That is my mantra. I will admit some mornings I dread waking up as it can be such a challenge! The attitude, snippiness, the sass, and don't even think of looking at this particular teen!
Oh wait, I'm NOT talking about my child with special needs! The A~man wakes up Mr. Sunshine. Rarely any attitude and almost never any back talking. He is 14 and she is 12. I will admit he did go through some EXTREME behavior from about age 10 to a bit after 12. He could be violent. He would yell things at us when he was having a melt down that were downright horrifying. One of the worst times was when we were visiting family in SD at the inlaws house. Only grandpa was there. Both hubby and I had to restrain him (A~man...not grandpa) so he would not harm himself or us. (FYI we are trained yearly in how to safely restrain) The things he yelled...I was mortified that grandpa heard. (grandpa does have other grandkids with autism and he has been around people with mental illness) Sadly I have permanent damage to my back from when he would attack me. I'm not sure what caused him to be able to deal with frustration better. We did start dealing with his behaviors in a different way. (if anyone wants to know how we did this let me know and I will blog about it) A~man still has some challenging behaviors but I am so thankful that stage appears to be over.
I joke that I am getting payback for how I woke up as a teen. Z~girl is a feistier version of how I was in the mornings. It was best that no one talked or looked at me until after lunch. SERIOUSLY. That is how my girl is...although it can sometimes carry on through out the whole day. This transitional period before becoming an adult is SO HARD! With body changes, responsibility changes, so many changes. I just pray for God's wisdom to help me do the very best I can to help both of my precious children through this change as I love them so much!
Now, I can't go complaining and ranting without telling you some extremely good characteristics of the child that is challenging me so much right now,can I? So now I get to brag. We do not have a dishwasher...my daughter every night without ever complaining does the dishes. Growing up we did have a dishwasher and I know there were times I gave my mom grief about putting the dishes in and taking them out. Z~girl completely on her own cares for all of our critters...without complaint. Our entourage includes 6 chickens, 3 rabbits, and a dog. She is our third set of eyes with the A~man. When he is awake he needs constant supervision to keep him safe. (impulse control issues) One more even though I could list many more. She wakes up, often before me, and does her online school work. I never have to remind her.
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We had a wonderful week off! It was much needed. It's now time to jump in with both feet into A~man's special needs learning and both kids are very excited about a few field trip and group activities. This week we are going on a post office tour (which surprisingly we haven't done so far in our homeschool adventures) and we will have a Christmas party with our group in a few weeks. I'm also hoping to get a group together to go see a large gingerbread house display in the next town.
As much as I complain about these teen years I wish there was a way to s l o w it down. Pretty soon my duo may not want to go on field trips with their parents (well A~man might ;) and before I know it I will be looking for SAT essay writing help!
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