Korey has been trying to get sleep, he knows he is tired, expressing that fatigue with loud outbursts and what sounds like sad arias from a melancholy Italian operetta! so mournful but LOUD! possibly another avenue to pursue as we build on his path to after high school goals, just kidding but… I hav been asked by many folks is he doing this to avoid going to school? and the answer to that is  a resounding NO! he is frantic about the bus coming, packing his backpack for hours, days (on weekends) with 7-8 bottles of H2O and his chips and unpacking to make sure he has everything and packing up again, then pacing,  the early hours of the morning, night, whatever he may call it depending on what part of the earth you lay your head down on, with this backpack on his back ( duh, Karen, where else would it be!) for hours, refusing to take it off, I guess for fear that the connection to the bus and school would be broken and no bus will ramble down the street saying, “beep beep where’s Korey?” , and definitely would not take him off to the high school! to him the world is simple, black or white, facts only, no hidden stuff or gray areas, functioning strictly un-emotional, straight up or straight down, no in between. and though it sounds so easy and clean, it is not how the world, society functions and that is what is so difficult for Korey.

if he can function on so little sleep, which he does and pretty well it seems from the notes from school in his communication book, that is not the problem. we know many folks who need little or sometimes no sleep to get along in this world. perhaps it is not the thing for you or me, each to his own! the challenge with Korey and his hours of restlessness and sleeplessness is that he cannot be unsupervised or left to his own whatever during these hours as he could create very unsafe situations, the other night, and forgive me if I have already told this little example, he was hungry ( which is typical of teenage guys) and decided to put some leftover chicken in the microwave. As I was in my bedroom, keeping an ear alert to any danger sounds, I must have fallen asleep for that horrid second to be catapulted out of bed by the sound of the microwave door slamming and the magic noise of cooking starting, I gathered myself off the floor, dashed into the kitchen to find Korey smiling, pointing to the microwave and saying “chicken”! then I see 7:54 in the little area for minutes and push the cancel button so hard I broke my nail!!!! though he knows you cook stuff in there and you push the buttons to cook, he has no conception of the preciseness with which this needs to be done. now would anything have happened besides having a disintegrated piece of chicken? perhaps not, can’t take that chance. hence the need to be awake or semi conscious to keep him safe.

this maybe one of his cycles, during which certain behaviors or words or whatever are his obsession. if so, we have 4 3/4 months left as his cycles are usually of the 6 month duration!! hopefully by then I will remember what my name is!!

off to do some laundry, with Korey assisting or perhaps just me supervising him!