Matthew has always been a handful. Anyone who's ever been responsible for caring for him - even if it was a very brief time - knows this. We have always said how much he hates to be contained. Play-pens and child-gates were useless for him, and I always had to chase him around church more than other parents of kids his age. He's just ... busy!
I have said before that I celebrated when I started to see some normal behaviors surfacing, even if they were naughty. Like the time he colored on the walls.
I'm over that.
Matthew is totally acting like a normal almost four year old. He is testing limits all over the place, and trying to gain control over any aspect in his life that he can. At the hospital, we encouraged that, because if he has control over the procedures, he's less scared of them. Now, it's spilling over into home life. He is testing every limit we've ever given him. It's exhausting!
Don't get me wrong. It really is good to see him behaving like a normal child his age. But when you spend entire days cooped up at the doctor's office, and can never go outside or around other kids, it creates some issues. We're working hard this week at setting firm limits, and deciding which limits we'll allow him to push. For example, he is no longer allowed to answer the phone, because he won't give it back to me. And because you never know if the person at the other end is a friend, or calling for business reasons, or even a recording that I need to hear. On the other hand, I do allow him to eat anywhere, even though the rule is that kids eat at the table. Because it's the only way I can get him to eat anything, and I really want him to eat. The only place that I have made off limits is my bed. Because he gets crumbs everywhere!
Another thing that's normal is that Allison always gets sick during cold and flu season. Poor Allison. She just catches everything, and worse than anyone else does. She has only been to school one day this week. Which means she's going to fall behind, which is frustrating for her, because she tends to be a straight A student.
Plus, with Matthew's counts being driven down by his current course of Chemo, we have had to keep them separated. Thankfully our house is built in lots of small sections. So she can stay on the main level of the house, and he can stay upstairs. I certainly haven't been able to take care of her this week the same way as I used to, though. Poor kid. She's sort of had to fend for herself. Also, she really needs physical contact with Matthew, like lots of hugs and kisses. It helps her deal with all of this better. I totally understand that, because that's how I feel. So, I think it's hard on her to feel like she could expose him to something that could make him really sick. She's done really good, though, at protecting him by keeping her distance, washing and sanitizing her hands a lot, and wearing a mask if she's going to be around him. I'm so proud of her. All the time. She's a really great kid!
There's really nothing else noteworthy going on this week. We're sanitizing extra because of his counts (700 ANC on Monday, and more Chemo which will probably drop it even more), and we're hoping he won't become neutropenic. He got a flu shot on Monday, and Justin and I got one on Tuesday. Yuck! I am not the flu shot's biggest fan, but we need to protect our boy. The kids will get theirs when Allison is better. Assuming her cold isn't really the flu. We're preparing for Matthew's birthday, which is the 26th, and we're preparing for Halloween.
I just hope he'll be well enough through all of that to have some fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment