And exactly whom was I kidding here???

By thinking I could actually get a scrap of work done from home???

First, we have a major Nor' Easter rolling in, and the associated barometric pressure changes are usually enough to get Salamander off balance.

Then compound that with the fact that Albuterol tends to seriously mess up Salamander's brain chemistry (I totally forgot, it's been over a year since we've had to use Albuterol to deal with bronchial spasms) - he is short tempered, wants everything right now this minute, throws a foot stomping meltdown every time his needs are not met immediately, and cannot bear to have any other human being (except Mom) within a 2 mile radius. Plus his receptive language is significantly impaired today, and he is not able to maintain eye contact (is looking at people and things from the corner of his eye - he hasn't done that in at least 4 months).

So far I've had to diffuse 5 tantrums, break up 4 fisty cuffs between Salamander and Potatey, and have had exactly 4 minutes of solid actual work time. And it is not even 11.30 am yet, and Salamander has only been up for 3 hours (of which 45 minutes were spent at the breakfast table eating his breakfast one itty bitty little bite at a time, needing to be reminded to actually eat about every 1 or 2 minutes as he was spacing out big time).

The whole gang just went up to the attic to get some much needed rumpus time, but so far I've already heard 3 'from the top of your lungs' screeching sessions between Salamander and Potatey. I am NOT going up to referee. DH is with them, he'll have to figure it out (and come to understand that being with the two of them when Salamander is like this involves more than sitting on the floor waiting for situations to get out of hand, and then being reactive. You gotta watch, pre-empt and redirect, because once Salamander hits mental overload it's too late (and admittingly his mental buffer is very, very small and easily overloaded today).

I totally understand that DH is probably not feeling too great today, and although I would love to just throw in the towel on this work project and get up to the attic to actively help Salamander work through whatever has disregulated him today, I need to do what I can to get this project done (and actually keep my job).

I just can't win.....


AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH