So, how has you week been? Mine has been hectic as Nina is still recovering from having her appendix taken out last Saturday. Every day, though, she feels better, and on Thursday, she ventured downstairs for the first time and on Friday, when I got home from dropping Niko off at school, she was downstairs making us breakfast. She then came down again a few hours later as we had groceries delivered, and she wanted to pack some snacks and drinks and I had to be bring it upstairs for her.
When Nina arrived home last Sunday, Niko and I helped her get settled in bed and brought up food and drinks for her. She had a list of stuff! She needed a little bit of extra help from me, but otherwise, she tried being as self-sufficient as possible, and she did succeed on that.
I am glad we have Riley cat as he is also self-sufficient. I just had to scoop his litter box and make sure he had fresh water and food. He did seem a bit lonely as the bedroom door has been closed. I ended up moving my work from home office upstairs all last week, so he could cuddle next to me on the sofa. It’s funny because every time Riley sees Nina come out of the bedroom, he somehow sneaks himself in the bedroom and hides! Like he knows! For having a brain the size of a piece of rice, he is pretty smart. He also likes to hide under Niko’s bed and one night a few days ago, I had to leave his door open so the cat could come out eventually. I shake treats for him, Riley…not Niko, and sometimes that works to get him out of the bedrooms. Last Friday and Saturday (while Nina was sleeping on and off in a hospital bed), Niko wanted to sleep on the sofa, and I allowed that. On that particular Saturday night, Riley slept on the sofa with Niko (but in a different spot and it just so happened to be on heating pad). On Friday night, Riley slept with me on the bed.
I brought Nina food and drinks throughout the weekdays, but mostly, I left her alone. I made her fresh HOT food, and she was very happy to eat it and actually enjoyed my cooking. One of the meals I made, was chicken, rice, and broccoli. I marinated the chicken for a few hours, and she was impressed that I did that. I ended up using our wok and combined all those ingredients, and I too, was impressed with me and also how good it came out. For breakfast one morning, I had fun and wrote the menu on a piece of paper. Later, I did the same thing for Niko’s dinner, and he added a few things on it. It was fun for me, and I know Nina and Niko liked that. Another night, I made pasta (well, I boiled water and threw angel hair in it). I didn’t actually MAKE the pasta, although Nina has made homemade pasta a few times. In addition to the pasta, I also made meat sauce and we all enjoyed that. Niko even wanted just a plate of it for another meal.
The one person who required a lot of extra attention, even though, he can probably do a lot of stuff on his own wasn’t me. It was Niko. He would ask me to do something, and I would say no sometimes, you can do it on your own and he would get frustrated. It was a lot of work for me with him as I had to everything for him in addition to everything I already do, and all the stuff Nina does for him.
I know that Niko missed Nina, because he just wants to be with her in the bedroom at any chance he gets. I miss her also, but I am an adult and can say hi and bye and then go back into the world of whatever I was doing. One of the biggest challenges was getting him into bed for sleeping as he kept escaping to go see mom. Normally, the three of us relax in his bed and we read books together, and then Nina stays a bit longer until he falls asleep – so, that routine is different now. On Saturday night, when Nina was in the hospital, Niko read a book to her via Facetime.
Yeah, I am exhausted and could really use a break. Last night as I was laying in his bed waiting for him to sleep, I was thinking of going for a drive alone afterwards. Maybe I will do that tonight. Don’t get me wrong, I love him and enjoy our time together, but sometimes, I need a Niko break.
I haven’t had much alone time where I can relax and not hear somebody saying MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Oh, remember last Sunday, when I mentioned Niko’s SUPER AWESOME REWARDS CHART.
We are doing it because for the past several weeks, getting him to do things has been an absolute struggle. Most of things can take a minute, but he complains about them, and it really frustrates us. Taking things away after giving him multiple chances doesn’t work. When we told Niko of this, he was all for it, and even helped me write down some ideas for rewards in a jar.
The idea that Niko chose last week was Niko Pick Lunch! I told him that we can still do it, but it may require driving thru and eating in the car on our way to pick up Nina. Or we can do a raincheck and do it next weekend. He chose to keep if for another day.
This week, he chose Family Play Time, but I told him that would be hard because Nina is still hurting, so he tossed it back into the jar and selected another one. Yesterday afternoon, Niko wanted to play with me, and I suggested to get something and can we bring it in the bedroom to play and that way, Nina can watch us. We built a marble run together, man, he totally understands the engineering of it.
That new one he selected for this week was a Sonic Slushie. Basically, it’s just a crushed ice drink with a flavor and lots of sugar. Nina and I used to get one often when we lived in our first house, as there was a Sonic nearby. Niko has never had one, but he was excited!
So, on Friday when I picked him up from school, I told him we can do a Sonic run after I get out of work, and he was actually OK with that. I was surprised, because I thought he would want to hang with Nina in the bedroom and not want to go out in the world. I was wrong. He hung out with me, and he didn’t see Nina till we got back. Oh, he got a Mango Slushie, and really liked it. I tried it, and yeah, it was good. Next time, I am getting myself a slushie! Of course, in addition to his slushie, my soda, and Nina’s unsweetened tea, we also got food which the three of us shared. I kept telling Niko that Sonic is more known for drinks and deserts, not their food so don’t get your food expectations to high from this. Freddy’s food is much better!
Niko and I were talking about lunch yesterday, and I really thought we were going to get pizza, but Niko was happy to stay home. I mean, last weekend, he was out a lot! I was looking forward to going out in the world with him, but at the same time, I was glad to be home as well. We even had the pizza place picked out and next door is a cookie store where I told him we can get cookies and shakes.
But we did get in the car later in the afternoon to chase the Mr. Softee ice cream truck. We knew kind of where he was in the neighborhood, but when we got there, I didn’t see or hear him. We drove around for a few minutes listening for the jingle. Nothing. Finally, I told Niko, we are going home. As we were pulling into the driveway, Mr. Softee was in front of our house! I got an Oreo cookie shake and Niko got a vanilla ice cream cone dipped in chocolate. I am amazed at all the places Niko spills food on himself when he eats. With the cone, he had ice cream in his hair, his chin, his shirt, and all over his face! Yeah, I took lots of pictures.
