And We're Back in the Cycle of 911, Psych Evals, and Recovery

 We started the week well.

Morning Meeting, Symposium, and the first walk since last May!

Ants!

That's not a booger!  It's sap she picked off a tree and played with for the rest of the walk!

Deep in conversation

Jes' chillin'

And then Brother was angry and throwing things and swinging sticks as weapons with the rest of us trapped in the dining room.

I tried so hard to work with him.

But I ended up calling 911 and his psychiatrist and his case manager and Sir Walter Scott.

He ended up running away.

He was gone long enough that I had a chance to throw dinner in the crock pot, organize lunch, suggest some nature documentaries for the kids to watch as school and as a rest, and pack a bag of snacks and reading material for the mandatory psych eval that was sure to follow.

The police found him.  (May I repeat my enthusiastic refrain that our police are the best!!)

We went to the hospital.

He was deemed fit to return home.  (I agreed.)

We all spent the rest of the day in a daze.

Nature Angel handled her tension by cleaning.

At dinner (hurrah for crock pots!), we processed the day with a mom-moderated round table about how each kid felt stress and what they did to relieve it.

Then we finished The Elephant's Girl, started Charlotte's Web, and went to bed.

The rest of the week passed well--not without tension, but well.

We walked, we read, we talked, we observed, we attended church activities, we sang, we listened to music--both classical and contemporary, we danced, we wrote,  and we got ready for a new month to start.

Over the month of August, the younger 6 kids and I:

* successfully memorized the poem Some Little Good by Alice Carey.

* learned/reviewed several useful phrases in Spanish.

* recited our character affirmation, "I am kind.  I use gentle words and have gentle ways."

* learned a few facts about each of the following animals:  Gray Catbird, Cecropia Moth, and Chipmunk.

* recited and gave examples for the identity property of addition, the zero property of multiplication, and the identity property of multiplication.

* started Life of Fred: Dogs.

* memorized the first 3 rules in English Grammar Recitation.

* listened to hours of music by J.S. Bach.

*studied Still Life with Apples and Oranges by Cezanne, Head Study of a Young Moor by de Crayer, and All Saints by Fra Angelico.

* learned/reviewed Yankee Doodle and A Place in the Choir.

* memorized classroom greetings in Latin and got a good start on the Table Blessing.

* learned the names and functions of the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex, as well as putting tool #1 in our mental health toolbox: practicing counting to 10 when angry.

* watched videos, listened to stories, played games and wrote reports about mammals

* read dozens of West African folktales--with emphasis on Anansi tales.

* read over a dozen brief biographies of outstanding African Americans living in the 18th and 19th centuries.

* listened to audio recordings of brief biographies of explorers of the Americas.

And that last accomplishment led to my favorite quote of the week!

Beowulf helped Lola pick a bunch of unripe wild grapes that were hanging too high for her to reach alone.  

Brother said, "Why did you pick so much?  Didn't you think about the animals and birds that eat those?"

"Look at what's left!!" Beowulf replied, demonstrating expansively with his arms at the many, many remaining clusters.  He concluded, "I'm no Spanish conqueror!!"

Which reminds me:  We finished our little book about Columbus.

The older two girls studied languages, read great literature, worked on math, science, and various passion projects, and participated in lively Symposium lessons.  

I remembered my phone has a camera again on Friday.

Warm and juicy from our "garden"

Ladybug carried the 'matoes and gave Sugar Bear access to them on demand.

Studying a grasshopper, I think.

Lola's collection

Brother stared for many minutes at the mixer as it whipped Little Princess' batch of homemade marshmallows.

Brother also joined me often in the garage, helping me sand the armoire I'm refinishing for use as a kitchen office cupboard.

He and Mister Man worked with our neighbor in her garden and in her shop, fixing her riding mower.

Little Princess went on a Civil Air Patrol field trip to a climbing gym.  She liked it!

And Nature Angel simply can't create fast enough to keep up with the ideas in her brain.  It's such a joy to see her alive and excited about her gifts.

Lola remembered independently to count to 10 to regain her temper when she was angry with me on Saturday night.  I am so, so, so proud of her!!!

All of us are on edge.  We're living normally on the surface, but underneath is the never-ending fear of violence at any moment.

I've finally . . . finally . . . figured out that some of the time I can prevent an outburst from Brother by reassuring him that he is safe.  For years I've been trying to help him calm down with coping strategies, but none of them have ever worked, ever.

The only thing that has worked has been time and space.

And giving him time and space hasn't always been doable because of how aggressive he gets.

However, our Mind-Up studies have triggered a connection in my brain that the time and space have been allowing him to realize that we're not his enemies.

Twice this week, I forestalled huge outbursts by skipping the coping strategies and simply telling him, "You're safe.  You're not in danger.  You're not in trouble.  No one is angry with you.  It's ok.  You're safe."

He actually calmed down both of those times!!

It didn't work every time, but those two times have encouraged me a little bit about how to care for him successfully.

I just feel like the world's slowest learner. 🤦‍♀️

We have birthdays to celebrate, and fall is almost here.

There is always reason to rejoice.