Goin Commando

Today was pretty uneventful for Sammy Noodles. The highlight was the call from a teacher who said he'd taken all of his clothes off in the bathroom, which isn't totally unusual, but in doing so had dropped his undies in he toilet. So, no, he didn't wet his pants but in case we were wondering why he had no underwear on and his undies were in a bag...No worries, he got home and took off his clothes again, I assumed because he was hot and put on a pair of his little brother's silky shorts. So now he looks like a European boxer.

In other news, the ipod has been replaced and reloaded and he has been instructed NOT to take it into the bathroom. M is out getting the replacement parts for the swing in our basement, which fell out of the ceiling last week when Sam was on it. Twice.

Yesterday I took the little one and Gram to the beach, and L, Sam's respite person, took him to the zoo that has a splash park (Capron Park Zoo), where we are members. Apparently, he did great, until it was time to leave, and then went ballistic in the gift shop (you have to enter and exit through the gift shop). We think he may have wanted popcorn, which we often get him when we are there, but L didn't know that, and even if she did, as she commented, she should have been able to tell him no without him flipping out. Sounds like it was a full blown freak out complete with knocking things off shelves and people staring at them. Plus, she had her bag and his, and she's pretty tiny anyway, so she couldn't pick him up and carry him out. Then a couple came up to her and the woman said to her, "I work in early intervention. Can I help you get him to the car?" L said yes, and the woman took his other hand and they walked to the car. The man told L that if she needed it he would pick Sam up and carry him to the car. So, all's well that ends well, but I suspect a little traumatic for L. Sam fell asleep in the car on the way home. L said she felt badly because he was so good until then. Been there-those episodes are exhausting.

Meanwhile, due to traffic near the beach, we were running later than I planned, and M met L and Sam at home. They were hanging out, Sam on the computer in the basement, when M went to water the garden. The house was locked except the back door where the garden was. M figured he'd hear Sam if he came outside, as this is not an unusual situation and our yard is fenced in. M came back from watering the garden and Sam was nowhere to be found. After checking the house and yard, M started to panic and went out front. He found Sam in front of the house next to us with an elderly neighbor, a former elementary teacher, holding his hand. She lives across the street and two houses down. She said she came home from grocery shopping and found Sam in her house. She has no idea how he got in the house, as it was locked. Nor do we know how he got out of our yard (we assume he climbed the fence). He said "hi," and then didn't respond when she asked his name. She asked where he lived and he pointed towards our next door neighbor's house (they weren't home). She was really really nice about it all, and obviously wasn't scared to find him there. She told M she knew his MIL and that she would check to make sure Sam hadn't gotten into anything dangerous in her house (Matt had told her Sam was likely to poke around). Again, it couldn't have ended better, except by then, M already had that fear of something horrible happening to Sam and the embarrassment of having our poor neighbor come home to find Sam in her house. We also don't want Sam to think this behavior is okay, but we're usually so glad/frazzled by the time we find him that we don't end up disciplining him to the extent we normally would. That said, this time M had a nice chat with him and needless to say he was fairly docile by the time I got home. Also, needless to say, no bike ride for me, AGAIN. And then today it was so hot, I had to come in and recoup after harvesting tomatoes from the garden.