To See Him Smile

Jimmy loves his little brother.  I love it when they ham it up and the Doodle plays and interacts with him so effortlessly.

We had a little scare at the emergency room on Sunday morning.  Seems the it might be time for the Time Out swing to go away.  He's obviously way too big for it and we're not using it for it's intended purpose.  He weighs 45+ pounds and the swing is meant for a child up to 20 lbs or so.  He's been getting braver and braver and sometimes has no fear or idea of consequences and I think he's bored too.  So he was playing around and standing in the swing the other night, holding onto the metal sides and some how flipped it over and fell down.  I heard a crash and went running in there and the swing was on top of him and he was screaming and crying, a hurt kind of cry.  I know he had to be standing in it or doing something because numerous times I have seen him and stopped him before something like this happened.  You'd think I might have taken that as a sign to get rid of it, but it's honestly my only sanity around here.  How do you punish a 3 year old autistic kid who has no concept of the term NO other than he doesn't like to hear it.  Trying to do the right thing and nip some of the bad behavior with a time out is my only saving Grace.  And it settles him.  But to not be able to strap him into something, doesn't work.  I can't sit there and hold him down and I certainly can't tie him up, although the thought has crossed my mind (just kidding).

So he fell out of the swing and either severely sprained or dislocated his right shoulder. He woke up Sunday morning and was screaming and holding it and couldn't move his right arm.  It doesn't help that he can't talk so trying to figure out exactly where it hurt was a challenge.  I felt so bad, because after he fell, I made him get into bed and he wouldn't go to sleep (like usual) and he was crying and kicking and I was getting so irritated and frustrated.  I had no idea he had really hurt himself.  That kid is pretty tough. 

So to be sure nothing was broken, I took him to the emergency room.  They x-rayed it and found nothing.  The bonus of how double jointed he is, is that if he did dislocate it on the fall, somehow he popped back in...or he maybe he sprained it.

He's doing better now.  He still has a hard time if he has to reach for something or put pressure on it, but it should heal on it's own.