November 2, 2010

Today was a busy and exhausting day. Typically I spend my days with about 4 hours filled with screaming, crying or tantrums. Today we hit an all time high of about 7 hours of insanity. When you have a special needs child, of any disability, it puts a strain on all the people in the household. The other's involved most often feel as if they never have your attention or time. This can be heartbreaking and also trying. You see I have tried to give my oldest daughter some individualized time and while she loves it when it is occurring, the novelty dies quickly. What I mean is that even after spending an hour with Krystal on her skateboard she still felt compelled to interrupt when Charles needed some sensory input. This made the situation 10 times worse as then not only was he upset but he started getting physical with Krystal. While I know that I need to be stern and have consequences for his behavior I also know that she tends to egg him on and tease. If she sees he is getting upset with what she is doing rather then try to prevent it from escalating she continues. I know what you are thinking, She just twelve and maybe she doesn't understand. But, she does and we do talk and I allow her to be helpful although there are times when he needs his space. I feel that she should respect that. I guess I probably sound like a completely frazzled mom who doesn't know how to parent and trust me I do feel that way sometimes. But, as much as she is learning so am I. I guess I just have to admit that I am only human and I do seem to be less patient at times with her than I am my youngest. Beyond that situation my son decided that he didn't want to leave the house. I had set the timer gave him a warning about us leaving, tried to help him get prepared and to no avail he was not thrilled about it or ready. He was kicking crying and spitting on the floor. The spitting is a new behavior and I told him it was totally unacceptable. I cleaned up his mess, coaxed him to pick a few toys to bring and scampered out the door. The rest of the evening was pretty smooth aside from him running towards the lights(traffic lights that is!!!). What a scare. Well, bedtime went smooth so smooth in fact that I fell asleep with Charles at around 8 pm.