I have spent the last 3 years consciously avoiding anything or anyone or any shark that wanted to sing that song. And I was doing quite well. Not knowing the lyrics, not knowing there were actions, thus then not knowing the actions and not even knowing the tune. I had an inkling something existed that I definitely didn't want to know and I was fine with that. Even happy. Satisfied that I had avoided it all and now 3 years on it would be long gone and I'd be safe.
But then the Lodger went to a new school. And then the Lodger started learning things. And I'm not talking about the learning stuff he's meant to be learning but the other stuff. The little fist pumps he does when shouting "Yes!" Sometimes on special occasions, for example banana on top of his porridge we get a double fist pump.
The toppings on porridge are very important to the lodger and generally, it's quite samey, the way he likes it. Almonds and goji berries, consistent, single fist pump! Banana and almonds, weekend day, double fist pump! Pumpkin seeds and goji, Daddy testing the waters, no fist pumps and sound the air raid siren, we may be going nuclear!
Anyway fist pumps are new. As are other little social skills he's picking up from his cool friends and telling me, like I should know already what he's on about. A bit of flossing, a bit of dabbing and no Daddy, you're doing it wrong. "I'm warning you if you keep doing it wrong I'll be very upset." And thinking back to the pumpkin seeds debacle, I thought I do not need this today. Sometimes you gotta know when to give up.
Anyway the Lodger has been sick the last week, a simple viral head cold that just went on and on and on. I'll go easy on the details but suffice to say a lot of Snot. And no, he doesn't like being called Snotser. I was warned.
All the regular PWS traits were slightly altered for the last 10 days. A high temperature...WHAT!? Unable to use his cpap mask (Which he claims every other night that he definitely cannot sleep without when we sometimes, conveniently forget it on hotel stays for our own sanity) An added rash and a return to the dreaded antihistamines and the joyous Lodger that they bring out.
Less sleep than the normal less sleep, replacing the beep of the cpap machine with cries of "MY NOSE, MY NOSE" I know, so dramatic. And the strangest one of all, slow eating. Like really slow.
Snacks that take 45 minutes because we have to remove every stringy white bit from a mandarin (WHICH WE HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE IN 5 YEARS OF EATING MANDARINS!) And breakfasts and dinners that took over the hour but obviously we dare not take the food away.
In the Lodgers world we wait for him to make that decision. After all it is his food in the first place so why create extra anxiety for the next time. There's enough to go around as it is!
So it's dinner time and while pushing around his peas, one of his favourite vegetables, that he suddenly doesn't like but isn't finished eating (go figure) I somehow cannot stop singing that freaking song in my head and some may have come out, just words not actions. Suddenly the Lodger come alive. "How do you know that song!" Apparently another learning curve of school. He jumps into actions literally. We eventually make a deal that for each pea he eats I'll sing in an animal of his choice. It really doesn't speed up anything and I'm left wondering how I ended up singing baby cow, sheep, dog, cat, chicken, lion, tiger, elephant and pig (with actions) while negotiating with a child with PWS to finish his dinner.
Eventually we ran out of animals, and peas, and the mission was a success.
The next day in a rather potentially meltdown toilet situation I decided to burst into that song as a distracting method. Mid wild crying the Lodger stops and warns me that "We only do that at dinner" That told me. Consistency is Key.
Get well soon. Bring back the normal Lodger. PWS and all.
Somehow possibly a bit more rational.
 |
| Yes!! |
But then the Lodger went to a new school. And then the Lodger started learning things. And I'm not talking about the learning stuff he's meant to be learning but the other stuff. The little fist pumps he does when shouting "Yes!" Sometimes on special occasions, for example banana on top of his porridge we get a double fist pump.
The toppings on porridge are very important to the lodger and generally, it's quite samey, the way he likes it. Almonds and goji berries, consistent, single fist pump! Banana and almonds, weekend day, double fist pump! Pumpkin seeds and goji, Daddy testing the waters, no fist pumps and sound the air raid siren, we may be going nuclear!
Anyway fist pumps are new. As are other little social skills he's picking up from his cool friends and telling me, like I should know already what he's on about. A bit of flossing, a bit of dabbing and no Daddy, you're doing it wrong. "I'm warning you if you keep doing it wrong I'll be very upset." And thinking back to the pumpkin seeds debacle, I thought I do not need this today. Sometimes you gotta know when to give up.
Anyway the Lodger has been sick the last week, a simple viral head cold that just went on and on and on. I'll go easy on the details but suffice to say a lot of Snot. And no, he doesn't like being called Snotser. I was warned.
All the regular PWS traits were slightly altered for the last 10 days. A high temperature...WHAT!? Unable to use his cpap mask (Which he claims every other night that he definitely cannot sleep without when we sometimes, conveniently forget it on hotel stays for our own sanity) An added rash and a return to the dreaded antihistamines and the joyous Lodger that they bring out.
Less sleep than the normal less sleep, replacing the beep of the cpap machine with cries of "MY NOSE, MY NOSE" I know, so dramatic. And the strangest one of all, slow eating. Like really slow.
Snacks that take 45 minutes because we have to remove every stringy white bit from a mandarin (WHICH WE HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE IN 5 YEARS OF EATING MANDARINS!) And breakfasts and dinners that took over the hour but obviously we dare not take the food away.
In the Lodgers world we wait for him to make that decision. After all it is his food in the first place so why create extra anxiety for the next time. There's enough to go around as it is!
So it's dinner time and while pushing around his peas, one of his favourite vegetables, that he suddenly doesn't like but isn't finished eating (go figure) I somehow cannot stop singing that freaking song in my head and some may have come out, just words not actions. Suddenly the Lodger come alive. "How do you know that song!" Apparently another learning curve of school. He jumps into actions literally. We eventually make a deal that for each pea he eats I'll sing in an animal of his choice. It really doesn't speed up anything and I'm left wondering how I ended up singing baby cow, sheep, dog, cat, chicken, lion, tiger, elephant and pig (with actions) while negotiating with a child with PWS to finish his dinner.
Eventually we ran out of animals, and peas, and the mission was a success.
The next day in a rather potentially meltdown toilet situation I decided to burst into that song as a distracting method. Mid wild crying the Lodger stops and warns me that "We only do that at dinner" That told me. Consistency is Key.
Get well soon. Bring back the normal Lodger. PWS and all.
Somehow possibly a bit more rational.
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