This morning has been one of those insanely stressful mornings. Our electricity went out minutes after I heard Sadie through the monitor. She was sweetly calmly listening to the Baby Einstein Aquarium crib toy. Unexpectedly, the electricity went off. I guess the only way you might expect that is if you didn't pay your bill. This was unexpected. Our house is secured with an alarm system, which obviously needs power. Needless to say, the alarm started beeping 3 beeps every 2 minutes running off battery. That was the beginning of the freaking out. Small unexpected sounds really affect her sensory processing. The beeping also signaled to the dog that the alarm might go off and and she started shivering and trying to get me to hold her too. Sadie at that point refused, absolutely refused to let me put her down. Every time I tried to put her on her feet, she arched her back and started freaking out. Holding a 34 pound 4 year old constantly isn't getting easy. My wrist is starting to hurt again after I finally started getting relief from wearing my wrist brace for severe tendonitis.
To top it all off, my cell phone didn't charge properly last night because the "baby proof" outlet cover didn't allow the proper contact with the plug. So not only is there no electricity, there's also barely a phone. It has made me realize I should buy a regular old land line phone for emergencies.
So I call Bill and quickly ask him to call our neighbor. Our sweet "grandmotherly" neighbor runs over to give me some help. Sadie absolutely LOVES her and immediately reached out for her when she walked in the door. It's like passing a crying child over to someone who you know can calm them. It is a relief!
After the newness of our neighbor wears off, 5 minutes, Sadie starts freaking out again. Continuing to arch her back and throw herself down when the alarm beeps. She threw her self back and hit her head on the seat of a bench and then really let loose with the wails and tears.
Finally, the electricity comes back on and the only thing on my mind is getting that coffee maker on!!!
As the morning goes on for the next hour, Sadie manages to squeeze her juice box on the floor, crumbly a whole chocolate chocolate chip cookie in her mouth and spit the whole thing out in a 3 foot area, strip down to her birthday suit 2 times, flip off the couch backwards, and drool a red Flinstone vitamin all over our white tile kitchen floor. As for the juice box and cookie at 9 am, I will give her what ever it takes to calm her down and make her happy. It is just not worth it and I choose my battles wisely.
Meanwhile, we are in the playroom and she is wandering around and calm for hopefully a few minutes longer, so I can finish my venting and find strength to make it through the next 40 minutes. Nanny is picking her up at 11 and I can't wait!!!
Oh and I must give credit to our other sweet angel for handling the situation with grace.
Gotta run, Sadie is now stripping for the 3 time, time to alter some more clothes so she can't get out of them.
