Quarantine Diaries: Part 3 - Easter in Lock Down

Once DC's birthday was over, he quickly moved on to reminding me about Easter.

In true DC fashion; birthday over - he quickly moved on to Easter,

#ItsWhatsNext

Quite honestly, I hadn't given Easter a single thought. I had forgotten all about it.

DC, aka "Mr Calendar" has just realized that Easter is coming.

"Mom! Easter is coming!"

"Mom! I love the Bunny!"

"Mom! I am so excited!"

Isn't the Easter Bunny quarantined just like the rest of us?

Please keep in mind that I cannot go anywhere without DC, so we haven't been anywhere but out for a walk or two or three. I could not find his old basket to put out for the bunny so I could only hope that IF the bunny was not quarantined, he would bring him a new basket.

The reminding continued...

In case you needed to be reminded; Easter is coming soon... That is all.

 I tried to explain to DC that due to "the sickness" he should not expect too much from the Easter Bunny this year. He has to wipe everything down before he delivers, and that takes a long time so he may not deliver as much this year.

He seemed to understand this, but it did not keep him from reminding me.

He’s changed tactics - instead of “reminding” me about Easter continuously, he is now yelling at random intervals, “Happy Easter to all and to all a good mid to late morning”#NowThatsDifferent

Easter finally arrived and unfortunately there was a "bit" of a screw up:

Poor DC. I guess the Easter Bunny couldn’t come all the way into the house so he put his stuff right inside the front door instead of the usual spot. (Probably also because we are STILL sleeping on the couch and he was trying not to wake us by coming in. Also, in case DC woke up in the middle of the night he wouldn’t be staring at his gifts) AND it was not in a basket because this year he was hoping people would leave their basket out from last year (and who knows where that is). But anyway ... DC thought he didn’t come.
The look in his face 😢
My heart broke just looking at it. 💔
Luckily I spotted it in front of the door. I’m sure that the Easter Bunny was sure there would be no way DC could miss it there, but he did.
He’s happy now.
Happy Easter - hope the Easter Bunny didn't screw up at your house. #BunnyFail

More band-aids, more markers and his favorite... jelly beans. Phew!

If you have been here long enough, you know that Easter is an "out to eat" holiday, which again put a damper on the holiday for DC.

It was a beautiful day so we went out for an "Easter Walk".
Doug met us there and DC was happy to be spending some of the day with him (with mask and practicing social distancing of course).

                 "Mom, the mask is bothering you!"

Trying to find a mask that doesn't bother him has been difficult.

Easter walk - 3 miles for Special Olympics - Second Mask Fail. He took it off but he held it to his face the whole way (why didn’t I think of that? ) 

Easter dinner was pizza and wings (again) and of course, cake.
Not the typical Easter dinner, but DC would opt for this kind of dinner anyway if he were in a restaurant.

In spite of all of the lock-down obstacles, we managed to have a Happy Easter.

As soon as Easter was over, I expected him to move on to reminding me about whatever happens to be next.

But...

Shhh! We’ve officially passed the time of night on any given holiday when DC decides this one is over and begins to “remind” me of whatever is coming up next (in this case, Mother's Day, I would imagine) He hadn’t said a word.Weird.

 Just weird.

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Quarantine Diaries - all

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In case you are new here: “I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works, never to "make fun of him"

It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies."

This blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Face book statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time 

Quarantine Diaries: DC's 'Twenty-Nineteen' (29th) Birthday

DC spent his 29th birthday in lock down. At the time of his birthday, this lock down was still relatively new and confusing to him.

I felt bad for him because he so looks forward to his birthdays, seeing friends, receiving gifts and going 'out to eat'.

Fortunately, as I said in my last post (Week One of the World Shutting Down), my birthday came the week before his, so he already had to spend one 'special day' at home. Even though all of this was new to him - it helped to ease the disappointment of not having the celebration that he had been imagining.

The first hurdle was my birthday (Friday the 13th). Restaurants, stores and just about everything else were still open but I did not feel comfortable taking him “out to eat.”

As you know, my birthday is only important as a stepping stone to his birthday and as an opportunity to go out to a restaurant. He was very upset by this so we got his favorite foods and cake and celebrated at home. He was eventually all right with this – there was cake…Overall, DC had a happy “Mom’s Birthday”. 

I prepared him all week for his birthday celebration at home, with the promise of a better celebration with his friends when "the sickness is over".

When the big day came, he was just as excited as he always is.

He had pizza, wings, cake and of course gifts, so he was a happy guy.

He received all of his favorites....

                                          Markers.....

                                          Band aids....

Princess Dolls

                                  and cake.

He did not forget to remind me continuously of the promise of another celebration later, though.

DC’s Facebook status thanking everyone for the birthday wishes...“thank you every body. happy birthday to me. happy birthday everyone.”

Over the next few weeks, birthday gifts continued to arrive.

DC’s birthday gifts keep coming via US Mail and UPS. He loves it because it is extending his birthday (in his head). It’s also pretty cool that no one needs to be told just what this “guy” wants.

It’s fun seeing all of the different types of band aids that are out there - some we’ve seen before and some we haven’t, but he loves them all. They are certainly helping him get through the boredom of the quarantine #bandaids

He loves receiving mail and packages (who doesn't) and as thrilled as he was receiving them and as thrilled as I was for him, it did get to the point where I started dreading the packages because ....

sigh...

another thing to wipe down.

But I was happy that he was happy.

His birthday was a success. As much of a success as it could be in lock down.

In true DC fashion; birthday over - he quickly moved on to Easter,

#ItsWhatsNext

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Quarantine Diaries - All

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In case you are new here: “I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works, never to "make fun of him"

It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies."

This blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Face book statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time 

Morning Rituals

DC has his morning rituals, one of which is heading to the restroom while he is waiting for his transportation to arrive.

It's a transition thing. He's done this all of his life (just ask everyone who has been traumatized waiting for him at the most inopportune times.) If we stop at 4 places, he has to visit the rest room at each stop.

Knowing this about my son and knowing that he can and will hold up everything and anything (he uses the time to recite the entire script from Anastasia or sing the whole score of the Wizard of Oz), I try to send him upstairs about every 15 minutes while we are getting ready for work.

His last trip has to be when he is standing in front of the open door with his coat on waiting for his transportation (if he does not have his coat on, it doesn't count) AND after he announces "No Prentiss there".

Knowing this about my son as well, I try to make sure he is in front of the door and ready to go a good 10 minutes before his car is scheduled to arrive, so as not to make the driver and the others scheduled to be picked up after him, wait.

Before we left on vacation, DC had his coat on and was in front of the door. I asked him to bring a package of toilet paper upstairs since he was going up there anyway (obviously this was before the hoarding began weeks later). 

He brought it up and I heard him come back down.

ME: I didn't want you to make a special trip. I thought you were going up to the bathroom.
DC stood in front of the door, looked out and said, "No Prentiss there " and THEN went back up the stairs.

Because I asked him to go up before his announcement, he had to come back down stairs to do that (or it didn't count).

FB Status


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In case you are new here: “I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works, never to "make fun of him"

It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies."

This blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Face book statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time 

Love Those Calendars

If you have been around awhile, you already know about DC's calendar obsession. Every calendar must be changed first thing on the first of every month, if I can keep him from changing them the night before. It is a thing with him. So much so, that we seem to accumulate more calendars every year (No one needs 4 calendars in the kitchen - no one). He loves going from calendar to calendar and flipping each one.

(See: Calendars and #ItsWhatsNext)  and So...What's Next? )

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Last week DC had an appointment with his neurologist. It's a tiny very cramped office. When we were ready to leave, DC stood up and said "One more thing" to the doctor, which I found odd because he really does not like this guy and rarely talks to him. He got up turned around and started fiddling with what I finally realized was a calendar hanging on the wall behind him (I don't know how he even noticed it there).
The doctor, looking a little confused asked me what he was doing.
"Your calendar must be on the wrong month and we shall never leave a calendar un-flipped"

FaceBook, February 20, 2020

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In case you are new here: “I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works, never to "make fun of him"

It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies."

This blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Face book statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time 

Valentine's Day in DC-Land

Me: You know you can be a little bit nicer to me today.
DC: No! Valentine’s Day!
Me: You can’t be nice to me today?
DC: No! Tomorrow!
#CrabbyAndEverythingIsMyFault
#HeWillBeNiceToMeTomorrow

February, 12, 2020

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DC did get his wish and we all went out to dinner, because as you know, THAT is all that holidays are about. He got some chocolate hearts and shared not one, but three with me, so there's that.

(Normally he will first try to share 1 chip, 1 jelly bean, 1 Frito, or just one of whatever he was asked to share, just to see if he can get away with not giving up any of his treat.)

And continuing on with the subject of Valentine's Day.....

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Valentine's Day update:
He's found the bells (that I was SURE I got rid of) from the Santa Train....
Apparently one needs Tinker Bell sound effects while reading Peter Pan.
That is all.

February 14, 2020

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In case you are new here: “I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works, never to "make fun of him"

It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies."

This blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Face book statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time 

Lincoln's Birthday

February 12, 2020

Yesterday, Doug; being the hilarious guy that he THINKS he is, pointed out to DC that today is Lincoln's Birthday. DC looked at me as if I was trying to hide a holiday from him....

DC: Lincoln's Birfday!

Me: It is not a holiday. You have Monday off for President's Day which is for Lincoln and Washington's Birthday.

DC: Presents Day!!!!

Me: No. President's Day. You get the day off, that's all. No gifts, No going out to eat. We are going to Mystic for President's Day (as if I haven't heard about Mystic AND Valentine's Day - we can't forget Valentine's Day- all week)

DC:

Doug: (leaves me to deal with Lincoln's Birthday)

After hearing enough about Lincoln's Birthday last night and this morning, Doug got a phone call from DC at 7:30 reminding him and it is Lincoln's Birthday and wanting him to explain to him what we are going to do today in honor of the holiday..

Me? I had only two words for Doug which can also be summed up with only one finger.
#NotAnOutToEatHoliday #NoGiftsOnLincolnsBirthday

Doug ended up bringing DC a cake. He was happy with the cake as his Lincoln's Birthday celebration. I caved and gave him some skittles and a five dollar bill and tried to explain who the man on the bill was. 

He did not care about anything but the cake...

If you think that he will not be expecting a cake next year, you are very wrong.

Very, very wrong.

Happy Lincoln's Birthday
Happy Valentine's Day
and
Happy President's Day


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In case you are new here: “I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works, never to "make fun of him"

It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies."

This blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Face book statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time 

The "Snow Ball"

Thursday Morning - February 6, 2020

DC and I discussing the “Snow Ball” that he will be attending on Saturday. Although he does rename most dances; this particular dance is officially called a “Ball” so you know he’ll be wearing a suit.
Me: Which suit are you going to wear?
DC: Blue. Have good taste.
#humble

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Saturday Morning - February 8, 2020

DC came home sick on Thursday. (Oh no! What if he can’t go to the “Snow Ball” on Saturday?).
I kept him home on Friday - no fever but he was coughing and very stuffy. All day while looking as if he could not keep his eyes open and with that red stripe under his nose that shows up immediately when he’s not feeling well or is having an allergy problem - he told me he was “feeling well” and “going to the ball”.

 All . Day . Long....

He looked worse as the day wore on. So I started getting him ready for the fact that he might not be able to go to the “Snow Ball”.

I didn’t want to say outright that he couldn’t because that would make the day that much worse for him (and me). But I was 99% sure that he would not be going.

By the time I got him to go to sleep for the night, he looked so awful that I was absolutely sure that there was no way he’d be well enough to go.

I mean, Doug moved AND sat in his chair in the kitchen and DC not only did not say a word but I’m not even sure he noticed! (See: "You're In My Spot")

Well, this morning he woke up looking like the picture of health! I was shocked and said “Oh my god, you look amazing!”

So fingers crossed that there is no relapse today because I told him he looks amazing and he’s reminded me of that at least 50 times (it’s only 10:30). He’s convinced he’s going so I’ll just be over here #HoldingMyBreath

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Saturday evening, February 8, 2020

Phew!

They had a fantastic time and I am still completely amazed at his turn-around!

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Sunday morning, February 9, 2020

After hearing about the "Snow Ball", "Going to the Snow Ball" and "I am feeling well" ...... Snow Ball, Snow Ball, Snow Ball for two days...
DC has moved on to screeching "Hooray, Hooray, It's 'Valentime's' Day"
Me: It's not Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day is Friday.
DC: "Hooray, Hooray, It's 'Valentime's' Day"
Me: You're just not going to give me a break, are you?
DC: No.
#Honesty #MovingOn

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In case you are new here: “I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works, never to "make fun of him"

It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies."

This blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Face book statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time