Day 21. Year 5.

Thanks for the good thoughts and prayers... getting Vicki to transition from our van into her school yesterday didn't go the absolute worst it could have gone, but it didn't go well at all. Would you like to hear today's comedy installment? ;) Seriously, if I didn't laugh at myself and absurd situations, I would be in a very dark place. 

 We got to Vicki's school on time. (whoop whoop!!) She wouldn't get out of the van. (Usually what we do is that Ally gets out of the van and hangs out with me as we are getting Vicki's coat and backpack ready for her. That's what we did again. Cool. Calm. Collected. My secret deodorant was working over time. ;) Don't let Vicki see you sweat! 

Anyway, I tried my usual go-to's for a while... with no success. And Vicki, being as smart as she is, stated,'Ally. Van. Close door. Ally school.' Yep. Because that's what I ended up doing on Monday. But, demonic laughter, {muah, ha ha} that's not what was going to happen on this day. So we wait. And wait. And then. Yep. You guessed it. Stink bug attack. Ally starts screaming at the top of her lungs because a stink bug landed on her shoe. 

What? You didn't guess that? ;) 

Now, I'm no fan of stink bugs... and I had open toed shoes on.... BUT, me being the brave mommy that I am, I did gently kick the stink bug off of Ally's shoe into the middle of the parking lot. Very calmly. Again, thank you secret deodorant..

Now. Back to our regularly scheduled Vicki. 

She still wouldn't get out of the van. So I called into the school and we arranged for her autism teacher to come out and try some things. You know what.... I really can't talk seriously about this incident right now. I need to smile and I need to laugh. So, I am not going to go through what we actually went through.  I will save that for another day. That's hard for me. 

OK. So, on top of everything else, my 'contingency' plan was pretty non-existent. Some options that I usually have were not available, One thing I completely forgot was that our drywall guy was coming over. Early. And I didn't think to figure out a way to let him into our house. I had no idea how long this would go on. It could potentially last hours. And I didn't want our poor drywall guy sitting outside of our house. So, I texted him the school's address (it's only about a mile or so from our house) and he had no problem meeting me so I could give him our garage door opener. But of course, as soon as I made that arrangement, Vicki decided it was time to go into school. Of course. 

Now, I never underestimate Vicki. I feel like she has a sense about things that I have no idea how she does it. For example, the other day when I picked her up after school, she said 'Mom gas. Red van.' Either she knew I was having stomach issues (ha!)  or she knew that my low gas warning literally just clicked on right before I picked her up. How in the heck did she know that? Does she pay attention that closely that she knew I would need gas in the van? Interesting.... Anyway, did she know that I rearranged things at that moment so she decided to comply? I'm sure it was just a coincidence, but gosh it's crazy. When Vicki decides it's time to do something, it is. And it becomes like nothing happened at all. 

So... about 50 minutes after we arrived at Vicki's school, she walked in. And I had to hurry and make sure I didn't miss my drywall guy pulling up in the parking lot. We walked Vicki in and then Ally and I scoured the parking lot for his truck. We waited. And waited. And finally saw his truck pull in at the bus parking lot... then disappear. I am waving my hands in the air like an idiot running around the parking lot with my garage door opener. He sees me and then goes back to the main road and pulls in the right parking lot. We roll our windows down and make the garage door exchange. Phew. 

And then I take Ally to school and she got to her school 45 minutes late. I wrote a note to her school counselor to let her know what's been going on with Vicki. Occasionally Ally will have lunch with her and talk through some things. I never underestimate how much incidences like this affect my kids. All of them. It's not easy at all. It's so hard that I couldn't even write about it this morning. And in a little over 2 hours we will be doing this all over again. Hopefully without the stink bug or the garage door opener incident. And hopefully with Vicki getting out of the van easier than she did yesterday and the day before. I tried to make this lighthearted, I need to smile again, and thank goodness I am finally starting to feel better from my stomach bug. But, in all honesty, these situations are heartbreaking and so very difficult for everyone involved. If you could continue to pray for strength for all of us and send good vibes to Vicki so that whatever internal hurdle she is facing, that she can win. xoxo