January 8, 2015, Adventure Day #2

Just a quick few thoughts on the second day of our adventure.

Here’s Avi’s leg – people had asked to see the progress.  The progress in one day seems miraculous really, but time will tell if it actually gets better or if this is just a slight improvement from being in the salt-water and the sun.

Bunches of people on Facebook had criticized me for the previous photos of Avi’s hands and his nails being dirty. 1) he is a little boy (9 years old and almost 10) – dirt under his nails is a normal occurrence and has nothing to do do with his plaque psoriasis.  On the other hand his nails are actually part of the problem – they are deformed and very painful – as a result of this condition.  His nail beds intermittently see his fingernails as a breach of the skin (like a cut or injury) and his skin there responds as it does elsewhere, cell build up, cracks, and bleeding – all of this making it nearly impossible to cut his nails on a regular basis (he screams bloody murder when I do – because he says it hurts to cut his nails.)  All of this  – again – I attribute  to his compromised immune system as a result of being lead-poisoned as a baby.  None of my other children (nor anyone else in my family that we know of) has this condition.

Captain’s Log: Day 2…

Today started out sort of crummy – but the boys enjoyed it anyway!

Early in the morning we headed down to a beach with surf (as opposed to a protected cove) “just to look” and the kids (especially Charlie) had a blast jumping up and down in the waves… fully clothed (long pants and everything! Please tell me why it doesn’t occur to a 6 year old child to remove their long pants before playing in the surf!)

After this little adventure my mother dragged us to someone’s house where she was going to buy some stuff she saw for sale on Craigslist.  This ended up being an adventure on its own as – at this house – the children were invited to climb a coconut tree (using a ladder) and knock down their very own coconuts – a very cool thing to happen on your second day in “paradise!”

From there we adventured to another beach – this one next to the Grand Hyatt… and that’s where things started breaking down.  Charlie acts badly when he is tired.  Sometimes my biggest parenting fail is not recognizing how tired he is – and not preparing or responding accordingly.

When we got to this beach he had a MASSIVE fit and got in a knock down drag out punching fight with his brother Avi in the car. To separate the kiddos Avi and I went down to the beach as Granny and Charlie parked the car. As “punishment” for Charlie – when he got to the beach carrying only one boogie board (specifically not having gotten both his and his brother’s) I said that I appreciated him carrying his brother’s boogie board to the beach and he would need to go back to the car to get his own, also that he needed to think about other people and not be so angry.

His response was to flip out and take off down the road.  Granny went to look after Avi (who was already in the water by then) and I followed Charlie in the car.  I cannot keep up with him on foot, ever – and I think this will in the end either be the death of me (trying to keep up with him) or will be the deciding factor in transforming my health and well being and becoming a marathon runner/ sprinter.

When he had calmed down (he walked about a mile in my estimation) I got him in the car and we returned to the beach.  I grabbed his boogie board and we went to the beach – but he then had a screaming fit that this was NOT HIS BOOGIE BOARD (the two were both brand new and looked exactly the same) and that Avi had his boogie board and that he would not budge until he got his own.

I tried taking him into the water to play with Avi, thinking that if he only got into the water again (as he had so enjoyed playing in the surf earlier that day) that he would be able to calm down with the sensor input and be fine again.  No.Go.

He then started screaming. Screaming at the top of his lungs.  Strings of profanity. FUCK SHIT BITCH FUCK SHIT BITCH – like some sort of ritualistic chant, in the loudest most shrill voice imaginable (remember he’s six.)  So I resorted to the techniques I use at home.  With him continuing to scream I got a lawn chair and sat in it – with him on my lap and my arms wrapped around him so he would not injure himself or take off again.  We must have sat there for about 30 minutes (or maybe it only seemed like 30 minutes? with all the people at the beach looking on?) with him screaming profanities at the top of his lungs.

Then – at some point he gave in and stopped screaming. We lay down together on a towel and he promised not to run away if I took my arms off of him.  Within minutes he was sound asleep.  I think it was about 11 a.m. (or 1 pm with the time difference?) and he slept for FIVE HOURS on that towel on the beach!  I made him comfy and covered him up when it was too sunny or too cool – and sat there with him for FIVE HOURS while he slept on the lawn at the beach.  FIVE HOURS!  Luckily my new phone has awesome battery life and I got some work done during that time.

I had had no idea how tired he was.  I think the travel, combined with the excitement and the time difference – and oh yeah – did I mention that the roosters here start crowing at like 3:30 in the morning (if they ever stop actually) – so many factors had left this boy so much more tired than I could have possibly imagined.  I felt really bad for not noticing it before – not noticing that his extreme bad behavior was coming out of fatigue… every time I miss that cue and I notice it afterwards I kind of want to kick myself.

While Charlie slept Granny and Avi went and swam in a salt-water pool with Islands… Granny and Avi then walked down to the end of the beach to see giant sea turtles in their natural environment.

Eventually Charlie woke up – just in time to walk to the end of the beach to watch the sunset at the most southern tip of the island.

Like the “Energizer Bunny” Charlie’s little batteries had recharged and he was off climbing rocks and having a blast again – happy and positive as long as he was free to explore.

We watched the sunset and then went home.

After we fed the baby chick (!) Avi crashed pretty much as soon as we got home (he did not have a 5 hour nap earlier in the day) … and Charlie and I stayed up taking selfies in bed and telling stories and talking about our day until he finally went to sleep.

That was day 2.