“iPad,” Owen said. I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming. He said it again. I was trying to focus but all I could see was the clock blaring at me that it was in the middle of the night and we should be asleep. He said it again. At this point, I told him to go back to bed because it was the middle of the night. He was on a roll, “iPad.” I told him once he went to the bathroom he could take his tablet back to bed with him. I knew where this was going to go as well. When he came back I gave him his iPad but he didn’t want it. He wanted his school iPad. His teacher sent his iPad home with him in case the school board decides to go virtual next week if they don’t have enough staff to hold classes. When they approved the calendar they only had the holiday for Thursday and Friday so many of the staff members took the rest of the week as their vacation days but now this is leaving a shortage of bus drivers and staff at some of the schools. Owen knew his school iPad was in his backpack and he was elated. He has an iPad but he loves the apps he has for school. He went to bed thinking about his iPad and he woke around three in the morning wanting it. And that was the end of the story. He was not going back to bed and he wanted it. When he has his school iPad I make him sit with it because I don’t want him getting it wet or dropping it or a thousand other scenarios I can overthink about. I told him he could not have it until after breakfast. So at four in the morning, he ate all his cereal, asked for waffles, ate all of those, and asked once again for his tablet. Now I have to say this is probably the fastest most complete meal he has eaten in a long time. The tablet was his. But at this point, I certainly woke up on the wrong side of the bed. We worked on our eye exercises and I am also trying to make him more aware of how his body moves so I asked him to tap his foot. He bent over to touch his toes. I showed him how to do it and he was still having a hard time processing it so I took his foot and moved it up and down. He kinda did it but it will be something we work on. I am noticing more skills that I felt he knew and now are gone. The best way it was described to me is those skills are sitting on a shelf waiting to be used again but right now he is learning other things. We got ready for him to go visit Grandma and he got his socks and shoes on pretty quickly. In the car, I tried to distract him and I told him we could write a story. I asked him to name an animal. At first, he wanted to call it Salty the seal but I told him that we needed a different name since that was the name of the seal on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He then said a cow. I asked him what the cow's name was and after several choices, he said, “cow cow belle belle of the ball.” It works for me. The morning was anything but smooth and I was hoping that he would enjoy his visit with Grandma. I know when he doesn’t sleep well it can last throughout the day. He enjoyed his visit but my Mom said some moments were hard on him. On the way home, he was on a roll. He told me it was November and was planning our visit to the Halloween swing while waiting for Santa, and wanting a turkey hat. He said, “it’s snowvember but it’s not snowing now.” He told me he was going to the pumpkin patch and the petting zoo. Plus we are going to the slides tomorrow to get pizza and then he wants lunch Monday, dinner Tuesday, and breakfast Wednesday with my parents. Then he told me “mommy pick me up on Thursday” to see his therapists. His favorite day is Thursday and he won’t be in school and he won’t see his therapists. He is understanding more about holidays but it is still hard on him when he doesn’t get to do the things he loves. The night was a rollercoaster ride with him wanting his school iPad and running from room to room, sitting on the floor vents even though I told him not to. One day I’ll figure that out. He talked himself to sleep and I was trying to stay awake while I waited. Thankfully we laughed a lot on the rollercoaster ride and I know that tomorrow will be an oh-happy day if it all goes according to plan; church, big slides, and pizza. Today is the first day of the rest of your life so make it grand. Smiles to all and donut daze!
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