Why mommies love sick days with the sniffles.

Doctors orders: Ben was to stay home for 24 hours due to his ear infection and fever. Although it made me sad that my little boys was sick,I was also excited!Why you ask?

Why mommies loves a sick day with the sniffles...
Reason 1:
It's hard to get quality one on one time with my kids. I spend a LOT of time with them yes- singing songs while riding in the car, hours of hab ( everything we do from chores to running errands is turned into self-help learning sessions for the boys), respite, O.T. ,Speech, Library, play time outside, reading books, watching movies, baking, etc. However, it's rarely one on one time. 

Fortunately, that morning I didn't have anything that couldn't wait to be done until the next day. So, we started out with a nice snuggle session in mommy's bed- a RARE treat. Ben and I watched his favorite cartoon, Iron Man. After a few hours of resting, Ben decided he was feeling better...

Well enough to sit in his new ball tent (something we will use for the boys' sensory integration) and read.

Snuggled on a bean bag with his blankie.

 What ya reading Ben?

Ben shows his dinosaur book.

Reason 2:  He quietly sat there for about an hour. We actually got to finish several books together! A rare feat for someone with ADHD.

Reason 3: When you're sick, there's nothing like hot soup and crackers to bring the warm fuzzies. MmmMmm!

 Veggie and Pasta soup with crackers

My little Ben was so good to sit at the table, even though he wasn't feeling 100%.

My sweet little boy, munching on his soup n crackers.

 In the head of a 5 year old who has Autism, rules are rules. It's a fight to persuade them otherwise. It's for the best however, because it's also "dangerous" to let them have a one time occasion since it literally shakes them up. Also, like I said, to them rules are rules so if you try and change things just once, that new routine becomes the law. So you have to be very careful when those "once in a while times" will be allowed and how they will be introduced. In this case, there is a rule that when you're sick, you can eat in bed. However, Ben insisted he was well enough to eat at the table. Stubborn and oh so sweet, isn't he?
We also have another rule that I had to use recently cause apparently, I wasn't the only one that thinks sick days can be fun.
All 3 boys tried something like this lately...
 "Cough Cough...Moooom, I'm so sick. Look, I cougheded...Cough cough"
 I answer, " Ok, if you need to stay home, you can BUT... that means, NO movies, NO video games, NO snacks. You will have to stay in bed all day. Sick people stay in bed and sleep. Are you sick or are you going to go to school?"
After a few minutes pause... "Ummm I think I'm all better. I'll go to school."
With a grin I reply, "Uh-huh. That's what I thought".

And that's why I love "The sick with sniffles" days.