Bed

It’s a thought that she can’t shake. It’s an idea that’s stuck. It’s something that goes round and round in her brain.

She’ll mention it. Then she’ll mention it again. And again. And again.

I’m about to use some technical language here, so bear with me. There is, absolutely bugger all chance of getting her to change the subject.

Today’s superglue phrase was “adult single bed”.

My daughter’s friend at school had told her she’d got a new bed. A cabin bed with steps up to the mattress and a little ‘tent’ area underneath.

“How big is Bethany’s bed, Mum?” My daughter asked me, at the beginning of what I didn’t realise then was going to be a Very Long Conversation.

“Oh, it’ll be the same size as yours, it’s just it’s taller and got a bit underneath it. But I should think it’ll be a single bed size.”

“A children’s bed?”

“Well, probably not. Single bed size, I suppose, is an adult size.”

“So an adult single bed, then.”

“Yes. An adult single bed.”

And so it began. This phrase was repeated scores of times as my girl talked to me about it, then to herself, then back to me, and then back to herself.

The great debate was interspersed with supplementary questions. “Why don’t you have an adult single bed, Mum? You’ve got a double one, haven’t you? Is that a double adult single bed? Can a double be a single? Is it an adult bed? Can you get a children’s double bed?”

It got a bit wearing. My husband arrived home. I greeted him with the words: “Can you talk to your daughter about her adult single bed, please, because if I have to say it one more time I’m going to go and play in traffic.”

We had a respite while she ate her tea. Someone with Prader-Willi Syndrome isn’t all that chatty when polishing off every last scrap on their plate. Anything else they’re obsessing about takes a back seat for a while.

But then it was back with a vengeance. I finally cracked. In a reasonably calm manner, but through gritted teeth, I said: “Enough now. It’s not all that interesting talking about beds all the time. Let’s forget about it now.”

She looked at me solemnly. 

“OK, Mum. I’m not talking about beds any more. I’m tired. I’m going to bed. I’m going to bed right now. And I’m not talking about beds. It’s not very good is it, to talk about beds. I’m going to got to bed and not talk about beds any more. In my adult single bed. Because that’s what I’ve got: an adult single bed.”

Video is They Might Be Giants - Bed Bed Bed