"Go Hotel!"

Saturday we were out shopping for a dress for Jordan for our homeschool group's Spring Formal.  We took Jessie with us.  Although I took a stroller so she could rest some, she walked a fair amount, which is one of the reasons I took her with us. The other reason I took her is she loves to go places, be out of the house and loves the mall....because it has Chick Fil A and  the carousel.  Somehow, she forgot about the carousel.  We went to a couple of small stores first before we went to the mall.  She kept saying she wanted to go to the mall.  Go to the mall, go to the mall.  It really wasn't about the mall at all.  She kept saying she was hungry....she was NOT hungry when we started out.  She drove us crazy with constantly telling us she was hungry, she just wanted to go to Chick Fil A.  Honestly, I don't think she can distinguish between being hungry and wanting something to eat that she likes.  Jordan finally said that yesterday, something I hadn't really thought through before.  I just knew that once she got her Chick Fil A, she would be happy.  Nope.  She was briefly satisfied; it was short-lived.  She happily sat in her stroller and ate till all the nuggets were gone. 

Then, she started talking about wanting to go to a hotel.  She loves to go to a hotel; don't we all?  The only thing I can think of as to why she had this obsession....a couple months ago we had gone to Birmingham for a doctor appointment, the weather was bad and we had to stay overnight.  After her doctor appointment we had gone to the mall to shop and while we were there, my husband called us and said he would feel better if we just spent the night there, rather than driving the four hours home in the bad weather.  All three kids were with me, he encouraged me to just stay there at the Winfrey Hotel which was in the mall, so we wouldn't even have to leave the mall to go to a hotel.  I'm guessing this is what Jessie had in her mind, as to why she was so obsessed with going to a hotel after our shopping.  She kept repeating "Go hotel, brush our teeth, and go to bed.  Eat breakfast, go home."  "I'm tired, want to go hotel, go to bed."  I know she got bored with the shopping, but she was driving us NUTS with her replaying the broken record of "Go Hotel."

I'm sure if I had been feeling better, I might have done a better job of distracting her from her obsessive mission.  I started to run a fever while we were shopping, but I was determined to press on until we found THE dress. I just didn't feel well enough to let her try things on and play dress up while Jordan tried on dresses. 

I realize this post is not uplifting or encouraging.  Sometimes I just feel the need to be honest about some of the trying times.  We all have them. It's true whether our kid has Down syndrome or not.  This stubborn obsessiveness with something is an issue I have heard from other parents with DS too.  Tonight we were supposed to meet someone from the local newspaper to talk about the upcoming Miracle League season and Jessie was going to have her picture taken.  She was dressed in her ball shirt and we were almost there when we got the call that it was cancelled, and needed to be rescheduled.  She didn't like that one bit....she will probably ask me about it (when we will do it) every single day until the day it comes to pass.  Praying for patience on these days.....

I have noticed that when this type of behavior is to the extreme, a lot of the time, but not all of the time, I am able to see that there is something physically bothering her.  On Sunday, when I went to kiss her goodnight, I noticed a stinky, familiar, smell.  Her ear was draining.  She had never complained of it once and hadn't pulled or rubbed at it like she often will if it bothers her. She has reflux too and it has been flaired up and bothering her more than it had been for a while.  When it is, she tends to be a little edgy, touchy. I'm hoping that we get these couple of things feeling a little better and they she will chill out a little bit!