eSpecially Ben

If you have been following closely, you will know that we have been experimenting with Ben's nutrition in hopes to eliminate constipation, decrease hyperactivity at night and increase sleep productivity. In addition to Ben's nighttime antics, he started about a month ago, tearing off his pull-up, typically leaving a horrible mess of pull-up pieces everywhere. In my last post, The Real Houdini, I admitted that, we as parents, had lost that battle. But it is the war we are after and Ryan, in his infinite wisdom suggested that the reason for the pull-up disappearing act was that they were too tight. I had my doubts, but being of a gender with different parts, I did not have much experience in this department and found it hard to argue. With no other solutions on the forefront, I picked up larger pull-ups, adult size small.  It has been five nights with the new pull-up and it has remained on his body each night. We both get points - Ben for communicating his discomfort

Ben's sleeping has improved quite a bit with the recent changes in diet. His hyperactivity has all but disappeared. The last behavior still to remain is his obsession with taking off his clothes and pull-up.    We have become creative in our methods to beat Ben in this "game." For awhile, we were letting him sleep naked, but he had accidents frequently, waking him in the night, so we stopped. Then, we tried long pants, underwear over the pull-up, long johns and shorts, buttoned shorts and the latest, drawstring tied tightly inside shorts; my husband's mastermind.  Two night ago, we used the drawstring method and left Ben in his room. Minutes later, he crawled out butt naked. He had untied the shorts and pulled everything off.  Last night, with experience under my belt, I double knotted the shorts and put him to bed.  I have 30 years on this kid, I can beat him at this game and besides, no one beats a double knot.  Minutes later, Ben came out, dressed.

Last week, Ryan and Ben were on their own. I took the other two boys to visit family while Ryan worked and Ben attended Rainbow Camp. Several weeks prior, Ryan was invited to a departmental team building event for his work - attending an evening Charlotte Knights Baseball game at the new stadium. Since family members were invited to attend, Ryan wanted to take Ben to the game. However, handicap seating is only in certain areas and it would mean he would sit away from the other 50 co-workers - making the idea of a team builder null and void. Ryan struggled with this for a few weeks. I lined up someone to stay with Ben, thinking the decision had been made for Ryan to go alone. One day, Ryan called me from work, excited and relieved. He had a meeting with his two supervisors, and at the end of the meeting he shared his dilemma with them about the baseball game and seating arrangements needed for Ben. Within hours, the seats for the game were changed to include the handicap section f