My Day

Okay, for one I'm now four days behind on this little bit of fun.

Here is some of the rest of the day.  Sent Gabe to school.  Picked Gabe up at school an hour before I tend to even wake up for the day.  Head to College Park for Gabe to see the eye doc that performed his last eye surgery.  Get through the pre-appointment run down with wonderful Mr. Nurse (really wish I had gotten his name!!).  Get seated in the pedi's playroom/waiting area with several other kids.  Gabe and Hope play very nicely.  The shocker of the day was that ALL the parents watched, warned, helped, and disciplined their children!!  Went back to see the doc.  He decided to dilate Gabe's eyes.  Let the fight begin.  Round one: wonderful Ms. Nurse (should have gotten her name too!!) tried to just put the drops in- Gabe shoves her away and won't let her near him again.  Round two: I grab Gabe and put him in my lap so I can lock down his arms while Ms. Nurse attempts the drops again- Gabe throws his head around almost head-butting me and he is now throwing his legs around and kicking.  Round three: I continue holding Gabe while Ms. Nurse tries to hold Gabe's head still and doc tried to put in drops- Gabe begins screaming and is still kicking which Hope now thinks would be fun to be in the middle of.  Round three was borderline successful and we are sent back out to await dilation.  Gabe is put in a time out for this behavior.  Ms. Nurse drops by to check Gabe's eyes and decided we needed a round four.  Gabe is one to us and we can only get him IN the room with bribery by Mr. Nurse.  We follow Mr. Nurse in the room and Ms. Nurse stays in the hall and shuts the door.  Round four:  I hold Gabe again while locking down his arms telling him to be brave and just do it fast with promises of a lollipop in the end while Mr. Nurse somehow man-handles Gabe enough to get the drops in- Gabe is screaming bloody murder, trying with every ounce of movement and strength he could muster to break out of our hold and kicks Hope in the process (she is fine).  Gabe and Hope are now both completely distraught and crying.  Mr. Nurse consoles Gabe very well at the end and the pair almost dance down the hall to get the lollipop I just told Gabe he could no longer have.  I allow Gabe to have the sucker because I AM a sucker and know that we are not yet done with this appointment.  We wait again but Mr. Nurse knows that Gabe is in trouble, has sensory issues (after I told him this is his autism in it highest form), and will not be allowed to play anyway and sends us down to another waiting area where we are blissfully alone.  I only grinned at all the kids and parents we passed that were waiting their turn and had just heard Gabe's screaming...  The rest of the appointment went very well once Gabe believed us that there wouldn't be any more drops.  Two and a half hours after we walked in, we are walking out with a prescription for glasses and a surgery date set for the 15th to correct his lazy eyes.  All of this before lunch.  We stop for fast food and I drop Gabe at school.  Hope and I go home.  Hope goes down for a nap.  Gabe comes home.  I take a nap.  Wake up only half an hour before we should leave to go to Kai's handling class.  I call Stephanie and tell her I'm not bringing the kids tonight and that I just don't want to deal with it tonight.  She calls back a bit later and volunteers to watch the kids so I can have an evening to myself.  Serious answer to prayer as I've been wanting to just run away now for a couple weeks.  Do Gabe's homework (which was awful!!).  Slap together a sandwich for Gabe and snacks for Hope (she hasn't been very hungry).  Drop the kids and head off to my first trip to Tanger Outlet.  Well, the first one here and the first one in probably ten plus years.  I over spent, stayed until the stores were closed, and headed back only because Gabe has school in the morning and needs to get to bed.  Here it is after midnight now and I'm feeling much better thanks to my lovely friend Stephanie!  Muah!