be out of warranty.

Hopefully, I can get her fixed and back up in running.

Tax return seems like an eternity away….. Now I just refer to her as the DeadBox 360…. Get it? She’s dead to me..

Sneaking the Toothbrush

This was actually quite surprising for me. So much so that I needed to get a picture in order for anyone that has ever tried to brush Emmett’s teeth, to believe me. 

Emmett told me he had to go potty. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. I’ll never know for sure. However, when he didn’t emerge, naked, and wanting help putting his underpants on, I decided to go check on him. Emmett is a creature of habit if there ever was one, and so I knew something was up.

Upon walking into the bathroom, I was shocked by what I saw. Emmett, my 3 year old, who mind you, hates having his teeth brushed, had climbed onto the counter and got his new toothbrush out of the cabinet. Not only that, but he had also put his special tooth paste on it and was actually brushing his teeth.  Brushing his teeth!!!

He actually snuck into the bathroom so he could brush his teeth…..again. I say again, because he had already brushed his teeth this morning.

As a side note, we don’t keep anything toxic in the cabinet. All that is stored well out of his reach and Gavin’s for that matter.

I had just posted about the new toothbrushes I bought for the kids and how much they have helped with tooth brushing (see: Our Solution for the tooth brushing nightmare ).

I had stated that Emmett, tolerated it much better than anything else we have tried before. Apparently, tolerated, was a gross understatement, as clearly now we have a new problem.

I suppose it could be worse. I mean, aside from the obvious safety issues of him climbing on the counter, he could be sneaking other things. Right?

He’s SAFE…..but the chairs weren’t so lucky

Gavin has been in rare form lately. I haven’t been able to say that about him in quite some time. In case you’re wondering……that’s a good thing.

However, as of late, Gavin has really been struggling with things like, listening, remembering, walking feet, repetition and less than stellar choices.  Most of this is truly outside of his control. I don’t think that there is really any argument to the contrary. That said, it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.

Anyway, Gavin and Elliott had to be pulled out of school 30 minutes early so Gavin could go to OT. After OT, he had his weekly blood draw. However, this time was quiet…um…unique. Actually, unique is not accurate. It was more was like…..a complete disaster.

It was raining and so Gavin’s shoes were wet. When he was being signed in and registered, he decided he had to go to the bathroom. Unfortunately, he made the rather impulsive decision to run to the bathroom instead of walking. Upon leaving the carpeted floor and hitting the tile, Gavin lost control and slid across said floor like he was sliding into home plate. If that wasn’t bad enough, he took out an entire row of chairs with him.  Suffice it to say, lot’s of noise and drama. Sigh…

Gavin was okay, thankfully, but of course the chairs weren’t so lucky. The staff wanted to get him checked out as well. However, they probably should have been more concerned with the many elderly patients that Gavin’s little, heart attack inducing actions had clearly affected.

Walking feet seems to be something Gavin is really struggling with anymore. I would love to think that he has learned form this experience, but hey,  I’m a realist and to quote Dr. Phil, “the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior”. While I’m not a huge fan of Dr. Phil, I do think he hit the nail on the head with that one.

When Gavin came home, he still hadn’t slowed down. He was playing with Emmett and due to his impulsive and uncoordinated movements, he injured Emmett…not once….but twice. Nothing serious but they were absolutely preventable. After the second time Emmett got hurt, I pulled Gavin aside and spoke with him again. Only this time Gavin melted down and I mean really melted down.

Lizze had to take the boys upstairs while I defused or rather attempted to defuse Gavin. This meltdown lasted about 20 minutes and included, self-injury and oddly enough, yelling at himself in the third person. That was a first and honestly, I was kinda weirded out by that.

Fun was had by all….and in case you haven’t pick up on this…that was sarcasm.

Painted Feet and Broken Vans

I forgot to mention this earlier. I was working on something this afternoon and Emmett climbed up onto the couch. He perched himself on my shoulder (as seen here), kinda like a parrot on a pirate and showed me his latest creation… He had located a black permanent marker, which, for the record, can never be located when I need it, and took said permanent marker and to quote Emmett, “painted polka spots” on his tiny little feet.

Man, that was frustrating, I had been looking for the freakin’ marker for the past few days and I still don’t know what the hell he did with it when he was done.

Is it to much to ask that I be able to locate that black permanent marker when I need it? Huh…is it?

You know when things disappear and there’s no other explanation, we say something like, “the sock gnome strikes again”…… Goddammit, that reminds me, I need to figure out where all Gavin’s socks are disappearing to.  Sorry about that… Back to Emmett and the elusive and much sought after, black permanent marker.

I’m starting to think Emmett is hiding things from me. You know, things like that flippin’ marker, just to mess with me. Sounds a little paranoid…right?  Read this post from the other day and tell me I’m paranoid. I know he’s messing with me..I just can’t prove it….yet. 🙂

Last but certainly not least we have the van. If you have been following along with this blog, you’ll know all about this van. I love this van almost as much as I love the dentist. For the record and so we are all on the same page….I hate the dentist….I hate the dentist with every single fiber of my being. This van has been the bane of my existence since I bought it last year.

In that one year, we have had to put in a brand new transmission, deep engine work was done…6 times, a new fuel pump, 8 vacuum leaks fixed, a new front subframe, new tie rods and the rear brakes fixed. She (yes…once again…the van is a she) was in the shop, again, for 5 days last week. Yay, she all better right? Wrong… Wouldn’t you know it….within 24 hours she stalling out… This time is something new.

Also worth mentioning, the front right tie rod is so bent that the front end can’t be aligned. The front end is so out of alignment, that the front tires keep getting chopped. Chopped is basically uneven tire ware, on either the inside or the outside of the tires. Ours happens to be on the outside and is so bad that the cords are showing through. They are getting replaced, God willing, tomorrow.

For the record, the shop we go to is really top notch.

The van just hates us and wants to die. Unfortunately, I can’t allow that to happen anytime soon… So it’s really become like some weird power struggle.

In Conclusion

My goal is one of two things here. I figure that by sharing my Manic Monday with all of you, you will either feel a little bit better about your life and maybe even get a laugh (don’t worry, I know it’s not at my expense) or you will read this and say something like, “finally, someone else understands”.

Either way, I’m cool with it. 🙂

Please feel free to cheer me up by posting a comment and sharing your own Manic Monday experiences. I promise to either only laugh with you or appreciate my life more. :0

Also, if you happen to see my permanent market, PLEASE let me know. I won’t tell Emmett you told me…I promise. 🙂