Monday 7 October 2013

Just another manic Monday

Today has been crazy - manic is just about right!

We had a disturbed evening on Sunday - J was complaining about stabbing pains when he needed to wee, so after a bit of time checking symptoms on the NHS direct website I called them, and off we went to the local out of hours service.  J was excited about going somewhere new, terrified he would be admitted to hospital and left on his own, and suddenly happy and relaxed.

Apparently the most exciting part of all was having to pee in a bottle!  As it turns out his sample was all clear, so home we went with instructions to call again if things got worse.

Getting J checked out was absolutely the right thing to do - he isn't ill often, and was very distressed by the pain.  The flip side of it was, though, that we had to leave the other three at home.  Thankfully L is old enough that at times like this we can rely on him being able to watch the others for short periods of time.  M was scared - worried about what was wrong and could he catch it.  A was also scared - we ended up going out half way through her bedtime routine, and she was very sleepy.  L managed to keep them calm, and we were only gone for an hour.

When we got home the younger three had their story and went to bed. I read to M J and A together, and at the moment we are partway into Redwall - a story I loved as a child.  The rest of the night was disturbed because I was worrying about J - would he sleep, or be yo-yoing in pain? Somewhere around three he came down to us and snuggled into our bed - at which point I relaxed :)

This morning we were all late risers - usually M and J are up just before 8, with A following before 9.  My husband and I tend to get up between 8 and 9, and L(well into his teen years) gets up when prodded hard enough . . .

As nine o'clock rolled around no-one was really functional.  Not normally a problem but Mondays we do Multi-sports which starts at ten . . .

We made it on time, just, and M, J and A had a fun hour of basketball. As far as I can tell all went well.  Then we came home, for a short relax, before finishing preparing for Book club, and having lunch.

J didn't feel up to coming to the book club, and I thought it was best not to push him.

All three kids managed to read and enjoy their books, but getting them to record memorable quotes was hard.  Still, they got there in the end, then chose new books to wrap.

The session went well, though I spent a lot of it chatting to another mum who has a lot of experience with ASD, and it's good to feel the connection. She also has a lot of advice and talking to her helps me work through how I feel about stuff.

M had a couple of sticking points, firstly he wanted to talk about the book he got last time (which everyone was encouraged to do), but he didn't feel able to.  He got stuck in a bit of a loop - he felt he *had to* to be part of the club, but felt too shy to be in the spotlight.  We resolved it by him talking to the person who had lent him the book, and to the organiser, but not to the group as a whole.  At the end of the session they each got a new book from the surprise pile.  M didn't know who the book he had came from (the club secretary records who has lent which book to whom), and that made M feel worried that the book wouldn't "get home" (his words.)

Right now M is upstairs chilling at the PC, J is using the Wii - which seems oddly appropriate.  A is playing with her local friends out front - avoiding the two "mean girls" that are being unkind, and learning all sorts of things about human nature.  L is siting here working out square and cubed roots.

All that is left to get done is feed the horde, and get L out to his friends for his weekly game night.

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