Something happened to me this weekend and I wasn't really myself. I couldn't stop cleaning. I have a clear kitchen table. The counters are clean and clear. I organized a few choice areas. Amazing.
Frankly, I shouldn't be surprised. I was getting pretty sick of my housekeeping. It just hadn't been a priority. But Carl is leaving tomorrow to go to Scout Camp for a week and I knew that if I didn't start off the week with at least a clean kitchen, we would eat out every single meal and I really didn't want to live like that.
Speaking of Scout Camp, Carl leaves tomorrow morning at 5am. He'll get back on Saturday around lunch time. I'm a little lot nervous about how things are going to go. On Friday morning, just a few hours into summer vacation, I was already a wreck. Caleb is a crazy runner. When he gets upset he leaves the house. Sometimes he runs into the street. Sometimes he tries to find my keys and goes into the car. He can open any lock we have. That kid is so dang tall he can reach our top lock on the front door.
After a consult with the behavioral psychologist, we bought some padlocks. Carl rigged up some things on the doors so I can stick a padlock through. I have to carry my keys with me all the time. I was worried about living like this. I mean, what if there is a fire? The psychologist gave it to me straight. She said we were at a lot more risk of having Caleb get run over or crash the car and we could always break a window to get out in a hurry if we needed to. Good point. So, I feel like I'm living in Fort Knox but I don't have to worry about my kids running away from me and going wild in the streets.*
Until the kids can prove to me that they can follow directions, there are no big outings in our future. No zoo. No Children's Museum. They do get to go to Vacation Bible School. That starts tomorrow and I have a feeling I'm going to need those 3 hours of kid free time each day.
I hope we all survive.
*This sort of behavior is not uncommon of kids on the autism spectrum.
I wish I could be there with you to help. I will be sending good wishes your way (and prayers too).
ReplyDeleteYou are gonna do great this week. I'm sending lots of good vibes your way.
ReplyDeleteI will keep you in my prayers, I hope your week goes good. I know it will and when I am a lot crazy I clean too.
ReplyDeleteNot that it makes you feel any better, but a good friend of mine has similar issues with her son. I'm not sure if they are padlocked yet, but I agree that the chances of a fire a much less than the chances of Caleb getting hurt if he gets out and there is NO WAY any mom can supervise her child 24/7. I will be thinking of you too. Dave will supposedly be on his own when I go to Girls' Camp tomorrow, but I've got some kind of stomach thing and my "mean" OBGYN refuses to release me to attend camp until he's sure I'm completely over it and won't dehydrate. Picky picky...
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