Monday, August 11, 2014

Overdrive

It is 6:50am and Nick has been going strong since 4:00am. I know this because I heard him in his bedroom doing scissor kicks on his bed, laughing and carrying on. I let him be until 6am, when I had to wake Michael up for soccer camp. His room was a mess, and he had undressed himself...this is a normal occurrence. I get a new pull up and check the pajamas he was wearing for any signs of urine. I notice that these are not the ones he wore to bed, which means that he was changed in the middle of the night by hubby. This is also a rather normal occurrence. So much laundry.

By 6:40am he has already had his morning medications, been changed now twice, and working on his second cup of milk. I have already been attacked once. Nick is working himself up into a frenzy. He is over stimulating himself by being himself. Flapping like crazy, toe walking, more flapping, making his usual happy noises. I wait for the inevitable. It comes minutes later. He is in the kitchen and suddenly there is quiet. It is followed by him running towards me trying to hit me half heartedly. I tell him to go sit on the ottoman, and he does so. He has already had a couple of his tics this morning too-I can feel it is going to be a craptastic day. I hope I am wrong.

7:02am: He is now laying down on the ottoman by our heater. Meds have seemed to kick in and he is calm. This is how every single day starts. Handling such things at such wee hours of the morning is why we live on caffeine. It is also most likely the reason why I look the way I do by 8pm every night. A day dealing with all of this should be an Olympic event.

Nick is a 10yr old, 80lbs, 4'10" toddler. Think about that for a second. It has gotten past the point of one person being able to handle him alone in public. Nick gets overstimulated very easy. I don't think people realize just how easy this happens. Numerous times a day he will request to have his music on. Which is awesome. We let him listen to it. On plenty of days it will be on no more than 5 minutes and he goes from being happy, to attack mode. We turn it off. He will ask for it again after he is calm. We turn it on, and it is the same song and dance for the entire day. This happens with the tv, ceiling fan, lights, toys, computer, ipad, you-name-it. He will want to go somewhere; so we take him out for maybe a simple walk or trip to the store. You guessed it. Minutes later he goes into rage mode. Sometimes during a rage his tics come out, which leads to more rage. Sometimes it happens after a rage-which of course leads to more rage, sometimes his tics are the cause of his rage. Either way, tics and rage often go hand in hand.

7:20am: Nick is asleep. We will see how the day goes.

10:45am: Nick has awoken from a nearly 4hr nap. He is changed again and this time I actually get him dressed. He has another tic. I think this one is caused by Juno jumping up and down beside him. He wants to listen to his music and he turns on the ceiling fan. I have a happy kid now, so I just sit and wait for what will eventually come. But for now, he is happy. I go down stairs and put in a load of laundry-the clothes and sheets from last night. There are three baskets awaiting folding. I could go ahead and chance doing these now, but I wait. See, if Nick cannot get a hold of me during a rage, he will turn to something in the house, most vulnerable is well, everything. That is one thing about having a "toddler" who is nearly 5ft. Things are not out of his reach, and he can do some real damage. Both to himself, and our house. An example? During his rages he has broken TWO flat screen TV's, put his hand through a glass storm door, and has ripped off three drawers in his dresser.

11:25am: Of course. The phone rings. The nurse is informing me that his ultrasound is scheduled tomorrow at 9am (we think his hernia has come back). He goes into over-stimulation mode as I am trying to write the information down. He is smacking me on my back repeatedly. I wonder if the nurse can hear the whacks over the phone?

11:29am: Another attack. His music is now off and he is sitting on the couch. Welcome to my world folks.

11:40am-12:10pm: Start cooking him some lunch. I am in the kitchen and he is in the living room moving the ottoman. He moves it directly under the ceiling fan. He steps on it, and I come around the corner just in time to see him jump up and try to grab one of the fan blades. I yell at him to get down. He complies. I go back to cooking his lunch and he proceeds to get up a second time and do it again. I yell at him to get down once more. By this time, his lunch is ready. He eats, and we are able to finish up some dishes without too many problems.

12:13pm: As I am writing this, he is on the porch with dad. I hear the dreaded screams that warn me of a likely bigger aggression on the way. He has been on this up and down roller coaster all day. Hubby manages to calm him down, and for now, we have avoided it.

12:15-2:30pm: Finally able to take a shower! Nick's little friends came over briefly. And yes, they ARE little. Like 4-5yrs old. He loves having them over, albeit in very small doses. And he does not "play" with them. He lays on the couch stimming while they play with each other. He knows they are there, and is happy, and they come up to say Hello to him every few minutes. That's about all the interaction he can tolerate. Needless to say, they get bored pretty fast, and usually leave after a little while-but it's okay-they come back in spurts throughout the day. After my shower I folded three baskets full of laundry while hubby watched Nick. During this time Nick threw his chips twice, and tried to grab the ceiling fan three times. I cleaned out some old clothes that Nick has outgrown to make room for the clothes that were handed down to him from his big bro. We put clean sheets on Nick's bed and cleaned his room up. By this time it was time for his afternoon meds. Have seen quite a few of his teeth clenches today.

2:30-3pm: Nick has been in a decent mood (YAY!) so we played around for a little while.