A Week, Briefly (8/12/19)
Sir Walter Scott and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary this week.
Because we were able to get away last month, we kept our evening simple. A call from Pixie within 10 minutes of our leaving the house because Ladybug was on a rampage caused us to turn around and head back home, but Pixie and the other teens insisted on our staying out. The call wasn't to get us home, it was to ask for advice for how to deal with her.
And then they dealt with her.
(Though Pixie and Superstar sustained several bumps and bruises along the way--Ladybug is fierce!)
By the time our entrees were served at the restaurant, Pixie had sent us a text saying all was well again.
There are times I want to tear my hair out with frustration over my teens, but I have to say that I am so impressed with them when it really matters!
Choreography and organization ruled the week.
I have now cut music for 6 songs, and I've got 5 of them choreographed for my little Stars (3-6 yrs) and Stripes (7-9 yrs)--3 numbers for each group. Nature Angel and Little Princess have been my constant choreography shadows.
Dance starts this coming Thursday, and we're working hard to be ready.
School starts Monday (as I write, that's day after tomorrow!).
I shopped for notebooks, pencils, and sundry school supplies. Then I helped kids clean out last year's school crates/drawers/shelves, and we filled them up with this year's books and supplies.
At the last minute, our planners arrived from Christian Light Publications (seriously, I love their planners), and I spent half a day filling out the subject boxes with each of the 5 kids who will have independent work as well as going over how to use their new books.
I created a new chore chart, making many new assignments while keeping a few old ones. The kids are excited to practice their new chores this (Saturday) morning. Brother could hardly settle himself to bed last night for exclaiming, "I can't wait to start my new chores! I just can't wait!"
I love his sweet enthusiasm.
But the flip side to that is the fact that he's been having up to 3 violent dissociative episodes a day. He's told Sir Walter Scott that he wants to kill him and he wants to destroy our house. He's not made the same statements to me, but I'm sporting a number of new bruises from his efforts to hurt me, and he has actually ripped up the carpet on part of the stairs and torn the padding underneath to shreds.
The good news is that it was a small area, and you can't tell if you're not looking.
The bad news is that he tried to run away from home twice in a single evening. The first time he got far enough away that Sir Walter Scott hopped in the car to head him off, while I followed behind on foot scanning the woods and neighborhood yards in case he was hiding.
A kind resident spotted a small barefoot boy in pajamas running up the street and stopped him with a friendly greeting. Brother's curiosity about unfamiliar people held his attention long enough for us to catch up--offering our profound gratitude and partially coherent explanations.
We are so grateful that he was calm enough to get in the car without a fight.
I was able to immediately thwart his second effort at getting away that night because I heard him turning the locks on the door.
His therapist and I have brainstormed all kinds of possible causes for this escalation in behaviors, and Sir Walter Scott and I are doing our best to pursue help.
He sees his psychiatrist again this coming Friday.
And I've gotten the first two steps completed for enrolling him for services with the Mental Health Regional Office.
Lola and Baymax couldn't wait until Monday to start school. Given that they were crying multiple times a day about wanting to start and given the idea that they were really begging for some focused attention from me, I went ahead and did 2 days of activities for them.
Memoria Press Jr. Kindergarten is set up for 4 hour days 2x per week. We aren't doing all of the activities included, and we're doing daily school, so I just cut the lessons in half in order to make it work with our schedule.
I had a very happy Lola and a very happy Baymax.
Pixie was promoted to a shift lead at Menchie's, so as she worked her last weekday at the amusement park on Monday, she dove right into shift lead training at Menchie's on Tuesday. She worked the rest of the weekdays, and she and Belle are back at the amusement park for 8 hours of work today.
How grateful I am for their employment.
Super Star's manager has been unkind to her about her need to cut her hours back to a manageable level for the school year. She has come home from work in tears more than once. I hate to see this, but I am grateful that she talks with me, and I am glad to be available to hear her out and encourage her. Working with difficult supervisors is an important life skill, and she's getting some powerful lessons right now!
Belle is still volunteering at the farm every week. She's beloved of the farmers.
I'm fighting butterflies about actually diving into our school routine. It's one thing to see that the kids are ready and to know it's time for a new school year to begin . . . it's another thing entirely to actually do it and work out the kinks for giving everyone the attention they need each day!
But Monday is coming!
Here we go . . .
Because we were able to get away last month, we kept our evening simple. A call from Pixie within 10 minutes of our leaving the house because Ladybug was on a rampage caused us to turn around and head back home, but Pixie and the other teens insisted on our staying out. The call wasn't to get us home, it was to ask for advice for how to deal with her.
And then they dealt with her.
(Though Pixie and Superstar sustained several bumps and bruises along the way--Ladybug is fierce!)
By the time our entrees were served at the restaurant, Pixie had sent us a text saying all was well again.
There are times I want to tear my hair out with frustration over my teens, but I have to say that I am so impressed with them when it really matters!
Choreography and organization ruled the week.
I have now cut music for 6 songs, and I've got 5 of them choreographed for my little Stars (3-6 yrs) and Stripes (7-9 yrs)--3 numbers for each group. Nature Angel and Little Princess have been my constant choreography shadows.
Dance starts this coming Thursday, and we're working hard to be ready.
School starts Monday (as I write, that's day after tomorrow!).
I shopped for notebooks, pencils, and sundry school supplies. Then I helped kids clean out last year's school crates/drawers/shelves, and we filled them up with this year's books and supplies.
At the last minute, our planners arrived from Christian Light Publications (seriously, I love their planners), and I spent half a day filling out the subject boxes with each of the 5 kids who will have independent work as well as going over how to use their new books.
I created a new chore chart, making many new assignments while keeping a few old ones. The kids are excited to practice their new chores this (Saturday) morning. Brother could hardly settle himself to bed last night for exclaiming, "I can't wait to start my new chores! I just can't wait!"
I love his sweet enthusiasm.
But the flip side to that is the fact that he's been having up to 3 violent dissociative episodes a day. He's told Sir Walter Scott that he wants to kill him and he wants to destroy our house. He's not made the same statements to me, but I'm sporting a number of new bruises from his efforts to hurt me, and he has actually ripped up the carpet on part of the stairs and torn the padding underneath to shreds.
The good news is that it was a small area, and you can't tell if you're not looking.
The bad news is that he tried to run away from home twice in a single evening. The first time he got far enough away that Sir Walter Scott hopped in the car to head him off, while I followed behind on foot scanning the woods and neighborhood yards in case he was hiding.
A kind resident spotted a small barefoot boy in pajamas running up the street and stopped him with a friendly greeting. Brother's curiosity about unfamiliar people held his attention long enough for us to catch up--offering our profound gratitude and partially coherent explanations.
We are so grateful that he was calm enough to get in the car without a fight.
I was able to immediately thwart his second effort at getting away that night because I heard him turning the locks on the door.
His therapist and I have brainstormed all kinds of possible causes for this escalation in behaviors, and Sir Walter Scott and I are doing our best to pursue help.
He sees his psychiatrist again this coming Friday.
And I've gotten the first two steps completed for enrolling him for services with the Mental Health Regional Office.
Lola and Baymax couldn't wait until Monday to start school. Given that they were crying multiple times a day about wanting to start and given the idea that they were really begging for some focused attention from me, I went ahead and did 2 days of activities for them.
Memoria Press Jr. Kindergarten is set up for 4 hour days 2x per week. We aren't doing all of the activities included, and we're doing daily school, so I just cut the lessons in half in order to make it work with our schedule.
I had a very happy Lola and a very happy Baymax.
Pixie was promoted to a shift lead at Menchie's, so as she worked her last weekday at the amusement park on Monday, she dove right into shift lead training at Menchie's on Tuesday. She worked the rest of the weekdays, and she and Belle are back at the amusement park for 8 hours of work today.
How grateful I am for their employment.
Super Star's manager has been unkind to her about her need to cut her hours back to a manageable level for the school year. She has come home from work in tears more than once. I hate to see this, but I am grateful that she talks with me, and I am glad to be available to hear her out and encourage her. Working with difficult supervisors is an important life skill, and she's getting some powerful lessons right now!
Belle is still volunteering at the farm every week. She's beloved of the farmers.
I'm fighting butterflies about actually diving into our school routine. It's one thing to see that the kids are ready and to know it's time for a new school year to begin . . . it's another thing entirely to actually do it and work out the kinks for giving everyone the attention they need each day!
But Monday is coming!
Here we go . . .
You are a great mom, and I so admire your perseverance with your beautiful, difficult children. I am sending you my best wishes for a great beginning to the school year.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for a great first week! And happy anniversary.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading your blog for a while now and admired you a lot. Today I with humility understood, that I would not be able to do, what you are doing. If an adopted child would bruise me or others repeatedly or threaten to kill.. I would have started looking for a different place for him. It doesn't sound nice, but I know that I would. Let God bless you every day.
ReplyDelete