This morning, despite our normal reminders, timers and routine, it took me an additional 10 minutes to get Fletcher on for his morning meeting. It was clear he was not just done… but done done. He mustered through the usual morning song, greetings, calendar and sharing time with his class by taking a running start, propelling himself onto our ottoman, and then flipping from the ottoman to the couch all while listening, reciting and participating. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. All while Max requested his favorite snacks, also on repeat, and the dog wondered what kind of twilight zone he had entered. I was right there with him.
Max and I do his virtual meets together. He normally loves them, but today, he didn’t want anything to do with his normal routine either… and at one point just laid his head in my lap. He, too, was done done.
I was done done about four days ago and just knew the three of us couldn’t do this for the rest of today so I made the executive decision to institute a mandatory mental health day for the remainder of our Friday. It was a necessity.
We packed up, slid into the McDonald’s drive thru just in time to catch the tail end of breakfast (pancakes are one of Max’s only foods, so this was a treat for him), did a few curbside errands, waved at friends through their front window, got a little fresh air, and then ended up at my parents house. That wasn’t in the original plan, things just sort of evolved. After a mini meltdown on their kitchen floor (I sat down to take off my boots and just didn’t get up for a few minutes, ha!), hiding in the bathroom for a bit, taking the long route to deliver something to a friend and then playing a few hands of Gin Rummy with my parental units, I finally felt like my sanity was making a comeback…kind of.
Tonight we’re celebrating the start of a long weekend by having a movie night with part of our squad and getting Dairy Queen by DoorDash. And I’m not mad about it. Sometimes these long weeks require extraordinary measures to commemorate surviving and sometimes even thriving through the chaos.
Despite all of the challenges, we laughed a lot this week. Fletcher is becoming quite the comedian and I kind of love it.
Happy weekend, friends! May you, too, experience the kind of joy brought by DoorDashed Dairy Queen.