Yes, I have been AWOL (military term for absent without leave…if you have never heard it before). But I have had a good reason…a couple of them actually.
First of all, I have been doing the one thing that I hate most…PEOPLING. I have been out shopping almost every day since Monday. I had shopping. That is why I love Amazon especially. It is my first line of defence. But it just is not possible to get certain things there. Like PanKwake’s t-shirts and underwear…without labels of course. I also love on-line grocery shopping and delivery. But for some odd reason, both of the stores that I usually use were booked solid for home delivery until next week?!?!
But the second reason is even better. After six-weeks living with the chaos gods of electricians, the end is insight. Only a couple of little odds and ends for them to finish up, but nothing major. Which means that after almost two months of camping out in #HomeCrazzyHome, things are finally moving. I can get started on the decorating, organizing and moving the last of our stuff over from the old house.
Heck, even in all of this…I even managed to establish a beach head…foothold. A calm oasis in the desert of disaster zone. But it is tiny. My pantry. It is cleaned and completely organized. I am waiting on our builder to finish up a bit of patching in the ceiling and walls then I can tackle the family bathroom…more pics to follow.
Besides just making excuses, there is a purpose in this blog. As I told Cookie Monster last night…
After all of this, I have a new appreciation for how it feels to be PanKwake…to live with sensory overload and Pathological Demand Avoidance.
If the noise of drills and dust was not bad enough then there was the total lack of control of anything in my world.
Not saying anything bad about the electricians…they were brilliant and did all they could to accommodate PanKwake. It was just how things had to be in order to get the rewiring done.
But having people arrive at the house…often before you were ready to get up. Having your stuff constantly moved around so that you have no idea where to find anything. Having piles and piles of it all around. Heck, not having electrics for a bit or the internet.
At times…all I do could was curl into bed under the duvet at the end of the day.
We had food delivered twice or maybe even three times as often during these six weeks as the previous six months or more. I remember remarking on it once to PanKwake and she said…But Mommy you always cook for Cookie. But when the kitchen is dusty and chaotic…and you know there is no point in cleaning it because they are going to just make another mess in there the next day…well…
It is just too easy to become Demand Avoidant.
It was a lethal combo…sensory overload from the noise, people and dust…combined with lack of control of your own life…
It was an eye opener and game changer. I came away understanding why it is so important to her that no one touch her Shopkins Happy Places house. Oh, we had a few meltdowns over that one during the past few weeks too. Because everything is so tiny that simple vibrations can knock some of it over. Which almost always resulted in a BIG BANG…meltdown.
I suppose that my pantry has become that to me…my corner of sanity that I guard religiously.
The thing is…the more you can put yourself into your child’s body and mind…the better you can care for them.
I suppose this is another of my Mastercard adverts…
Total rewire of #HomeCrazzyHome = £1X,XXX
Better understanding PanKwake = Priceless.
Especially when it comes to being not just parent but teacher as well.
Self-Directed Learning & Neurodiversity 