Sicker Than Others Saving the Landfills, one Giant Plastic Toy At a Time

Allright. I think I’ve been doing a bang up job recently. With the exception of the moment where I picked up the powerwheels jeep and flung across the room yesterday, I’ve just been muddling through the days. Over-tending the plants and trying in vain to rid myself of the horrible head cold we picked up from Sick-Filet indoor play area last week. Working the phones round the clock to put a plan in place for when TeenHer comes home. (in case you were wondering, blue cross “blue options” does not cover any inpatient residential treatment of any kind. Vaccinate against the chicken pox and influenza all you want for free, but god help you if your kid has a drug problem or a mental illness.)

So I just would like to say what the HELL. Isn’t there some rule about how many kids can require intense energy at once?

The dietician at the local health clinic believes that Jack has an Oral Aversion disorder or a texture disorder or something because it’s Not Normal that he won’t chew and swallow food.

“but he eats grapes through the mesh feeder all the time”, I said.
“Okay, but that’s still sucking. What we’re looking for is chewing and swallowing. Will he grab food from your mouth and chew on it?”

Uh, no. Give him a piece of food, and he’ll look at it, throw it down, and pick up a toy to chew on. Put food in his mouth, and he’ll gag on it and manipulate his tongue until he can spit it out the front.

This is not a total shock, I suppose, since we did drive him to Orlando at 4 weeks old to the Oral Motor Clinic where they diagnosed him with severe oral motor weakness.

Still. The sheer amount of driving we’re looking at here for various specialist appointment, psychiatric evaluations, therapy, etc will double our gas budget. And to continue this kid on hypoallergenic infant formula is going to quadruple our grocery budget. Medication co-pays are coming out of our savings account right now.

I’d get a job, except I’M GOING TO HAVE TO DRIVE THESE KIDS ALL OVER CREATION EVERY WEEK! When would I work?

Third shift, I guess. Maybe second shift at Home Depot. (insert gratuitous whining about the economy here)

Today is not a good day.