Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Some Days There Just Isn't Enough Lysol

Today wasn't a bad day, but it was a challenging time in Autism Land, that's for sure.  Korban has been really out of sorts here lately--not sure why.  He's been sort of sick, so I guess that's part of it.  We started off our morning with him getting up and then going back to bed, which is unusual for him.  He didn't seem to be feeling very well, so I called school off.  After he got up the second time, I took him to the bathroom.  He sat down to pee and then stood up and pooped in the floor, which seemed sort of backwards to me.  And also not fun to clean up.  But amazingly, that wasn't even the grossest thing that happened today. 

The rest of the morning shaped up pretty well.  This afternoon I asked my mom if she could give us a ride to pick up some milk, since Selah was running low and the princess does not like to be without chocolate milk.  (Oh, have I mentioned we've had Major Vehicle Issues that probably deserve their own post and I've been without a vehicle since November?  Not cool.  Not cool at all.)  My mom lives right around the corner, so after I talked to her I started getting everyone ready to go.  I got the kids afternoon snack ready and fed it to them.  I know I've mentioned Korban's sensory issues before--eating is a big issue.  For the longest, he couldn't eat foods of certain textures and he has lots of problems with gagging and choking.  Now he thankfully eats a much bigger variety of foods, but we struggle with overeating and still have the same gagging and choking issues.  I think the food gets stuck to the roof of his mouth sometimes and he just can't handle that feeling.  Sometimes I can get to him quickly enough to sweep the food out myself before he gets sick, but sadly, today that was not the case.  He projectile vomitted across my living room.  And that was the grossest thing I cleaned up today, just in case you were worried you were going to have to read something even worse.  I'm very used to this type of cleaning, and I have a process.  Strip Korban (he can't stand to have anything on his clothes) throw clothes in the washer, dress him, and clean up the mess.  Selah is very good about staying calm during this whole process unless one of her beloved toys wound up being in the line of fire, and then she is sad.  Today I quickly got Korban undressed but since it was so warm, I decided to skip the re-dressing part and move directly on to the floor cleanup.  It was nice outside today, and plenty warm in the house so I figured I'd just let him run around in his underwear for a while.  Actually, I figured it was so nice outside that I'd go ahead and open the front door so that we could get some fresh air while I cleaned.  Not a bad idea in theory.  Unless of course, you have an autistic child that is prone to bolting.  Yes, he did.  And then there I was chasing my naked child across the front yard while he laughed and screamed and obviously enjoyed the game.  Naturally, my neighbor chose this time to return home and witness the entire spectacle.  I caught Korban, and returned him to the house but not before he uprooted a potted plant on my porch and stuffed it in his mouth.  I had to fight him to pry it out.  Snack, we have sensory issues with, but apparently potted plants are not an issue.  And no, it wasn't poisonous.  I managed to get all the mess cleaned up, steam mop the floor, and apply a layer of Lysol to it.  Then I put on clean clothes because I just felt dirty.  After I got dressed I returned to the kitchen to discover that my children had gotten out the package of chocolate milk mix and were eating the powder directly out of the canister.  They looked like this:


And this:


But apparently, it was finger' lickin' good!

 
 
And I had yet another mess to clean up, but at least this one smelled good!

My mom showed up right after I finished dressing Korban.  She was carrying a bag of candy and asked if she could give it to them.  When I said "NO!" she seemed really surprised but after I explained about Korban getting sick, not to mention they just consumed a fair amount of chocolate dust,  she understood.  And if she had showed up 45 minutes earlier, she would've understood a lot better.  ;) 

Today had it's hard moments, but it wasn't a bad day.  There are lots of worse things than poop, puke, and snacking on potted plants and Nesquick (aka "bunny milk").  This mama is tired though.  One very, very good thing happened today.  My friend Carla came to see me, and she brought me a Mountain Dew
THIS BIG!!!

God bless you Carla.  Grateful to have a friend who knows when you need some encouragement. 
And some caffeine!