TV

While we avoided damaging the condo while on vacation, it didn't take long after we returned to cause some real damage:

Who knows why he decided to throw the remote control at the TV.  He wasn't upset or anything.  He just walked by and threw it like it was the most normal thing.

Sunriver

We had a nice weekend in Sunriver.  We got in some nice boating, hiking, and swimming.  And, we avoided damaging the condo.  Yay!

He reminds me of Pig-pen from Peanuts:

Teapot

We got an aluminum teapot so that John couldn't break it.
He still found a way:

Window

We are getting the window replaced with some shatter-proof glass, but it is going to take awhile.  So, I had to board it up:  

Broken window

We knew it would happen someday.  John loves to lay backwards on the couch and kick the window.

Thankfully it was only one pane of a double pane window and it didn't shatter.  But, he seemed pretty happy with what he did and is now continuing to try to bust it out.  I fear for the rest of our windows.   I'm sure it's going to cost a fortune to fix.   For now I taped up all the cracks and covered it with cardboard.  Sigh.

Child locks, part 2

We'll see how these hold up, but so far they seem like the best invention ever:

The drawers and cabinets stay locked until you swipe the magnet over the area where the lock is.  As long as we keep the magnets away from John this seems like it will work very nicely.

Food waste

John eats an amazing amount of food, but he is also pretty wasteful.

This is a normal result after eating popcorn:

and here is the entire bunch of bananas that I carefully picked out just 5 minutes after getting home:

And, I'm glad John is finally eating pears, but this is kind of ridiculous:

Medical marijuana

Well, it was a long time coming, but we finally were able to get John on medical marijuana.  It's kind of ironic that it happened the same day that CNN ran a story about a seizure kid being helped immensely by the stuff, and Sanjay Gupta reversing his earlier stance and now supporting it.
It's a very tough system to navigate, but I finally just went with a guy that had very good reviews and delivered to my house.   We wanted a liquid form and he only had one strain in liquid form.  Not knowing one from another, we just bought what he had.    It's strong stuff, and we started him on 2 drops morning and night.  That didn't seem to do anything so I have been increasing it slowly.  We're up to 5 drops now, and while I can see some change in John, I don't really think it is helping his behavior.
Further study made me realize that we need a strain high in CBD and low in THC.  Unfortunately the one I got is high in THC and low in CBD.  Basically it will make him high but doesn't have a lot of medicinal value.  So, the search is on for a dispensary that carries the kind we need.

Door planking

Maybe the next big thing?

Child locks?

Of course, there is no child lock made that can keep John out.  So, long ago we resorted to tying up the cupboard to keep him out.  It's a serious pain to have to untie that thing every time you want to sneak a snack, especially after he has pulled on it so the knot is super tight.  
But, despite years of not being able to beat this system he continues to try.  The problem is now he is strong enough that the cabinets themselves can be beaten:

Not sure what to do about this.  I think I can repair it, but why?  Now that he knows it's possible I'm sure he'll continue to break it.   I'm open to ideas.   I wonder if they have solid steel cabinets?  :)

Maybe you are wondering where I was while this damage was taking place?  Well, I was in the other room steam cleaning the carpet after he intentionally gagged himself and puked.   And, he was gagging himself while I was in the bedroom replacing all the sheets that he pulled of the bed.   And, he pulled the sheets off the bed while I was cleaning up the box of screwdrivers that he dumped on the floor.  See where this is going?

It's getting very close to being a 2 person job to watch him.  One can do it if they are energetic and watch him closely, but if you get behind and have to clean up after one mess, he will stay one step ahead of you with his troublemaking.  

The easiest way to keep him out of trouble is to just take him for drives.  I wonder how many thousands of miles I've driven him around in circles.

Big seizure

It's been a long time since I've seen a big grand mal seizure.   We had a few last week after he drank the diastat, but those were only about 30 seconds.   But, at 6:45 this morning was a truly scary seizure again.  A lot more violent then I think I've seen and his face was really contorted, etc.   It was about 90 seconds long.   I have no idea what could have contributed to this, but I hope I never have to witness that again.

And, because Yoshie is overseas I had to force John to get up and go to his daycare just a couple of hours later.  I felt really bad about that.   But, he seemed OK with it.  I'm sure he was a lot calmer than usual.  I checked in this afternoon and he is apparently back to normal.   #resilience

Money

Oh man.  Yet another new thing to worry about.   John has taken a liking to paper money.   I mean, EATING paper money.  I guess he likes the chewy texture.  I suppose it is more satisfying than the wimpy paper he usually chews on.   This money was sitting on our counter (only ones, thankfully!)  But, later I caught him going through my wallet looking for more.

Diastat

We had a little bit of a scare last week when John decided to DRINK his emergency medicine (Diastat otherwise known as valium) that is normally given rectally.   It comes in a syringe inside plastic packaging.  And, we've carried this with us for 8 years.  I have no idea why he suddenly decided he would drink it.
It's strong stuff.

He suffered several small seizures in the hours following this (yes, it's an anti-seizure med).  And, was generally out of it for awhile.  But, he bounced back pretty quickly.

More shoes

It's hard to see in the picture, but John's new fascination is taking all of our shoes and putting them behind the piano.

More destruction

The destruction continues.  In the last couple of days he broke the glass light in our bedroom, pulled out the light in our bedroom that was installed with those strong drywall fasteners,  and slammed the kitchen door hard enough to create this hole.   And, believe it or not this had a thick plastic 4" protector on it.  It broke in two.
I'm thinking I should just buy the drywall repair kits in bulk.

New hobby

So one of John's new hobbies is ripping up papers.  This was just a newspaper, but he has since moved on to magazines and books.