The Never Normal

So even though I’m not a super duper Catholic, I decided to give up soda for Lent this year.  Now you may be thinking “what the hell kind of sacrifice is that” but trust me, I love love love my “sodee” and even though it’s bad for me it’s about the only substance-vice I have left.

So at 11:59pm on Saturday, April 19th, I was all about cracking open a tall Mexicoke in a glass bottle and by 12:09 that baby was gone.  AHHHHHHH.  Then I went to bed.

Mom & I didn’t go see Boo that day because Andy brought him up on 4/20 for Easter.  Jonah’s been mostly rocking the good side of the pendulum, but for the past few days he has been kind of lethargic too.  I hate to say it and many of you will understand that while you do not in any way want your child to be ill or hurt-y in any way, a vaguely sleepy aggressive autistic kid can be a wonderful thing.  Magical lethargy.  There are nurses who check him every day, and he has a doc appointment coming up, so we weren’t too worried.

And so when Jonah first arrived, he’d had a good night’s sleep and had taken 2 naps the day prior, one with his dad on a visit and one at his residence.

Lethargy or no, he did bound up the steps to see grandma and me, though at first he whisked by us to see what’s new in the house.

The Easter bunny had left baskets at both my mom’s house and at mine, so Jonah sat contentedly on the counter, surrounded by ridiculous amounts of candy but reaching for none except the octopus my mom got him.

(I honestly have no idea how to get pictures off my phone, and yes I am that dumb.  Once I figure it out I’ll insert them in this post).

He was so funny.  Here he is with his pile o’ candy and chocolate, and he looks me straight in the eye and says, sweetly, brownie?

We didn’t have a brownie (I had brought him some homemade ones last week (homemade for me means making a mix out of the box), so he settled for car ride instead.   Either there were no trains running because of the holiday or we just weren’t lucky, but the car ride satisfied Boo and we headed back, directed by him to play radio this time.

When we arrived back at my mom’s, Jonah said wanna take a bath? and so I went up to do his bath.  My mother followed me upstairs and when we were testing the water and getting the bubbles, Jonah stood looking at me in the mirror.  “What color is mama’s hair?” I asked him.

“Brown,” he answered.  Then my mom told me to crouch down, and she pointed to the top of my head.  “What color is this part of mama’s hair?” she asked.  “Tan,” he answered.  “What color?” my mom prompted again.

“Is grey,” he answered.  Mom thought that was a riot and a half, and she got Jonah laughing too. “You jerk!’ I yelled at her, though I couldn’t help looking at it all; I am really going grey.  Me.  Grey.  But I’m young, but I’m Gen X, we’re still the cool generation, right?

I dyed my hair last night.

After his bath, Jonah went to the living room to lie on the couch.  I covered him with two blankets and rubbed his back while he rested.  “Mama loves you, sweet angel,” I whispered in his ear.  He lifted his head up with a smile, then got up and went into my mom’s guest bedroom upstairs, where again I covered him up and he napped for a few minutes.

When he woke he seemed more animated and started to ask for car ride and Savannah (Andy’s parents’ dog) so it was time to go – for all of us.  I’d done nothing but sneeze and have allergy-ridden watery eyes the whole time.  I swear I am allergic to my mom’s cat or her house or something.  And so I said goodbye to my mom and sweet Boo and his daddy, and I returned home.

My mom made the most delicious ham with twice-baked potatoes, vegetables, rolls, and cheesecake.  Although and of course there was no sitting down to eat it all, she’d carefully packed bags full for both Andy and me…and when I did eat it, ’twas delicious!

I’ve heard since then that Boo is fine and doing well.  I’m in a peaceful state right now, spring birds sing-chatting outside my window, the house quiet, my work day just beginning.

It was a quiet, blessed, happy Easter.