Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Ramblings.....

I am sitting here watching Nick ever so slowly eat his dinner. Chicken, mac & cheese, and green beans. We have been here for almost an hour, and we are just finishing the chicken. We still have macaroni and beans to get through. No worries though. Tonight he can take his time. We had a relatively early dinner, so he should be fine as soon as he swallows the liquified chicken he has had in his mouth now for 20 minutes. A good trick we have learned: Giving him some applesauce seems to speed this process up a bit. As you can imagine, brushing his teeth when he is in one of these hoarding phases is simply a nightmare. Filled with lots of crying, and lots of liquified food spilling out of his mouth. I don't know why he does this. Most of the time we can figure out why he likes to do things, which leads to us understanding him better. This phase we just don't get. It comes and goes, and we never know when or how long it will last. We simply get through it. I hate, hate, hate it. I hate not being able to figure out WHY he is doing it. It gets so frustrating for both of us. Yesterday Mike told me Nick started breakfast at 8:30am, he finished at 10am.

Adding to the mayhem is our now disabled dog. He went outside last night just fine, came back limping, and has been limping all day. He is very old, so I am thinking it could be arthritis. He is able to bear some weight on his leg, but not much. He is actually doing better tonight than he was earlier today-but still hopping along slowly.

As if school, therapy, work, and dog were not enough; we have now added soccer to our schedule. Practices are Tuesdays and Thursdays 6pm-7:30pm. Right in the middle of Nick's therapy sessions. Mike and I will have to take turns going to practice with Michael. Life is all about finding a balance. We still struggle with balancing the needs of both boys. Nick needs so much more time & energy that most days we are mentally drained, and Michael just seems to blend in with it all. Soccer is HIS time in the parental spotlight.