Pulling Teeth

We are having teeth issues in the house this week.  Yesterday, Zach came home from school with his shirt pulled up into his mouth, chewing on it.  The entire front of his shirt was soaked almost all the way from the neck to the bottom.  I guess he was "edgy" all day, he told me the noise, sights and smells were bothering him.  Maybe he was nervous about the impending idiocracy his school displayed by sending him out in 21 degree tempuratures without his hat, scarf, and mittens on.  Today, Israel was the one with issues.  It takes that kid more than five minutes to brush his teeth.  And, while I am delighted that he cares about his dental hiegene,  we usually run out of time for him to brush thouroughly enough, because every preceeding activity requires countless reminders to stay on task.  "Israel, eat your food."  "Israel eat your food."  "Israel, focus on getting dressed."  "Remember when I told you to get dressed two minutes ago."  "You're still not dressed?"  UGH!  He gets upset and says that I am rushing him, which makes me feel bad, but I try to make him understand that his actions and lack of focus are what is causing me to have to rush him.  We have plenty of time to get everything ready each morning, but he is so easily distracted that each activity becomes a chore for both of us.  At seven, he should be dressing himself, and I know he knows how, but if I am not there to speed things along, it can take 10-15 minutes and a ton of reminders for him to get dressed.  Eating is the same story.  Don't even get me STARTED about math homework!  We are just waiting for the verification of our HMO choice and we can have him seen.
Zach was very exhausted from overstimulation after school last night, and spent the majority of the evening meowing and whimpering instead of talking.  He didn't want anything to do with Garrett, and even went to the extreme of turning his head away if and sticking his hand in Garrett's face.  He was in the mood that drives me nuts, the mood where he throws everything he can get his hands on.  I wish I knew why he does it, and I have tried to ask him so many times, to no avail.  It can be very dangerous, because he doesn't care what it is, he'll throw anything, and multiple times a day. 
We had our first snow on Wednesday, just a light dusting on the ground.  To my surprise, the boys have both said they love it, and despite the cold temps, they played out in it for a couple hours.  I am surprised their senses were not overloaded/insulted by the cold and wind.  Zach keeps telling me he loves this city, but when summer comes and the mosquitos and spiders come out, he changes his mind and starts asking about Las Vegas.  Both of the boys are allergic to mosquitos and since they both grew up in Las Vegas, last year was their first full-blown experience with them.  Zach's reaction was so bad after 4th of July, that it resulted in one of his eyes being swollen almost completely shut.  Yuck.  We'll get back to Vegas someday, and I'm sure the kids will adapt nicely.  For being on the spectrum, it is fortunate that they are so adaptable.  As for this week, I am happy it is nearly over for them.  It's almost noon and my phone has been quiet, maybe they earned their incentive trip to McDonalds this weekend after all.