A Week, Briefly (9/20/21)

 Autumn arrived, and it is lovely.

Cool nights.

Warm days.

Beautiful.

Ideal.

Life at home is less than ideal, though.  (But isn't that real?)

Brother and I met with his specialist psychiatrist, and I expressed concern that we were following the usual path with the meds she'd prescribed Brother--temporary success, then failure.  She said it was simply a matter of him being undermedicated at the introductory doses and put us on a schedule for titrating to the correct doses.

Since then, we've seen nothing but worsening behaviors, and Friday night ended in us having to restrain both Brother and Beowulf (who is so frightened of Brother's behaviors that he follows his own path to violence).

Brother has also taken to accusing Sir Walter Scott and me of various forms of abuse.  These accusations are false and terrifying.  So far, all of the investigations that have followed his accusations have been proven false, but I've seen families I know personally torn apart by this sort of thing, and I'm researching what to do about it to keep my family safe.  

We may have to contact our adoption worker and see if we can re-open the efforts to find him a residential placement.

I am weaning him off one of the new meds, and I have an appointment with his regular psychiatrist first thing Monday morning.

Lola saw her psychiatrist again, and we had a satisfying discussion about how to treat her and meet her needs.  We need to get her an EKG first though, and I'm struggling to successfully communicate with the hospital.  Sir Walter Scott is going to make that his project on Monday.

Our preschool plans to read The Poky Little Puppy and do puppy activities was derailed by real life science when our Monarch butterfly emerged from its chrysalis first thing Monday morning.

The kids called my attention to it, and I, in turn, called them to gather drawing supplies and paper and draw what they saw.

That was our science/preschool activity for the day because it took the whole morning.

Mister Man's drawing

No one claims this one--Lola?  Beowulf? I guess I could open their binders and compare the photo to the drawings, but I'm not getting up to do that right now. :)

Ladybug's drawing.  The plant in the picture is milkweed.

 The Monarch spent a few days in our garden before leaving, and it was really quite willing to make friends with Lola--our family animal/insect whisperer.

All of the butterfly photo credits go to Little Princess!

One day we did manage to have a little circle time in which we sang a bunch of finger play songs as well as the ABCs.  Then I gave the toddlers each a piece of cardstock with a capital letter printed on it.  Then  passed out dinosaur stickers, and older kids helped the toddlers place the stickers along the letter lines.

Pixie gave her first speech in her communications class.  She won't receive her grade for a bit, but the teacher gave significant verbal praise, and Pixie came home thrilled with the amount of spontaneous discussion her speech inspired among her classmates.

Dance numbers are starting to come together.  What felt chaotic at the start is seeming more organized now.

 

 Nature Angel has discovered that the white board is her friend when it come to Greek dictation and translation.

For Early American History we've finished Tika'liktak, we've read all of North American Indians, and we read a chapter about the earliest British attempts at North American colonization.

 

The kids want to take a trip to Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg now!

We're struggling to make headway in Three Brothers of Ur as our evenings have been interrupted with a lot of activities or crises.  But one day when we had sick babies and were waiting for mommies and daddies to pick them up, we watched 2 episodes of Growing Up Animal, so we snuck a little extra science in that way even though we were low on history.  We also had a drawing lesson via Art Hub for Kids--a sunflower.  They're in bloom everywhere right now, so it works as a nature study assignment.  (I didn't get any pictures, but the kids' work is safely stowed in their binders.)

On Thursday evening, Sir Walter Scott and I were able to have a date night at the temple.

Saturday morning was rough, so I just dropped what we were trying to do (chores, errands, responsible Saturday stuff) and took the youngest 6 and the dogs on a 6 mile walk.

 

Photo taken around mile 5--the dogs are drinking water out of the ditch. :)

 

The day was better after that!

 

54 miles + 6 miles + about 10 more miles in the past 2 weeks of walking = 70 miles

 

During the week I ended up calling the mental health crisis line because I needed to cry and have someone hear that I was overwhelmed and scared.  The person on the line was patient and kind and simply let me talk and cry until I was done.  

It was what I needed.

Today we received 3 Giant Swallowtail Butterfly chrysalises that will overwinter and hopefully emerge beautifully next spring.  They are safely ensconced in a corner of our basement patio in a butterfly house with plenty of rocks in the bottom to keep it from blowing away.  

I am grateful to have something so very lovely to look forward to.