Autism Therapy: germs

We’re all sick. And I think Thomas has pink-eye.

Even as I sit here typing, I am painfully aware of all of the germs and wee creepy-crawlies that are most likely throwing rowdy parties all over the keyboard. When will all the sickness end? At least the kids won’t get the flu…or at least they won’t get whatever strain of the flu the CDC deems most threatening this season! I’m still sick and Jonathan is sick now, too. Just in time for Thanksgiving! Thomas missed the Halloween parade, and now he can’t go to school tomorrow when the class would surely be making cute little hand-turkeys.

Of course, since Thomas most likely has conjunctivitis, I will have to take him to the doctor tomorrow…all by myself. Even going to the doctor is not what worries me so much – it’s the eye drops we will have to administer if he’s got pink-eye. How in the world am I going to give Thomas eye drops? Even I, a neurologically-typical grown-up adult cannot stand eye drops. The antibiotics around Halloween was one thing…I could mix that into a cup of juice! I am already sweating at the thought of having to hold him down and get drops in his eyes. Would it be considered child abuse to hog-tie him to administer ocular antibiotics? Honestly, I don’t see it (no pun intended) happening any other way. At least, at least he will be okay to go back to school on Monday if we get him on the antibiotics tomorrow. Even twenty-four hours on the meds should make him okay for Thanksgiving. I should probably just have the pediatrician write a prescription for all of us, since I cannot fathom that just Thomas would get pink-eye. I know how contagious it is.

And the hits just keep on comin’.

Okay, enough of my pink-eye rant. Back to Thomas. The potty training is still going well…he usually has one accident every day or every other day. Getting him to listen to his body’s cues continues to be a struggle, but if we’re diligent about taking him to the bathroom, accidents can be avoided. At least we’re only buying diapers for one child now.

Thomas continues to enjoy singing! He was singing “Jingle Bells” today, and I’m not really sure where he picked it up. We haven’t sung it yet this season, but the morning bus driver was playing Christmas music this past week, so maybe that’s where he heard it. He really seems to like singing and even Hayley is picking up on it. She’s started asking Thomas to sing, too.

One of the greatest things he’s doing is answering when we call his name! We find this so encouraging and we know that he’s listening to us. Lots of times now, I’ll say, “Thomas?” and he’ll respond, “Yeah?” Then I ask him what he’s doing. He’ll say, “Oh, I’m um…just jumping on the couch.” He’ll ask me what I’m doing, too. We have these little conversations now! It’s so much fun and it catches me off-guard a lot of the time. Sometimes he’ll ask me a question and it’s so novel and strange to me that Thomas would ask me something that I have to take a minute to process that he’s waiting for a response. And after I respond sometimes, he’ll say, “Oh. Okay.” So cool!

Unfortunately, Thomas has been pretty rough with Hayley lately. Just tonight they were “playing” while I was putting away some laundry. I heard them laughing and carrying-on, when all of a sudden Hayley’s laughter turned to shrieks of pain. I went into Thomas’ room, soothed Hayley who said, “Thomas hurt it,” and went back to my laundry after a stern admonishment about not playing too rough. Five – no, one minute later, the same thing happened again. Thomas came running out of his room looking sheepish and Hayley was laying on the floor weeping. I had had enough. Jonathan was sick on the couch and all I wanted to do was put away some clean clothes, but no! Getting laundry done was just too much to ask. I was seriously thinking about taking the old baby-backpack out of storage and just carrying Hayley around papoose-style until she’s fourteen and better able to defend herself. I try to explain to Thomas that Hayley is too little for playing rough and he’s got to be more careful. The thing is that he knows when he’s hurt Hayley. He does understand that if she’s crying, she’s upset about something and he usually knows that he hurt her. Is this just brother-and-sister stuff, or is it happening because Thomas can’t understand when he crosses the line? I might be better off telling Hayley that when Thomas is playing too rough, she needs to come to me. The thing is that when Hayley is hurt, she just lays there like a lump until somebody comes to save her. A little more initiative on her part would help the matter greatly, I think.

So we’re off to the doctor tomorrow and my mother-in-law’s house on Thanksgiving, if we’re given clearance from the pediatrician. (Even if we’re not, I’m sure we’ll still go and issue the firm edict that nobody is to touch Thomas – or really any of us – without signing a waiver.) I’ll probably bring my antibacterial wipes and Lysol and wear them around my waist in a holster-type apparatus. Nothing says “Thanksgiving” like following your kids around all day, spraying and wiping down everything they touch. I’m banking on a goofy skin condition for Christmas that will have us up to our elbows in lotions and creams.

Happy Thanksgiving!