I had bought a gift, wrapped it, and put in on the desk in our office. I wanted to deliver it today but I couldn't find it anywhere. I called and asked Doc if he had seen it and he hadn't . I thought maybe one of the girls moved it when they were doing crafts in the room so I looked around the house but still no luck. And what I was hoping wouldn't be, must be. Alex is the only one who would not ask what a gift was for or who it was for, he would just open it. But this time is seems he hid it too. I finally found it in a closet - the ripped wrapping paper was still there, the box was open with the clothes stuffed back in and the baby toy that was in the box too, Rocco grabbed and ran off with as soon as he spotted it on the floor. He had put a board game on top of it, probably to hide it. Nice, always on my toes....

Alex was up all night last night. He actually started in my bed because I had some friends over last night and it was easier to let him start there than have him come down stairs to keep looking for me. He was too heavy for me to move so I let him stay, figuring he might just sleep soundly since he loves my bed so much - wrong! He was up every 30-40 minutes and kept asking me to rub his back to help him fall back to sleep. Then at 4:30 this morning, our conversation went something like this,"Mom, what time is it?" I told him it was 4 in the morning, too early. "Is today Thursday?" I told him yes, still too early, go back to sleep." Am I buying lunch today?" Yes, but not for hours, lay back down. " Is it going to be sunny today?" I think so, but again, not for a while so lay down. "Where's Rocco?" Sleeping with Olivia I told him, don't bother them. "What time is it now?" Obviously time for me to slip him a sleeping pill - just kidding. So on top of a sleepless night, it looked as if he was going to have a bad listening day too. Anything I ask him not to do, he does, and his knee jerk response is always, "sorry" with an attitude, like I am putting him our by telling him to stop misbehaving.

I told him not to go get Rocco from Liv's room, he did. He is not supposed to pick him up and carry him, he did, all the way out of her room and down the stairs. He is not supposed to let him out without a leash on, and he did. The list goes on and on. It was so early I decided to take him with me for a ride and get some coffee again, give the girls a little more time to sleep, so we left. As soon as we got back, he was at it again with the dog, so I put him in his room and told him to stay there until I came to get him. I heard him say that he was leaving this house, that I am a mean mom, so I popped back in and told him not to even think of packing anything up, that he needed to leave his room the way it was. You know what he said? "It's my room mom, I can if I want to. You can't always tell me what to do." Oh yeah? Sometimes I want to laugh so hard because the way he says these things are so funny, and the fact that he is saying them is so funny, but I can't. So you know how people always say that kids with Down Syndrome are so sweet, such angels - clearly that is a fallacy. Don't get me wrong, Alex is a doll, sweet and caring, but just like any other child, he has an edge to him that most people are surprised to see. Just ask his bus driver, Dan, who laughs at him every day, and can't believe how in tune with the world he is. I am glad he is high functioning and is so aware of things, but it certainly comes at a price!

We were out of coffee last night, and I was too tired to go to the store, so I planned to get up early and get some. Of course Alex was already up, so I told him if he got dressed he could come with me to the drive thru for coffee. He asked why we weren't going to the grocery store for the coffee and I told him it was too early, so he went to get dressed. He came back downstairs in a button down dress shirt, a sweater vest, tie, and a zip up sweater over that. To complete the outfit he put winter boots on over his sweat pants. When I asked him why he was dressed up like that just to run out in the car he said, "You never know who we might meet mom. I want to look good." He has a point.....

I order my coffee at the speaker, and as I am about to drive to the window to pay Alex shouts, "Hey lady, can you add an ice cream sundae to that?" Seriously? She heard him too, and answered, "we don't serve ice cream this early, sorry." Kind of embarrassing, but he thought it was so funny.

I had to pick up Olivia and her friend from acting class last night, so Alex and Bella came with me. I had the usual talk with Alex about being good and listening while we were waiting for them to finish, which of course didn't work. As soon as we get there, instead of sitting down in the seats to wait like everyone else, he sits for about 3 seconds and then gets up and walks right into the middle of the group in front of the stage. As I am following him calling his name to stop, I can see Olivia's look of horror as she mouths ,"no, stop him" to me. So I take him by the hand and tell him he can't do that, just walk into a class when it is not over yet and we go to sit back down. He sits in the row in front of me and is kind of leaning on the seat in front of him. There is a boy from Liv's class at school sitting in the row in front of Alex, one seat to the left. He turns around a couple of times and looks at Alex, then moves over two more seats to the left. Really? Why do people, kids, have to be like that? First I wanted to smack him in the back of the head, then I wanted to educate him, then I wanted to cry. But I took a deep breath and let it go. I thought of Olivia and figured she would not be happy. It's always something, I wish I had a tougher shell and didn't let things get to me - maybe someday....

Not a great start to the day today. Since the time change Alex has been up off and on all night long. Last night it was almost every hour he was up, saying he couldn't sleep, what time is it, can he get up and watch tv or play downstairs, etc. At 4:45 this morning he was sitting up in my bed and had been asking for about 20 minutes if he could get up and play. I kept telling him no, that it was still way too early and to wait a little while longer. Do you want to know what he did? This is pretty embarrassing for me to write, but this is what life is like with Alex, so here goes....He says, "mom, what is wet in here? The bed is wet right here." I immediately sat up and felt around him - he was naked from the waist down and had peed in my bed purposely. Are you kidding? I am so freaking tired at this point, all I want is some sleep, and I don't even know how to respond to him. I told him to get up and I had to strip the bed right away since it was soaked. "Why would you do this? You don't ever pee the bed. Why would you take your pants off and go right on my sheets?" Of course he said, "Sorry mom. But I wanted to get up and you wouldn't let me. Now I have to get up so you can change the bed. So, I'm going downstairs now, ok?" So not ok. I want to cry at this point, not because of the pee, because I am so damn tired I just don't know what it will take for me to get a good night sleep. How am I supposed to be patient and kind with the kids when I am running on empty all of the time? So I made him help me bring the sheets downstairs and do the laundry, told him he is not allowed in my bed again unless the world was coming to an end and went t make my coffee. As I write this, he is sitting on the floor next to me whining and yelling already because he is just as tired as I am. Let's cross our fingers for a good day.....

FUNNY: Alex came running to me first thing this morning saying, "Mom, mom, blue pee, what does it mean? What does blue pee mean?" Blue pee? I asked him what he was talking about. He said, "I just went the bathroom and my pee in the toilet is blue! What does it mean? Am I sick?" I started laughing so hard he actually got upset."It's not funny!" I had put toilet cleaner in the toilets last night and it turned the water blue.......

NOT SO FUNNY: Alex let Rocco out without a collar or a leash on - there was a big pack of wild turkeys out in the woods and it took me 30 minutes to lure him back inside in my pj's and no shoes on. When I told Alex never to let him out again without a leash on because he is not trained well enough yet, he replied, "Chill out mom, he's only a puppy." Not so funny....

I know most people enjoy the extra hour of sleep when we turn the clocks back - does nothing for me. The lighter it is in the morning, the earlier Alex will be up. Like this morning, wow it was early, and cold! I let him play in the office for a bit while I waited for coffee, and I smelled it as soon as I entered the room - he had a big accident in his pants. In about 5 seconds I go through a crazy rash of emotions - how does a kid this smart still poop his pants, anger that he doesn't even try to get up and use the bathroom, sadness that we have made no progress with this issue, ticked off that I know he will say the same thing he always does, "sorry mom." etc. Anyway, he went to get the things I needed to change him and I asked him to leave Rocco out of the room while we cleaned him up because I knew he would be sniffing around and making things harder. So of course Alex doesn't listen and lets him back in the room and sure enough while I am juggling wiping him up, holding the garbage bag and trying to keep the puppy away from his bare ass, I get poop on my shirt. Now this isn't like getting baby poop on you, this is hearty 10 year old poop, what's better than that at 5:30 a.m.? He asks me what happened and I told him that his not listening caused my shirt to get dirty, and you know what he says, "Nice mom, nice,...bravo!" He is so lucky I am not quicker on my feet yet, only had about 2 sips of coffee in me now.
Alex knows he needs to throw the trash bag we use into the garbage can in the garage when we are done, so he went to do this while I washed up and changed. He then came to tell me that he had been in a rush because it was so cold in the garage that he threw the dirty poop bag into the large recycling can. So now I get to go dumpster diving basically and sift through for the small plastic bomb. You know how they say if you want something done yourself???? Oh, and he had used the bathroom when he first got downstairs, so when I went in to wash up slipped on a wet floor covered in yup, you guessed it, pee. See, he thinks it is funny sometimes to sit on the toilet and just see where the pee goes if he doesn't hold it down. so now I have to wash the bathroom floor. Sometimes I feel like that old army commercial, I get more done by 9 a.m. than most people do all day.....Happy Saturday!!