appreciation week

A truly heartwarming update for anyone who could use one... here are a couple of highlights to our week that will serve as a reminder of the power of good...

So this was Teacher Appreciation Week and on Monday when Hayden's weekly school packet was delivered-- (yes, during this pandemic the Educational Services Commission actually has a bus deliver schoolwork to our home every week--) there was a card in it. Specifically, a thank you card with a gift card, and the note from his teacher read in part, "Happy Teacher Appreciation... I feel you are the teacher to be appreciated!"

A gesture that I have few words for, but will always remember how her words made me feel. I was almost as grateful for it as I was frustrated that she didn't use that gift amount for herself instead, but either way the sentiment is just one of many examples of the generous and kindhearted (almost to a fault) kind of person that she is. Hayden's first two teachers in elementary school were both the kind of teachers you would literally handpick for your kid if you could. In the simplest of terms, two different people with the perfect balance of teaching, nurturing, and advocating. And for Hayden to be paired with a third teacher of that caliber yet again... I can only say we continue to count our lucky stars.

So the next highlight of our week was actually something that would make Hayden feel how I did.

While I don't have a photo to accompany this scene, in the early evening rain last night our son stood patiently on our front lawn. He had a whole bunch of stuff from his shed lined up curbside, because he wanted to have a yard sale. We are eight weeks into these stay-at-home orders and what can I say, he was having a day. He is a very young child in the body of a young man-- a teenager with a voice that seems to get deeper every week, while developmentally he is just a little kid. If you're new to my blog Hayden was born with a genetic condition called fragile x syndrome. FXS is the most common inherited form of intellectual impairment and so far, the only known single gene cause of autism when there is a dual diagnosis.

So the semi-pretend* yard sale fixation carried over to today (*including some items he would not actually want to part with). He was out front with a rusty old wheelbarrow, an antique car jack, a grocery store shopping basket, an empty popcorn tin, a couple of hand trucks, a Regular gasoline sign, a small stop sign, an old bike helmet, a two-seater seat from a child-size electric dune buggie, a bin attachment for a ride-on mower, and a red wagon. Plus a few other miscellaneous items.
I posted a short video of his merchandise on facebook and captioned it (in part) to say that this was one of the very few times in my life that I almost wish we didn't live on such a quiet, no-through street tucked about as far up in the neighborhood as you can get from the main road. Hashtag #AnybodyWannaDoADriveby

We live in northwest NJ and my sister in NY state called me when she saw the post. She asked if should could talk to Hayden and buy something from his yard sale. I hesitated because she wouldn't really be there, or be coming to get the stuff, and that might not sit well with him. She had shown the post to my no-social-media brother-in-law, who then overheard our phone conversation, and spontaneously decided to drive out and shop Hayden's yard sale. 

He left with the seat, the helmet, the jack, the tin, and an inflatable easel (not pictured above).
He also paid Hayden for each item. 

That's the half that'll get you right at your heartstrings but the other half will give you a chuckle... because after he shopped Hayden's sale he stuck around to do some yard work and mowed part of our lawn! There he is way in the distance! 

For hours after he left, nearly every few minutes Hayden squealed about his uncle showing up and how he had such a good sale. 

The noteworthy cherry on top to this day was when our neighbor donated to his cause with an awesome road sign...

and donated to our household with fresh bialys from the city.

A week of appreciation indeed. Today would have been one of my late grandmother's 98th Birthday, and I choose to believe those who are departed are still with us. So I hope that even with some other concerns going on right now on that side of the family, just maybe all of this is making her heart smile too.

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Welcome to May(be)

If  the phrase "April showers bring May flowers" is translatable to life, then our last week of April was more like thunderstorms.

Post-pandemic, you know what phrase people are probably never going to say anymore? "This couldn't have happened at a worse time."

Last week, after tolerating an almost constant pressure of discomfort in my face for longer than I care to admit, I finally called my doctor because I was sure I had a sinus infection. I have only experienced this one other time in my life and once was memorable enough. After several failed attempts at a virtual visit because the app they told me to download was simply not working, we had to have an old fashioned phone conversation to try and diagnose me. One prescription of antibiotics later, and the pain across the top row of my teeth started to diminish as well as the splitting headache near the front of my forehead. My seasonal allergies were working hard to maintain the congestion in the center of my face but hey, at least the infection was being knocked out so when something in the air made me sneeze it improved from painful to just plain annoying.

I was looking forward to a good night's sleep (by good I mean better). But that would have to wait. In the middle of the night from Sunday into Monday, a sort of clanging noise in the kitchen woke me. I have an upright spoon rest next to the stove, near an oversized mason jar with cooking utensils. Odd, even waking up from a complete state of sleep, how I immediately suspected the sound to be the metal spoon rest hitting the glass mason jar. From the direction of the noise and the distinct sound, I had no doubt that's what I heard. I reluctantly hit the switch to turn on the lights in the back half of the kitchen and immediately spotted an enormous brown mouse scurrying under one of the stove burners! And I know it was enormous, because the doorway I was standing in has got to be about 25 feet from the damn stove. That concluded my plans for a good night's sleep.

So Dan set traps in the basement and the next day not only was the bait missing from them with no dead mice, but one of the traps was just gone. It has yet to resurface in case you were wondering, and also for several nights to follow the same thing happened with the bait. (You would think city mice would be more the Houdini-types versus their country counterparts.) So basically somebody is getting a nightly buffet in our basement and it's no wonder they keep coming back with that kind of hospitality. And in the meantime I am leaving the lights on in the kitchen every night because clearly they prefer to party in the dark.

The night after the mouse came to visit, around 3 o'clock in the morning, Hayden started banging his feet against his floor and yelling for me until I finally woke up and stumbled into his room. No mouse, just vomit everywhere. Because you know a stomach bug couldn't have come at worse time, right?

Fast forward a half a day or so, and between the mouse and stomach adventures, we had extra-disinfected countertops, a very sanitized floor in Hayden's room, and two machine-fulls of twice washed laundry just to make sure we got all the germs. Oh how I wish whatever the hell went through his system had attacked me instead, but we are grateful it left as quickly as it came. Within 36 hours he was at least 80% better-- (more than I can say for my mouse phobia, but--) incidentally just in time for the arrival of a surprise gift tin of popcorn from Grandma & Pop Z. All I can say is at least it's ready-to-eat and doesn't need to be microwaved because I believe ours broke this morning when sparks popped without any metal being inside of it. Haven't braved touching it since, but the popcorn was a tasty snack this evening.

Might as well add who could have known back in January, 2020 B.C. when we scheduled Hayden's next quarterly follow-up with the specialist who monitors his medication regimen, that the morning of our appointment (turned virtual) would be the same Thursday morning that all the stars had (almost) aligned for him to resume his virtual learning sessions which he had missed all week. With the exception of Monday morning which had been canceled by the provider, not the stomach bug. So we had one day of (the new) regular learning schedule this week.

Meanwhile when Hayden wanted to facetime his teacher this morning we caught her in the car on her way home from putting learning packets together for her students-- which all the teachers and therapists do every week for every student-- and instead of explaining to him that she'd call him back, she pulled over to do some of his worksheets with him. Have you ever! I'm all farklempt just thinking about it.

Albeit not enough to turn the light off in the kitchen.

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To be continued...