Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Our big day at the dentist

Well, today was, let's face it, terrible!  Started out bad, so I should have known.  Ethan was in full scale meltdown mode from the second he woke up this morning.  He did manage to make it to school on time, despite the meltdown.  He had a great day at school, but then it was time to go to his first dental appointment.  He was fine with going, even happy about it.  We were going to try to go feed the ducks before our appointment, since the dentist's office is set on what we have always referred to as "fake lake".  It's a man made pond in Webb Park in Rancho Bernardo.  It's a very beautiful peaceful setting.  Perfect location for a dental office.  Unfortunately, the ducks had flown the coup.  I guess they are still on winter time, even though it's 72 degrees in San Diego. 

After discovering that the ducks had flown south, we decided to go play in the dentist's office.  They have toys, a video arcade and kid's movies on all over the office.  On the way in, Ethan tripped and fell flat on the asphalt.  He took a small chunk out of his elbow, and was bleeding everywhere.  He was naturally, screaming bloody murder, totally acceptable for that type of injury.  To add to it, Javi hates the site of blood and was having one of his freak outs.  Probably worse than normal, since he had some anxiety about going to the dentist.  Kaylee was in a carrier strapped to my chest, so she had to put her two cents in too.  I was ready to have a meltdown myself!  I must have looked like a complete nutcase to all the people that saw us.  I was trying to calm Ethan, get him cleaned up, while Javi was flipping out and not following directions.  I know I should have stayed calm, since it wasn't doing any good to raise my voice to Javi to follow directions, but it was just one of those situations where I totally lost it.  Hey, we all have them at one time or another.  

I did manage to get a towel from the office to get Ethan cleaned up.  We went outside until he was calm and ready to go back in.  At that point, I was ready to cry.  Everyone was staring at me and I felt like a complete psycho for having lost my cool.  I am not normally like that, but I have been noticing that my moments of insanity have been more frequent lately.  I think having SN kids really takes its toll on you.  

My husband and I haven't really had a break in a while.  We haven't actually been on a date in about six and a half months.  We have gone out for coffee a couple times for an hour or less while Kay was on ACTH, but that's the extent of it.  Fortunately, we are getting one this Saturday!  Couldn't have come a moment sooner!  We are going on a 5 hour wine tasting event on Saturday for a friend's birthday.  We are taking a limo to a few different wineries.  Ahhh...no children, no ABA, no tantrums (at least I hope not).  I can't wait!  Most important it will give my husband and I a chance to socialize with other couples as a couple.  It will give us some quality time together, doing something other than raising children, working and keeping a house.

2 comments:

JSmith5780 said...

I think having SN kids really takes its toll on you..

You THINK?!?! I KNOW!! And it really takes it's toll on your marriage. At least ours. Add into that all my husband's overtime and we have been bickering constantly. It stinks, for us, for the kids, but we'll get past it. I am so glad you and your husband got out for the day (even if you got food poisoning!). It's nice to be an adult sometimes and just forget about the SN, the ABA and all that.

Jen

Shanna Grimes said...

Sorry to hear you've been having a rough go lately. For the most part, my marriage has gotten stronger, but we do need to spend more time as a married couple and not just being "firefighters". That's usually the way I describe a day in the life to a non-SN parent. As you know, SN kids have lots of issues. Some things are fought by preventative measures, some wild fires have to be hosed down head on, and some are just controlled burns :) My hub and I make a great team. I am the crew chief and he is the lieutenant. I'm with the kids all day, so he pretty much just backs me up with everything and helps where we need it. That's what works for us. He's my rock. He always inserts logic into all my illogical rants and he is a wonderful listener. We also follow the only one person is allowed to be crazy at a time rule (usually me).

It was nice to get out and talk about normal things and just have fun enjoying each other the way we did before the kids. We definitely need to do it more often.