Christmas

What a December. Most of it was spent with me dealing with possible employment. In the middle of the month, the employment was acquired and I'm very thrilled though very busy. There's an odd connection to my employment and my dad though and its karmic I think. Cosmic resonance? I'm not sure.

I work in the technical support industry so I'm often utilized at companies where I'm not an actual employee but a contracter. The headquarters for my company is in Indianapolis, where my dad lived for quite a few years before he passed away. When I trained for three days for my new job, I flew down to Indy. The actual site that I work at is in Green Bay and before my dad moved onto government work, he was a security guard at the building I work in. And there are people there who remember him. Knowing he walked those halls is strangely comforting especially this time of year. I've been a bit of a grouch about Christmas for awhile now and getting a job just in time for Christmas put me in a better mood.

Christmas Eve I worked until 1 and then picked up my brother. My work is only a mile away from both John's group home and Angie's day program. John was really good, mostly happy and kind of tired. He dozed on the couch for a couple hours before I woke him up to go to the bathroom and have dinner. Mom fed him dinner and another bathroom break, then his meds with ice cream.

Angie isn't always thrilled when John comes home but we balanced it fairly well Christmas eve and both kids were happy. The next morning was a little more challenging.

John had diarrhea and my poor mom had to clean it up from his bed, to the couch, through the kitchen and to the bathroom. Then he was mostly good for the morning but as long as he could see food from Noon on, he was just obsessed and frustrated. His other acting out in the morning was to pull out my sister's crayon/pen box and toss them all over the floor. Of course my sister wasn't impressed when she had to pick them up!

I woke up a little later and we did have a pretty decent Christmas. Really about 80% was good. I sing the song 'Bicycle Built For Two' to John and it seems to make him laugh/calm him down. Then I tickled my sister Angie and brought her mood back up. By 2:00pm though, John was getting more irritated and the weather was getting more unpredictable so I took him back to the group home around 3:00pm. Of course, not before he wet the couch.

When I took him back, I talked to one of his caretakers and they mentioned that he'd been more aggressive about pulling hair (ie he's feeling better and not sick) and also that they notice the obsession with food. Also that they need to do bathroom tries every 2 hours because he's just not letting anyone know he has to go. Part of it is his medication, I know. But its hard knowing there was a time when he was fully potty trained. No night or day accidents. We'll have to try and come up with ideas to deal with the aggressiveness and the potty issues. But, he's still overall pretty happy and is apparently doing very well at his Day Program.

Angie was glad to see John go home and to have me spend the rest of the day with her plus most of Saturday with her. She's been a little put out because I've been gone or exhausted with the new job and not giving her very much attention.

So that's life in our little world. Day by day.