Couch Potato

My kid is parked on the couch.

He has split his time between there and my lap for the last four hours.

He has no fever, but he didn’t sleep well last night and now he’s out of energy.

He went to bed okay, but woke up at 2:00 a.m. with a tickling throat.

He was so frustrated by it that he shrieked until his upset overwhelmed him and he spit up on the carpet in his room.

Oh joy.

It reminded me of those horrendous midnight tantrums of the not-so-distant past.

Husband cleaned up the floor while I tried to calm down the boy.

Thank you, husband.  For that, and for going downstairs in that wee hour to get him some water and goldfish crackers.

I know my son. I think the dramatic weather changes in the last few weeks, leading up to Halloween excitement, chaos and candy overload just did him in.

His nose is on a different schedule.  He feels scratchy and uncomfortable.  I do too.  Can’t stand this fickle desert climate.  Either of us.  I spent the rest of the night in his uncomfortable bed.

Now he’s on the couch and uninterested in leaving the house.  Certainly there is nothing out in the world that can’t wait for us another day, but we stayed in yesterday too and I’m starting to get cabin fever.

Honestly, Mom, I don’t know how you kept your sanity when we three were young and you had no car all day.  I couldn’t do it.  Thank you for that, truly.

Back to the boy.

I have that bit of gnawing, ever-present guilt creeping into the sides of my brain.  He misses a lot of school.  A LOT.

But it can’t be helped.  I’m not going to make him go when he’s like this.  And what if he actually is a bit sick instead of just weather whipped?

Yesterday I had no creeping guilt.  It was a good day, all things considered.  It was a learning day, a doing day, a brain stretching day.

Because yesterday, he made himself a book.  Yep, a book.

Actually, he made two books.

He took stacks of white paper, stapled them together, drew pictures on the pages and then came to me for help in spelling the words he wanted to add.

The books are very primitive for a neurotypical kid of his age, but for him, they’re amazing.

Just the fact that he thought to do them at all is amazing.

And asking me for help with word choice and spelling?  Geez.  Triple whammy!  Writing words is his least preferred activity during homework hour.

So, I was impressed and I felt like a good mom because my kid was learning something on his own, outside of school.  Somehow, that made his staying home seem appropriate.

But today, he’s home because he doesn’t want to do anything.  Anything.  Except sit on the couch.  Or my lap.

So there’s that guilt for not facilitating a brain stretch of some sort and for leaving his aide to wonder why she couldn’t have had the day off.  Oy.  The guilt.

Okay, well, now you know my kid is sitting like a lump across the room from me.  I don’t suppose there’s much more to say about that.

Moving on.

♥

My cousins April and Gary were in town on Halloween.

April made yummy lasagna and brought me this fabulous quilted Halloween table runner.

I love it!

Thank you, April!

I love it even more because you enjoyed making it on your new sewing machine.  Woohoo!  I need one of those too!

My sewing machine is still in the back of the van, waiting for a drop off at the repair shop.  My best friend’s sewing machine is the one on my table, getting used everyday.  I’d like to have both of them set up, you know?  Maybe with different colored threads in them.  And a new one too.  😀  Greed.

But seriously, April, your visit has me thinking I might take a sewing class!  What fun it would be to learn more about something I already love.  ♥  Thanks for the inspiration – you and your quilting sister!

♥

Okay, the couch is swallowing up the child.  Gotta go, but wanted to leave you with the day two 2010 Pumpkin Demise photos.

It’s early in the game, they still look pretty good.  😀

Happy Tuesday!

♥

P.S.  What did you do with your pumpkins?

♥♥