Locked in with Hayley

I got up at 6:00 this morning, got dressed, and went downstairs for my first cup of coffee before getting Hunter up.  Once I felt a little more awake, I got Hunter out of bed, gave him his clothes and I got his lunch and backpack together.  Everything went smoothly and I was looking forward to when both kids would be out of the house.  At 6:55 I checked on Hayley, who was still sleeping.  This made me happy because then I can drive Hunter to the bottom of the driveway to catch his bus, and I get a little more time to myself before Hayley has to get up and get ready for school.

At 7:15 I heard Hayley up.  I rushed upstairs to her room to get her out of bed before she got into some kind of mischief on the second floor without me knowing.  I went into her room all smiles and said “oh is there a princess in this room?”  Hayley responded by saying “go to Shoprite?”  As I opened her last window blind, I said “we will go to Shoprite one day, but today is school!” Immediately she screamed ‘NO SCHOOL!!!”, got up in a flash locked her door and slammed it shut.  As I stood there in utter shock, I realized we were locked in her room.  We have the door knob turned around so the lock faces the hall.  Hayley used to get up when we first put her to bed and roam the halls getting into all sorts of things (stuffed animals in the toilet, soap/cream smeared on the bathroom walls and mirror, change into several different outfits that wind up thrown all over, trash Hunter’s room etc…).  So we USED to lock her in her room until she fell asleep and then we would unlock and open the door.  Hayley is a pretty good sleeper so she rarely got out of bed during the night.

As the shock wore off I started to panic.  I frantically started pulling on and trying to turn the door handle, I started pacing back and forth across the room, sweat starting to run down my face.  I turned to Hayley and said “do you realize what you did?  We are locked in this room and there is no way out!!”  She just smiled at me and curled up under her blanket on her comfy bed……..

I am claustrophobic.  I DO NOT like closed, small spaces, the thought of being trapped etc.  When I go on an airplane I CANNOT think about being closed in or I will have a panic attack.  Although Hayley has a big room, trapped is trapped.  I left my phone downstairs so I couldn’t call for help, I checked out the windows to see if there was anyway I could climb out.  There is a red maple tree in front of one of her windows but the top branches are much too thin to climb on.  the other 3 windows you would fall straight down.  Now I am really sweating and panicking while Hayley is singing “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” in bed.  I opened her two windows over the driveway and sat on her desk sucking in as much of the outside air as I could.

I finally got hold of myself and tried to think rationally.  Something long and sharp, that’s what I would need to try to unlock the door.  Ha ha that is a laugh in Hayley’s room.  Because of her Autism, she has no regard for danger so we make sure everything is safe in her room.  I found a hair comb on a tiara and tried sticking one of the points into the lock, no luck.  Then I took a picture off the wall and tried the nail in the lock, too thick.  I broke the crown off her princess pig bank and tried one of those points, too big.  NOW WHAT??  I had visions of being trapped in her room all day, no bathroom, no water, not being able to get Hunter off the bus……………

Next thought.  I knew Hayley’s bus was going to come, and her bus comes right up to my garage.  I took out a drawer with plastic fruit and kitchen items and figured I would take off the screen on one of the driveway windows and start throwing plastic fruit down on the bus in hopes that the driver or aide would get off the bus and come to our rescue!!!  But knowing the driver and aide, they would probably hightail it out of here scared as hell.

Ok, fruit is ready but another thought comes to mind….Hayley’s play jewelry.  I started to rummage through the drawer of jewelry looking for something sharp (who was I kidding?)  I came across some small bangle bracelets.  I figured maybe if I could break one of them the broken wire might fit in the lock!  Broke the first bracelet, too wide.  Broke the second bracelet, too thin.  Meanwhile, Hayley is singing and singing in her bed.  Defeat was getting hold of me when I broke one more bracelet. With sore hands I dejectedly I walked to the door and tried the lock.  One, two three times and ZAP!!!! the lock opened!!!!!!  I was ecstatic, we were free……………………………………I would not have to resort to the plastic fruit after all.  I was giddy with relief.

I got Hayley downstairs, called the bus company to say Hayley would not be ready for the bus in 5 minutes and that I would drive her to school.  She got dressed, medicine, personal hygene etc.  Hayley was very compliant which is not the norm.  Finally, we get into the car.  We now have a 30  minute drive to Hayley’s school.  I say “ok Hayley, we made it, now on to school”.  You know what she said to me?  “Go to Shoprite?”……………………..

Overdue Gym Update and Other Stuff

It has been a long while since I gave an update on how the gym and diet is going.  I have definitely been procrastinating.  It hasn’t been good 😦 .  I faithfully went to the gym and ate properly until the beginning of August when the kids got out of school and we left for Florida. We went to Disney World for 4 days and to our house on Amelia Island for a little over a week. I will say I didn’t do any real exercise and we had a lot of take out for dinner.  I have a hard time choosing the right meal when we order take out.   Since then it has been downhill.  I gained back 6 lbs.!  I am bummed.

There have been several stresses recently that has affected me.  When this happens, I tend to lose sight of what it is I am supposed to do.  So I guess you can say I have fallen off the wagon.  I am trying to pump myself up at get back on track again.

We have not renewed our gym membership for a variety of reasons so I must do this on my own.  We have a treadmill and all sorts of equipment in a room in our basement, it is just a matter of me being diligent and actually go down and workout.  I am going to go down immediately after Hayley gets on the school bus at 7:50am.  It is the only chance I have of following through.

Planning healthy meals is the next step.  No more take out or throwing something together quickly.  Another thing we have to change is eating after Hunter and Hayley go to bed.  It is stressful eating with them.  The behaviors tend to make Dave and I shovel our food down so that we don’t even know what we ate.  We need to be patient, SLOW DOWN and try to make the best of a difficult situation.  I know it is unhealthy to eat so late. I want to plan dinners ahead of time so I am not scrambling around.  Also, start eating my oatmeal again in the morning and having a light lunch.

It is so difficult to get in shape.   I know for me, once I fall apart it is so hard to get back on track, and start taking the mindset of “its too late now, I will start tomorrow”.  The problem is that tomorrow never comes.

Now I feel I am ready for a fresh start.  The kids are back in school so I have a lot of time during the day to keep myself in check.  I am looking forward to a positive outcome because I know it can be done.  I have done it before, there is no looking back…………….