Z is for Zoo

Z is for Zoo.  We took a road trip last week to the Hattiesburg Zoo as a babysitting excursion with my niece.  It was a good bit of a drive over (almost 2 hours due to thunderstorms), but once we got there, the skies cleared and though everything was wet, it turned into a nice day.  By the end of the day, the skies were bright blue and it wasn't too terribly hot, even though we were all sweaty and nasty due to the humidity.  Even though we were an hour and a half inland, it was still sticky wet and the air was straight up heavy.  However, over the course of the four hours we spent at the zoo, the kids had a blast.  The zoo wasn't the largest or the first zoo the kids have visited, but it was a pleasant trip with very little bickering between the kids.  In fact, I can't think of a single snafu between the kids.  Yes, they had their moments, but nothing more than a little whining.  I am very proud of how all the kids acted, even Apollo.  However, we have learned that we are also dealing with a potentially dangerous symptom - wandering.  Watching four kids in a zoo is a little ambitious and Apollo wandered away from me more than once.  Thankfully, he was never far, but it was a slightly terrifying moment to turn back from helping one child to find that the one who just right next to you has wandered off - especially when that child doesn't understand normal boundaries.  He was located very quickly both times he wandered off, but I am considering a kid leash for him.  Maybe not one of the backpack variety (though I do have one for the three year old who tends to be a runner), but maybe a wrist leash like I had as a kid.  I remember it, so I am sure I was at least five the last time it was used and I don't fault my parents one bit.

The kids really enjoyed the bug playground.  In fact, they would have stayed there absolutely all day had I let them.  They also loved the train, which we saved for the last part of our regular tour of the zoo, right before our picnic.  Their favorite animals were the Galapagos Tortoise, Peacock, Lemur and Zebras.  They also liked the petting zoo, where they got to pet African pigs and goats.  Also seen - tigers, alligators, flamingos, a giant anteater, a coatamundi  and prairie dogs along with lots of snakes, birds and lizards.  Overall, it was a lovely little excursion which ended with a fun trip to the splash pad located inside the zoo!  There was even a hurricane simulator there that we used as a fun dryer.  The splash pad excursion lasted over an hour and the final exhibit was the gift shop.  It was also the most tension of the entire day.  Adrianne quickly settled on a tiger and Orion found a tortoise and decided that was what he wanted, even though he had been talking nonstop about the snakes.  So when Apollo also wanted the tortoise, I tried to convince Orion to get a snake instead and that began an argument between them that lasted fifteen minutes.  I finally convince Apollo to get a snake, and he is now in love with it.  So in the end, we brought home Ringo the Lemur, Spike the Tortoise and Kaa the Snake.  Tricky the Tiger went home with Adrianne. The kids got a little whiny on the drive home, but it was over an hour and a half home after being at the zoo all day, so it wasn't totally unexpected and I would do it again - but with a leash for my little wanderer.

Z is for Zzzzz.  It is now June and the temperature outside is already reaching the level of ridiculousness.   Since the boys have consistently been coming inside smelling like they just came from a barn, I decided it was time for our annual summer buzzcuts.  You can see Apollo's above a little bit, but it is so much more obvious with a before and after picture.  He was a little hesitant about it and he hates the sound the clippers make, but thankfully this is typically a once-a-year type thing for him.  His hair is thick and when it gets long, it gets super stinky when he sweats.   His hair is going to be a pain in the neck by the end of summer due to his double cowlick, but for the next couple of months, we can take hair-brushing off our long list of getting dressed necessities since he takes forever to get ready as it is right now.

Z is for Zip.  Following the zoo trip, we opened the OAP Waterpark in our backyard.  My dad and I built the boys a homemade waterslide and splash pad.  We also have a family swimming pool that I got last year on deep discount.  It isn't a deep one, but it was nice to cool off in while the sun was heating things up.  Even Phoenix was fearlessly sliding down the waterslide into a homemade retainer pool at the bottom - last year's stained, leaky family pool.   The boys played for over an hour before momma decided it was time to go inside and get ready for dinner, but there were very few squabbles - mostly over who got to slide down on which kickboard and who got to play water basketball.  Overall, it was a fun time had by all and they are already requesting to do it again!  I told them they have to let the yard recover for a while before we can do it again, but I know I now have a useful bargaining chip for getting chores done!

F is for Family

F is for Family.  We had a family reunion on Dauphin Island, which was an obvious cause for concern.  Obviously, I wanted Apollo to be able to connect with family that he doesn't always get to see, but I worried that his social anxiety may rear its ugly head, or worse - that we would have a total and complete meltdown and be stuck an hour from home with people who aren't familiar with Apollo and would essentially come across as strangers to him.  I was less concerned with the adults, as he seems to be okay with most people who are grown - it's strange children he freaks out around.  There ended up being 11 kids under the age of 18 there, including Apollo and he was familiar with 6 of them, so there were only 4 strange kids.  In the best interest of everyone involved, I gave Apollo an extra Melatonin to take the edge off and reminded him that everyone there was a cousin.  Success!  The magic word! I admit I could become tempted with this special word to get Apollo to feel more comfortable with every strange child, but then it would lose its effectiveness and I absolutely don't want that.  So Apollo is willing to let down his guard for family in general, even strange family, and I will leave it at that - only actual cousins can be cousins. He did start to get agitated early in the day, but he crawled under the couch cushions and took a short little nap and he was much more relaxed afterwards - he even played a little bit of tag with some of the cousins. 

F is for Frolic.  After hanging out with the extended family for several hours, we downsized back to my aunt's condo and took the kids to the beach.  With it being just the "super six" that Apollo is used to, all of his walls crumbled down and he acted much like a normal child would.   Well, as normal as Apollo gets anyway.  He had so much fun digging in the sand, sticking his toes in the surf and finally diving into the waves.  I had to make sure that Apollo stayed in the super-shallows as he doesn't know how to swim yet, but he was content enough to sit in 4 inches of water and splash and giggle.  The kids spent over 30 minutes doing this - just diving into the water and splashing like they didn't have a care in the world.  Even little Phoenix was getting into the action.

F is for Finally.  As in we finally have our glasses!  They came in this week, so we swung by and picked them up - and let the chaos begin.  He is NOT happy about them.  In fact, I would even hazard to guess that he hates them - mostly.  I do think he is getting better with them now that he realizes he can actually SEE with them on, but it is going to be a long uphill battle to normalize the glasses with him.  Orion was simpler, but I think his vision is a bit worse than Apollo's, so the glasses made a bigger difference for him.  So far, I think we are looking mostly at astigmatism and (hopefully) not a serious one.  The good news is that with the glasses on properly (and him not snatching them off his face every two minutes), he can read 1/2 inch print from his lap.  I will take that any day!  Plus, he looks super cute and studious with them on.  He was disappointed he couldn't have blue ones, but I didn't want Orion and him to mix up their glasses, since their prescriptions are vastly different.  As a compromise, he got the same glasses, but in gunmetal gray.

F is for F@*k Up.  To wrap up this week's recap is going to one of the more irritating moments of my LIFE.  I am normally even-keeled, extremely patient and have found myself able to handle more of people's bulls&$% than most.  That probably comes from being dealt a mediocre hand and making it work.  Learning to cope with and help Apollo conquer his condition has bred a sense of control I never thought I would have.  Don't get me wrong, I lose my cool - all the time and over silly things.  But when it really counts, I am almost always able to calm myself and keep it inside... to play nice.  However, Apollo's doctor caused me to slip over that thin line between calm and chaos - he screwed up Apollo's medication.  In fact, he sent over the wrong prescription!  When I noticed Apollo was out, I immediately ran up to Wal-Mart to pick up the refill of his new dosage.  However, the doctor sent over the wrong prescription and insurance wouldn't authorize it.  First thing the next morning, I began calling the doctor - and calling and calling and calling.  I left so many messages I could recite them in my sleep!  A whole day and nobody could manage to pick up a phone and return the message of a mother whose child was out of medication and was unable to pick up more.  So he missed his first dose that night.  The pharmacist assured me that missing one dose wouldn't be detrimental to his well-being, so I sucked it up and took Apollo to the doctor's office the next morning for his rescheduled therapy appointment - only to find out it had been cancelled AGAIN.

Apollo has not seen his therapist since he started medication over 2 months ago.  Now I am even more frustrated, but decided that since I was in the office, I would get the medication issue sorted out then.  I demanded they fix it, they assured me they would and I got a call around 10 AM that they had sent over the right prescription.  Again, I go to Wal-Mart only to find out that that pharmacy is out and they had to transfer it to another store.  Then comes the doozy - the other store won't fill the prescription because the medication Apollo has been put on (which has been a lifesaver!) isn't even supposed to be prescribed for kids under 6!  Apollo was FOUR when it was prescribed.  It works so well for him though that I lost my cool a bit with the pharmacist and told him to tell me what I needed to do to get my kid his medication because missing a second dose and coming off of the medication abruptly could cause rebound hypertension, which is without saying, a potentially dangerous situation.  In the end, I went out for a THIRD time in one day to attempt to get his medication (with a migraine - hello auras!), apologized to the pharmacist for letting mama bear out of her cage, was reassured that they understood but were just covering themselves from any lawsuits, signed a waiver that I understood he wasn't supposed to be prescribed this medication, left a nasty voicemail for the supervisor at the doctor's office and FINALLY got Apollo's prescription with the reassurance that I won't have to sign another waiver and next time will be easier.  It had better be - sometimes it can be a little difficult to put mama bear back in her cage once you set her free.

G is for Glow in the Dark

G is for Glow in the Dark.  We have had an extremely wet Spring around here and thus, one of the boys' soccer games got rained out.   In order to make it up, the park decided to do a glow-in-the-dark game at night to provide something fun for the kids.  In true ballpark fashion, it was utter chaos!  Nothing out of the ordinary, but again, the coach didn't bother to show up and only two of our kids came to the game.  So they joined another team and all 4 teams played a big scrimmage game with all the kids playing at once.  Somehow these kids, who normally whine after 15 minutes, played 35 minutes straight before taking a break.  Of course, when they DID take a break, the kids lost all interest in the game and just wanted to chase each other all over the football field where they play.  Nothing else new.  What WAS new?  Apollo paid attention to the coach, played as a team with the other kids AND scored one of the two goals that won the game for his "team."  Yes, my baby scored a GOAL.   G is for GOAL! And he did it with purpose, not on accident.  He kicked the ball 3/4 of the way down the field, dribbled it and kicked it into the goal, past the goalie!  It was a proud mama moment, even though I only heard it - it was dark and hard to see the kids aside from their glow sticks.

G is for Graduation Party.  As in Orion's, since Apollo is not yet in school.  In Mobile County, they don't celebrate anything aside from high school graduation, which I have always disliked.  It was that way when I went to school too, but I didn't know any different then.  I do now.  My Facebook feed this week has been blowing up with pictures of sweet little 6 years old in graduation gowns and I admit, I stomped my foot and decided to do my own thing for Orion.  So we got balloons, we decorated the house and we went to Chuck E Cheese for pizza and games.  The kids LOVE Chuck E Cheese and we generally make it there about four times a year, for various reasons.  Usually, it's because that's how long it takes for me to save up spare dollars to pay for it.  Apollo had a blast - he danced at the show, scarfed down pizza and Pepsi, played in the tubs (with both brothers and very few arguments) and ran around like a maniac playing games.  He even sat somewhat still to get his picture "taken" at the sketch book machine and got himself an "access card."  He gave both machines the "stink eye" but it was an improvement over the last dozen times he's been.  He even ran up to Chuck E, gave him a high five and took a pretty awesome picture with him.  All without a single moment of meltdown.  Progress! 

G is for Grandmama.  Those of you who have been reading for a while know that Grandmama is Apollo's best friend and we have recently begun his weekly trips to visit again.  I dropped him off today as normal and returned to get him two and a half hours later.  Grandmama swears he behaved, but I have my doubts.  He and Orion fought before AND after his detour to Grandmama's house, but maybe he did behave himself for his best friend.  I know he ate like his normal self - peanut butter and jelly and who knows what else.  Kid eats from the moment he walks in the door to the moment he walks out.  I love that he gets the time to visit with her though.  It does generally help him, especially in regaining his footing in this crazy world of emotions.