paw prints

This was a rough week.

Sunday afternoon H was quite lethargic & had a decreased appetite. By Monday evening the pediatrician diagnosed him with a parainfluenza virus, & thus began the first of three days of medicine horror. As grateful as I am for health insurance & access to doctors & medicine & so forth... I am not so grateful for the experience of administering anything to a child with sensory issues.

But with everyone's help we got through the week-- Dan took off on Monday, Pop Z came to the rescue on Tuesday, Pop Z came to the rescue on Wednesday, then Thursday it was Grandma Suzi's turn, & in the afternoon Dan's parents were scheduled to take over next. But then there was a water main break in the neighborhood & our water was shut off.

I had already taken off work for something on Wednesday, & another thing Thursday morning. So during my thing two appointment Thursday morning, I get a text message from my father (who was not with Hayden) that my mom & Hayden were on their way back to their house. Which, I would soon learn, was because we had no water.

After my thing two appointment I headed to work. I was a good half hour away & it took most of the drive for my brain to process everything that had happened this week, remind myself what day it was, where I needed to be next, & who was with Hayden. 

Fast-forward hours later when it was time to leave the office, & I crossed my fingers that everything would be back to normal when I got home. But as I approached our neighborhood-- (the street off the main road has two outlets--) I saw that one side was still blocked off with cones. The men were still there working, though, so that was a good sign. And then I passed the guy who checks the water tower-- (don't ask me his official title, I have no idea--) & he confirmed they were in the process of turning the water back on. "Should be about another hour," he said. This was good news because Dan would be home with Hayden in less than two.

As I approached our front door I discovered a couple of boxes were delivered. I'm only mentioning because to add to the week we had, one of the boxes was already opened. Not like it-wasn't-sealed-well kind of opened, but more like someone-cut-the-tape kind of opened. I still have no idea what that was all about (& it's kind of creeping me out), but I communicated the issue to Amazon.

Shortly after that, I checked email. For four straight days I had been sending messages to the nurse & teacher with subject headers: "HC out ___day". Not that there is ever a good time to be sick, but this week was especially sigh-worthy. We were all set to start something new with H's schedule... part of our team-agreed approach to help him through the tough 3rd grade year he seems to be having. (A separate blog post, not right now.) 

The point was to help him with the transition before the upcoming, choppy holiday week.

So much for that.

Anyway, there was a new reply to my "HC out Thursday" email, from his special ed teacher. She was sending more get well wishes & added, "we'll miss you this afternoon."

Apparently whatever she was referring to, was not part of my brain's weekly recap during that drive back to work earlier in the day. But after a few minutes of thinking about "this afternoon", I glanced over at the adorable turkey flyer on the front of the refrigerator.

It had been up there for about a week-- the flyer for the annual Thanksgiving Feast. This is the November tradition for all of the younger "classmen" at the elementary school, & one that Hayden always looks forward to. He has been participating in it since preschool, & still does, since he spends part of his day in a special ed setting with students from different grades. And long story short, this year-- partially to benefit Hayden, specifically-- a couple of the smaller special ed rooms were going to combine classes for their Feast. I mean yes, to benefit all, but it was changes to Hayden's curriculum this year which actually prompted the idea.

These little moments at school have such big benefits for him-- socially, emotionally, & developmentally. They're the perfect type of settings to help him shine.

I, however, had it in my head that the Feast was not until next week. My heart sank when I re-read the flyer, & recalled the words in her email "this afternoon". Hayden would be devastated if he realized he was missing their Feast. I quickly tore the flyer down & threw it out. Then I sent an email to the teacher asking that they try not to bring it up, what to say if Hayden is the one to bring it up, how to downplay the fact that he missed the Feast, & what to focus on instead.

Next year will be his last one before he moves on to the middle school. I'll start my prayers early that he isn't sick for any holiday. Ugh. 

But before I complete this update, I do have some good news to share...

There is something we have been thinking about for a long time. Reasons including, but not limited to, the fact that I miss having a dog, we do not like that Hayden is usually afraid of them, & at the same time he often pretends to play with a dog-- so we know it's something he wants to be comfortable with. 

We finally just recently completed the application process for dog adoption, & it was quickly approved! We feel it is an appropriate time now to introduce the idea to Hayden. I think the benefit to him would be tremendous-- for his confidence, for a sense of responsibility, & for companionship.

We are actually meeting our first prospective new family member on Saturday morning. We have also inquired about meeting more, but one of the dogs is currently out of state & will not be in the area until after the new year. Another one has two other families interested ahead of us. But the kind people at the rescue agency are researching other potential matches for us in the interim. We are optimistic & excited... I grew up with dogs & after Dan & I got married, my sister's Harlee lived with us for about a year. That was pre-Hayden, but Harlee was still around when H was younger-- she passed away shortly after Hayden's 5th birthday. We're not sure if he remembers her except from us talking about Harlee, but I do believe this is going to be great for him.  

Hayden has already said he wants to call the dog Grover. We are trying to encourage him to wait until he meets him (OR HER) before settling on a name :)


... To be continued...

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