Mommy meltdowns

Ever have one of those days where you just want to scream? at your children?

All the time, but this was one of those days where I snapped. I confess, I yelled and had a hissy fit because my son with autism absolutely refused to get dressed.

He was running around the house in just his underwear, which under normal circumstances wouldn't have bothered me too much. Except the toilet in the bathroom he shares with his twin sister had overflowed...thankfully, it was just pee and not the other. Small favors, right?  And this wouldn't have been a big deal, if I hadn't noticed water dripping out of the kitchen cabinets and into my kitchen aid mixing bowl. Ewww! Gross!

So I had to empty the cabinets. In a way it was good to empty the cabinets because I really hadn't organized the cabinets since we moved into the house 9 1/2 months ago.

The leak was strange because only one shelf was wet, the bottom shelf.  Well, where is the water coming from. Oh no! It's coming from the other cabinet with the food.  Another small favor, it is not coming from that side.  I think it's flowing down the middle where the two cabinets connect.  That's just great, there is sewage water seeping through the second floor and inbetween the two cabinets. Oh joy!
He comes into the kitchen in just his underwear and I tell him for what seems like the upteenth time to: Put some clothes on!
"No!"

"no, really put some clothes on"

"No!"

"Did you just tell me 'no'?"

I threw a bag of carmel popcorn across the kitchen...he knew he was in trouble then...but he kept telling me no.  I yelled louder, he yelled louder.  He put his hands over his ears but was not willing to get dressed.  We yelled at each other as we climbed the stairs to his room.  Finally, we get to his room and he yells and tells me he is angry at me.  And I tell him, I'm angry at him for not getting dressed.  I go into his closet and found an easy to get on outfit... and he gets dressed.   This is not a good Mommy of Autistic Son moment. I realized how awful it must have been for him to have me fly off the handle like that. I didn't use any coping skills. I just screamed at him for not complying with my requests. I wanted him to be dressed in case I had a plumber come over or I needed him to go outside.

Finally, he calms down enough to tell me, he had come into the kitchen to complain that his Halloween costume had been moved from the bottom rack to the top rack. I told him I had moved it because it was so bulky, it took up too much room on the lower rack for his everyday clothes. So I moved it to the upper rack with his other costumes.  But it's Batman!
Yes, I understand, you want it closer to you but it takes up to much room on the lower rack.  Should we get rid of some of the clothes on the lower rack, to make room for your Batman costume?
He agreed we should, but he wasn't ready to cull his clothes right then.
And we haven't yet.

So he spent most of his day in a ready to fight mood.  He got mad at church coffee hour because there wasn't a water pitcher. Since I had the only two children at the church coffee hour, I just got two cups, added ice and was about to fill the cups with water from the faucet when he freaked out. He refused to drink water from the faucet, it had to be from a water pitcher. I was not going to that much trouble. His sister agreed to drink the water I offered her.  I finally just put his water filled cup on a table and walked away.  He got thirsty enough and drank it.

He went home with Daddy and "helped" fix the toilet.  I took Emma to a classmate's birthday party at  Pump It Up . Always a fun time at Pump it Up. All that jumping and climbing really wears a kid out. It gave me a chance to chill out.

When we got home, Dad was chilling with the boy watching Ice Age: Collision Course.  Nathaniel spent most of the movie cuddling with Dad.

After the movie, the kids rode there bikes and he had a little fall. I was wearing flip flops and couldn't run fast enough to get to him. In fact, one of our neighbors from across the street heard, N shouting and came over to see if he was okay.  I thought that was rather sweet. I explained to our neighbor "He fell off his bike, he's fine. he has sensory issues."
Welcome to my world.  I got N back on his bike and he gets irate that his sister took two objects off the swing. "it's not fair!"  "She's not being nice."  Well, they belonged to her, one was a part of her bike and the other was a pumpkin ball from her party bag.  "But I wanted it!"
"Oh sweetie, you need dinner, a shower and to go to bed"  Of course, he didn't like that.
But he eagerly at his ravioli, chocolate ice cream (very small bowl) but getting into the shower was just delay, after delay, after delay - although, it was nice of him to put his shoes in his closet and to put his clothes in the hamper - I wanted to yell, "get in the damn shower, already!" but I held my tongue.
And then he spent too much time running around the house naked. It is not amusing - well, maybe to him. But I found it annoying. And that's probably why he does it.