Mom's Turn !!

I may have mentioned this before, my Son (6 1/2) is somewhat quirky. He has physical sensitivities, and several ocd issues that change as much as the weather. he takes every word very literally.

Some days, these are amusing quirks- like when he explodes indians in the basement.

other days, well, not so much.
Like when it takes 2 hours to put ONE sock on six times because the seams rub his toes.
or when we go through trying on every pair of jeans he owns 10 minutes before the bus arrives.

No doubt, thats my boy, he is who he is. we deal with the quirks, we laugh at the funnies, we stay extremely patient in the wirlwind of meltdowns.

This very morning, Son had a meltdown. several actually. Though they tend to come and blend into the next so quickly its diffiicult to tell where on ends and the next begins.

We started with a salad of "which jeans to wear". (I learned to make sure he gets dressed FIRST on a school day, before anything else. he's usually up early anyway) too dark, too long, those are church pants, those are too itchy, these too hard to button.
I keep my cool, go through the motions and finally we find jeans he'll wear. whew!

the appetizer is a breakfast crisis. the boy has forgotten where the spoons are, and is YELLING about it, while touching every one of them in the drawer. . . what ?!
yes.

for entree' , the major delimma was getting him to leave the dog alone. on nice mornings I walk her with us to the bus. she looks forward to it, and on days I don't take her, has her own form of meltdown. this morning was one of the latter. foggy and wet out,no way. we're driving to the bus. sorry gal. the kids know that playing with her before we leave her is a no-no in a big way.
once he knew we weren't taking her today, the boy had her going. running figure eights around the couch at full speed.
sigh.
I put the dog outside, find the NASA channel to amuse the kid for the 5 minutes before we leave for the bus.

ah yes. dessert. I getthe kids' snacks for school ready, a baggie of popcorn each. son flips out in a big way. "i HATE popcorn!!"
um, not the last time you ate it.
"well I do!! it smells bad!"
oookay then boy, what is it you'd like?
cookies.
call me bad for trying, but fine, take the cookies.

off to the bus. WHEW!

I got to thinking about how the particulars of these meltdowns change, and how suggesting solutions almost seems offensive sometimes. how on earth do I show him what its like to be on this side?

I decided it was mommy's turn to have silly meltdowns.
I decided I don't want anything to do with the color black today. don't want to touch it, walk on it, feel it, smell it taste it, nothing. I planned to use the same complaints I hear, being silly (so as to not be hurtful !) but to get the point across - yes I understand the Quirks, but this is what you do to me, a little help?"

I met the kids at the bus wearing the same black shirt i wore this am. and rubbed and pulled at it all the way home, tugging at the tag, grunting and moaning. dumb ol itchy fuzzy black.

son gives me a weird look. says nothing.

when we get home, I avoid the black area rugs in the kitchen and dining room. now Daughter is giving me looks.
more rubbing and grunting and pulling.

when i poured coffee into a mug with black trim, and held the mug oh, so carefully so as not to touch the black, Daughter asks "mom? is your mug broken?"

"no. it has black on it."

more looks. they are thinking about it now. Son has an odd lopsided grin on his face. I think he may be onto me.

I step on a brown strip of rug to get to the chair.
rub the shirt some more.

Daughter asks if they can go out n ride bikes.

"um, uh, i dunno if we should really, if i go out the sun makes this shirt more fuzzy." (its a cotton Tshirt!)
what?

at that moment the giant black and brown dog decides to put her two cents in and lick me.
"eeek! " i run to the sink and scrub.

Son has it now. its funny. those big ol browns are watching and waiting for whats next.

daughter says " whats wrong with black?? "

I tell her I don't like it anymore. Black smells funny.
Son giggles. quick quiet little giggle.

Daughter tells me to change me shirt.
"noooo! then i have to do more laundry!!"
but we want to go OUT Mom!!

but i'll be sooo itchy! its like red ants biting and burning and the fuzzies are so itchy!!

Daughter gets up and goes to the bedroom.

Son comes to me and says "oh Mom, i'm wearing black pants, and i'm gonna hug you so big it'll be fine. "
cute, but not working boy.
i get my big ol hug, and commence to itching my legs.
he holds my arms.

Daughter return wit ha green shirt from my dresser.

I go into a panic ,yelling and whining "but i CAN'T wear THAT one !! its GREEN!"

yea mom, its not black. just put it on so we can go out.

"BUT GREEN TASTES LIKE ORANGE AND I WON'T WEAR IT!!!

hehe we all have a giggle, and even as i'm giggling , i prepare to throw myself on the floor.

Son gets in front of me again and says " Mama, you just have to go in there and find a shirt you WILL wear to take us outside then. "
He says this in exactly the same tone I use on him. the exact words I use on him as well.

then, he stands with hands on hips, and says " mama, we really do want to go out, pleeease go find a good shirt. we'll even wait, but hurry ok?"

stinker playin me like a fiddle.

although, since this little adventure began, he has been catching himself from throwing more meltdowns at me . . . today anyway.

this is the stuff that keeps the nuthouse in biz.