Beth has been a bit off lately. She had her night at school then I gave her Friday off because she had been a bit snotty and was running to the loo a bit. And she had had two very long days. Â She seemed good in herself though. On Monday morning I woke her up and though I knew she didn’t really want to go to school she seemed pretty good. She had her breakfast then went to do toilet and teeth as is the routine. I came in to make sure she washed her hands before starting on her teeth and realised that once again she had the runs. She was still a bit coughy too so I decided that I’d best keep her home again.
I made an appointment at the doctors for today (Wednesday)Â as Beth has a curriculum day. Yesterday however we got up, I got Beth ready for school, and she was a bit all over the place with her breakfast. Every morning for many years Beth will have six weetbix. She has three, then she has her juice with her tablets, then she has another three and another juice. Always in the same order. Always with the chant ‘this porridge is too hot, this porridge is too cold, this porridge is just right’ under her breath. Just quietly, I never get tired of hearing it! Yesterday she had her juice first then had problems finishing her breakfast. She had her second drink in between the two breakfast and wanted another afterwards. As always, this is a bit of a sign as the routine only changes when she’s not well. Still not great when she went to the toilet so I kept her home yet another day. She seemed fine all day apart from occasional toilet breaks but then last night she vomitted twice. So off to the doctors we go today.
Now vomitting is never a good thing. It’s never nice to do and it’s never nice to watch. But I see a bright side here. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER has Beth taken herself off for the first initial vomit. Until last night. Sorry for the graphic nature of our conversastion here but I was so excited that I had to share. When Beth is sick for the first time she usually throws up wherever she is, usually all over the bed clothes. Which is revolting. Last time it was on the bed clothes and all over some books that were on the floor that needed to be chucked out. But last night Bridie came to me and asked what Beth was doing. I stated that she was in the toilet and Bridie said she thought Beth was throwing up. And there she was, taking herself off to the toilet. Well done! For the first time in 14 years she’s developed the self awareness that she felt sick, that she didn’t have a bucket and she had to do something about it. I am so proud!
Beth has been downloading operation apps. They are sort of like a game but they are not playing as such, just interactive. So they are not poking fun of what is happening, it’s quite serious and they do the steps that would be done in a real operation but obviously on the ipad. So for example it will start with swabbing the hand and putting a canula in. We’ve progressed from dental operations, to childbirth and now to virtual mastectomys. It doesn’t bother me even though it’s quite graphic. It’s educational and it shows me how Beth can absorb all the terminology and information so well if she’s interested in something. Who knows, maybe she could be some sort of research assistant?
One other thing that happened last night was a change too, another thing that I was pleasantly surprised about. My friend Bec is pregnant with her fifth child. Beth was playing a game on her ipad and looked over at me and asked “How’s Bec mum? Has she had the baby yet?” I don’t know if other parents with kids on the spectrum have this or not but Beth isn’t a questioner. Unless it pertains to her. So she might say “Why?” Or “How?” or “What?” if it’s in relation to wanting to know about a character from a movie or information that she needs in her encyclopaedia of a brain to make sense out of something. But she has never asked it of a person because as a general rule she doesn’t appear to care. I just spoke to her like I would the other kids of course, told her that there was only a few weeks to go etc. It was so nice to have her actually interested in what’s going on around her. I reckon it’s since she got back from her excursion. She was so chatty after that, as if it was a bit of an eye opener, having a bit of independence. Maybe not a big deal to some but certainly a big deal here.
