Welcome to the week from hell. Some days it doesn't matter what you do to make a difference, nothing will help because it's the weather's fault. It has rained every day for almost a month, and my kids have had enough already! Especially Ian. He has always needed sunshine to keep his moods in the happy range. Rain makes him intolerably blue.
The tricks we have for snapping him out of these moods are not working. Steve and I think the new medication, Geodon, has something to do with it. There is a new mouth-thing that he does, sort of like mouthing words he isn't saying aloud. He taps his finger tips together a lot now, something he never used to do. At the beginning of the week he seemed very stable and happy. Now he can jump off the deep end unexpectedly. When this happens, Steve and I look at each other, he rolls his eyes and I do the silent "oh, shit!" We take a deep breath and try to get Ian through this rant without any major damage occurring.
During the calm periods of the week - there have been a few - Ian and Ainsley have been playing with the Thomas and Friends train set almost non-stop. They build tracks and make up their own versions of the movie Thomas and the Magic Railway. Although neither of the kids seems capable of explaining why the sudden rejuvenated interest in this particular toy set, I have a couple of theories.
Thomas has always been a source of comfort to Ian in uncertain times. Before the initial diagnosis over three years ago, the trains were his obsession, the one thing he could talk about with authority. He could line them up and make them do the same thing over and over again. The Island of Sodor was his safe place. I remember one summer he begged us to take him there. We could not make him understand that it was an imaginary place, that it didn't really exist beyond the table in our playroom. He cried. He pleaded. He wanted so desperately to be among the trains that he understood and that most certainly understood him. I think that now, as Ian is experiencing chemical changes in his body because of the Geodon, perceptual changes of the world in what should be a calmer state of mind, and the uncertainty of a long summer with camps, vacations, down time, and the wonderment of second grade before him, Ian is retreating back to the Island of Sodor where he knows stability and comfort. Life is simpler there, and he can control what happens. Actually, I wouldn't mind joining him.
Now that Ainsley is not only interested in the trains but also capable of participating in the creation of stories, Ian has a ready playmate who is eager to please. She defers to his knowledge and goes along with his ideas most of the time. But get out of the way where Lady is involved. Nothing starts a fight between the two of them quite like possession of the "Lost Engine" who runs on gold dust.
This morning Steve and I heard quiet coming from upstairs and were unsure if this was cause for alarm or celebration. So we poured two bowls of cereal and took them to the media room where the kids were sitting in the dark watching "The Thomas Movie". As we were leaving the room, we realized they had started watching at the last 10 minutes of the story. Ian said it was so they could watch the chase scene. Oh, brother! Guess they needed a refresher so they could recreate the destruction for real.
Then Steve and I looked at each other, and both of us thought simultaneously, "We have 10 minutes. . .get downstairs. . .FAST!"
It's funny how you learn to take advantage of those moments.
2 comments:
I hope you took advantage of those minutes!!!
Thomas is a huge part of our lives too! Interestingly Thomas had faded here but is back full steam lately as well!
I wonder, too, if the huge amount of rain we have been getting is reminiscent of our days in the Northeast, where it seemed gloomy all the time. Ian was introduced to Thomas then, and played with the trains almost constantly back then. Perhaps the wet weather reminds him of the good ol' Thomas Days.
Post a Comment