My Twice Baked Potato

Many of you know that last week was a big week for my family.  I went back to work to teach Kindergarten (after 17 years at 1st grade) and my son started 2nd grade.  My son’s first day was fantastic!  He said it was a great day and we received a wonderful email from his new teacher.  The following two days didn’t start quite as smooth as the first, but both ended positively.  He was sharing more about school than ever before and we felt as though we were off to a great start!  That’s the good news…

What we were quickly reminded of is that my son’s ability to focus and maintain himself all week at school, means “recovery” will take place at home.

Friday night my son was ready for bed and voiced that he was very tired.  Suddenly and without warning, my son started screaming and crying.  He was grabbing his eye and screaming as if his eye was filled with glass.  After a few minutes, he was able to calm down enough to share that he had an eyelash in his eye.  He refused to let anyone near him and continued his high-pitch shrill.  For over an hour we attempted to calm him down, help remove the eyelash, convince him to try strategies himself and finally out of pure exhaustion he fell asleep.  Did I say that the “pure exhaustion” was felt by every family member?

Now, it is true that my son has extremely long and thick eyelashes.  We have had this happen before where several get folded up under the eyelid.  Most people would be able to maneuver them out quickly and be on their way but my TBP cannot.  The sensory piece plays a big part in this type of situation and  the fact that he was extremely tired created this explosion of emotions.

“Operation Eyelashes” was resumed at 4:30 in the morning when my son woke up and began the cycle again.  The anxiety and complaining began but was met with so much exhaustion that in mid sentence, he was asleep again.  I knew what we would be met with in the morning and was already dreading it.

As expected, my son woke up and the scenario started out where it had left off previously.  By this time, we were moving between empathy, frustration, and irritation. With the help of a warm towel, flashlight, eye drops and the fear of no Mine Craft due to temporary vision impairment, the clump of eyelashes were moved to their correct location.  We shared a collective cheer and ALL felt the relief that “Operation Eyelashes” was over.

Although this “emergency” is finished, there will be more.  We know that our weekends must be a slower pace for a while because the energy that goes into the school week drains my son.  We are pleased that he has the chance to recover at home where  there are no social implications of his actions and we allow him to return gracefully.

Since the eye incident this morning, we have been informed that there could be another “situation” brewing with a loose tooth that feels very uncomfortable and makes eating next to impossible.  Sigh…