Yes that is my TV
Yes it is very broken
Yes I almost threw up
Nate never used to be destructive as a child. In fact I used to talk about how good he actually was at leaving things alone. I could put out picture frames, candles, vases, etc. and they wouldn't even get a second glance. I have no idea how things got so turned upside down. I guess Karma came to bite me in the ass?
Today Nate broke our TV. When I say he broke it, I don't mean it just wasn't working for a little while because a cable came unplugged or something like that. I mean he broke. the. damn. tv. broke. broke. broke.
I was laying Evan down for a nap, and Nate was downstairs looking at pictures on the iPad. While reading to Evan, I heard this loud banging coming from the basement. I had no idea what Nate was doing downstairs, but for some stupid reason I didn't go down to check. Evan was having a rough time settling down for a nap, he was finally happy with the book I was reading to him, and I didn't think the banging was a big deal. I had a feeling Nate was mad about something going on with the iPad, but taking out his anger on the TV never crossed my mind. I thought...maybe he's kicking the couch....maybe he tipped the shelf over that holds the DVDs...maybe he threw the iPad around a few times (it is in a pretty beefy case, so I wasn't too concerned about the last one). When I finished with Evan, I went downstairs to get Nate and see what damage was done. Much to my surprise, the basement was completely in tact. He was looking at pictures, the DVD rack was upright, and there were no broken toes from kicking the couch. Again-didn't think twice about the TV.
At about 5:45 I was getting things ready for a jewelry party that was starting at 6:30. I turned on the TV so I could put some music on from one of the cable channels, and much to my surprise it was filled with horrible lines. I stood there for a second and tried to register what I was seeing. I began thinking about the pounding that happened in my house a few hours earlier and almost threw up. Nate threw the iPad a the TV. Nate threw the iPad at the TV (gag). Nate threw the iPad at the TV (FFFFUUUUCCCCKKKK)!!!!!!!!!!
I went upstairs to get Matt because:
1. He needed to know about this
2. He needed to become a barrier between me and my son
3. I needed to make sure I wasn't seeing things
We checked out the TV and yes indeed, it's very broken. The glass is cracked in several spots and it's beyond repair. I'm sick about it. We don't have the extra money right now to buy something like this, but the basement living room area is where we spend most of our time. The kids toys are there, the DVD player is there, everything is down there. We're going to have to go shopping for a new TV this weekend, and I'm terrified that he'll do it again.
After I calmed down we brought Nate downstairs to show him the damage he had done to the TV. Like I suspected, he didn't care. He has a very difficult time reading people's emotions and understanding how people are feeling which is typical for a child on the autism spectrum. Showing him what he did had no effect on his conscience, and I'm sure he had no idea he did anything wrong at all since it was such a large span of time between when it actually happened and when I found it--plus when it happened the TV was off, so there was no immediate change in what the TV looked like.
I'm not sure how much more of his destructiveness I can handle. It's like a switch flipped in his brain. I wish I could find that switch and flip it back to my nice little boy who doesn't think that destroying things is funny.
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