"You mean that happy child?"

Anyone who has watch the original Toy Story movie more than once (as most parents can claim) will get the title reference, but in case you live in a bubble, have girls or have just gone several years without seeing the fabulous, first Disney-Pixar collaboration, I will explain.

There is a scene where Sid, the horrible middle school boy next door, is plotting to blow up one of his toys and he is laughing maniacally at the destruction he is about to inflict.  The toys are trying to explain to newcomer Buzz Lightyear that Sid is basically the scourge of the neighborhood and Buzz sees him laughing through binoculars and asks, "You mean that happy child?"

Alan has the world's cutest giggle and frequently laughs to himself for no apparent reason.  That said, some times it takes on a bit of a maniacal quality that makes DH or I turn to the other and say, "You mean that happy child?"

I don't know if it is the fact that we recently put up the Christmas tree and Alan is excited about the holidays or if he is just outgrowing his meds or if it is because it has been too cold lately for him to go outside without shoes, but Alan has been incredibly moody lately.  One minute he is laughing maniacally and the next he is screaming and hitting and trying to climb on the fireplace mantle.  This past weekend I captured this period of giggles and an hour later he was in time out.  Sigh.

This kid will be the death of me!  I think it is time for me to go play with my minis.

Mischief mode

By the time Spring Break is over for the boys, I will probably weigh 300 pounds.

 
I'm a "stress" eater.  I've always known this.  When I am blissfully happy, I forget to eat.  For some unknown reason <sarcasm font> I haven't done that in years. 

This week is especially tough because all Alan wants to do is go out to eat lunch -- and we all know that fast food is sooooooooo good for you.

 
Meanwhile, Alan no longer likes to go to the zoo or the park or anything remotely like this.  So after taking him out to lunch, he climbs and gets into mischief and I eat.  And it is only Wednesday. 

DH was hoping to take a few days off work to help me out but he is having problems and vacation isn't a great thing at the moment.  We are still hopeful that will change tomorrow or Friday.

We had to get rid of all our home workout equipment because Alan liked to climb on it (that is a bit hard on an elliptical or a weight machine) and so I don't have any easy way to work out here at home.

I had some faint hopes before Spring Break that I could race up to the gym and do a fast workout and leave Joe in charge of Alan but unfortunately for that plan, Alan has been in mischief mode this week.

Alan knows what he is allowed to do outside.  Really, I think we are pretty darn lenient about that but we do draw a few lines.

We do not allow him to climb on the neighbors' swing set.  While he is unlikely to fall, 160 lb kid could easily break something.  And, if he does fall and hurts himself, I am sure they would come up with some way to sue us for that.

We also do not allow him to climb over our deck rails.  We have reinforced all the rails but still don't think that is a good thing.  We also don't allow him to climb the siding of our house.  And yes, he has tried to do all of these things especially when he gets in mischief mode.

He is actually sort of entertaining to watch when he gets into mischief mode.  He goes outside and looks over his shoulder to see if I am watching.  When he sees that I am, he happily walks over to the tree or the swing-set and climbs and plays.  Then he casually glances over his shoulder and studies the sliding glass door and any of the windows in which he has seen me watching him.  If he doesn't spot me he scampers off to one of the places he knows he's not allowed to climb and starts climbing.

Yesterday was a fairly pleasant day so I figured I would take my book and read outside while he climbed.  That worked for awhile and then I went inside and as soon as I went away from the windows to do something mundane like laundry or dishes, he struck!  I came back to find him hanging on the railing from the outside of our deck.  Grrrrrrrrr

After a time out, he wanted to go outside again so I followed him out with my trusty book.  I got a deck chair set up and ... he decided to go back inside.  I put away the deck chair and followed him and ... he decided to go back outside so I followed him and then he gave up and decided to play inside for a little while.  Thank goodness for small favors. 

Of course, being inside makes it easier for me to eat.  There is always a downside.

Growing pains

What an utterly weird and strange day.  Yesterday was Christmas and I must admit that it was a good one.  Alan wouldn't open presents under the tree, but after we brought them to him where he lay on our bed watching his iPad, he opened them willingly enough.  He only had three time outs because we couldn't/wouldn't go out to lunch like we do most other days.  Sigh.  Still visiting with family was wonderful.

So today DH and I decided to do something we do frequently -- see the same movie separately.  We went to see Jack Reacher.  It was very good although probably a bit more violent than I would have liked.  After I got home I asked Joe if he would rather stay with Alan or go to the store for me and he opted to go to the store.  Then he called me as he was leaving the store -- "I am going to go by Barnes and Noble before going home."  O-KAY.  This might take some getting used to!!!  I know most parents struggle with their children's budding independence but as DH put it the first time he was home when Joe left to drive to school, "Is it just me or is it really weird that we just let our autistic 17 year old drive up the street in the dark?"  Nope, not just you babe!

Today was also Joe's last check up at the pediatrician.  Weird.  He has grown so much lately!!!  He is now the same height as my DH.  He has grown 6.5" over the last two years!  When he was 16 he was in the 25th percentile and now he is in the 90th.  They do grow up eventually.  And that is what I keep telling myself about Alan.  He may be a total pain the keister sometimes, but he will eventually grow up and be a young man.  Hopefully he is as at least half as nice as his brother.

Long Nights, Impossible Days ...

It has been several days since I had anything to talk about so the blog has been silent.  I never planned to write regularly on the weekends (emergency venting only) but I also missed yesterday.  Mainly this was because I spent the day car shopping.  I took Joe to school and then drove from car dealer to car dealer test driving new and used cars.  Fun, fun, fun!

Last night Joe walks into the room and asked me, "Mom are you going to need my car tomorrow?"  It is hard not to laugh when he says things like that.  I feel like I have to ask permission to use the car that is still in DH and my name, paid for with our money and insured with our money.  Still we have told him it is "his" car so it isn't like I can get mad at him for calling it that!

But really it was Alan that was jumping up and down on my last nerve last night (I asked DH when he got home from work if he could hear the twanging outside or not).  Alan walks in the door from school and instantly starts saying "medicine, medicine, medicine" until I give him his medicine.  We don't want to give it to him right away because he gets tired earlier in the evening if he has it too early so we try to wait until closer to 5 which is about 45 minutes after he gets home from school.  Last night for grins (and to keep me from going positively postal) I decided to count how many times he said it in a minute.  

The first minute he said it over 25 (I lost count), the next three minutes were 2-3 times per minute (he got distracted by a hangnail), the next was 8, the next 3, then 5, then 9, then 16 and then Mom snapped and put him in time out.  Of course this whole exercise in waiting is rather pointless because he always wins in the end.  The best way to extinguish an undesirable behavior is to ignore it but ultimately he will always get the medicine and I just do not know how to get around this.

Later after he had his medicine I was doing something at the kitchen counter and could not get him his "dinner" and once again, he just stood in my way and kept repeating his desired foods over and over.

Long night ....