What's The Worst That Can Happen?

Oh SpongeBob, you've done it again.  You've taught Dayton another phrase he's been stuck on the whole weekend.  And when Dayton starts repeating a phrase over and over, trying to explain the phrase is futile, as well as frustrating.

Echolalia, for those of you not familiar with it, is similar to a skipping record.  For those of you too young to remember what a record is, that's similar to a scratched CD.  For those of you that don't know what a CD is, I suggest you see your doctor, because if you can read this and don't know what a CD is, I'm fairly certain you have alzheimer's.

Dayton's spurts of echolalia typically come about when he's super upset with me, and it seems to be he's been upset with me a lot this weekend.  Now why, you may ask yourselves, is my babe upset with me, I mean, I'm so wonderful and all...

I grounded his butt.  And if he doesn't smarten up, I'm gonna be grounding him for life.

My babe's decided not to do work at school.  Furthermore, he refuses to go to the gym for assemblies, and figures he can swear at his gym teacher and get away with it.  It certainly doesn't help my mood that his teacher put me in my place while speaking to her by phone and telling her that I'm not sure if Dayton and his new aid are a good fit, as he often comes home complaining about her; I said it in front of Dayton and she chastised me for it, rightfully so.  I know it wasn't the smartest move on my part, but I don't get the privilege of privacy in a 900 sq. foot home, especially when I'm grounding his sorry, bony, little butt.

I refuse to believe Dayton's acting out because I've gone back to the work force.  It's just not an option - I must work, not only for the cash, but my sanity.  I need some adult interaction in my life, and I need to feel I have a purpose in my life.  Yes, I would definitely be busy enough with PACE and blogging, but I need more in my life than autism. I need some normalcy in my life too.  There needs to be some balance.

Either way, my boy's decided to question authority, and not in a polite way.  So, I decided to take away his playstation for the weekend and ground him for a week.  No playstation, and no friends for the rest of the week...  Puts me in a delicate situation this Tuesday night for PACE's kid gymboree, but I'll figure something out.  Maybe he won't be allowed to bring his hockey stick or something...  I'll sleep on it.

So, the boy's been repeating the phrase 'What's the worst that can happen,' which he heard on SpongeBob, and he's been doing it all weekend long.

"Dayton, eat your supper please."
"What's the worst that can happen?"

"Dayton, please clean your room."
"What's the worst that can happen?"

"Dayton, clean up your mess please."
"What's the worst that can happen?"

"Dayton, time for bed."
"What's the worst that can happen?"

He doesn't just say it once, he says it over and over and over and over and over and over and over again!  It's enough to make me want to pull my hair out.  I haven't bothered to take my blood pressure, I know it's been high.  No sense in beating a dead dog there.  (I don't dare say that out loud).

Yeah...  started Thursday after school and I'm praying to God it ends tonight, because I'm really not sure how much more I can take before I resort to self medicating myself.  And Dayton's SpongeBob pillow...  well, let's just say that there was a little, tiny accident...

Here's praying for a good week ahead.  Consider yourselves hugged,


Lou