tonight

Tonight he is hooking up a different dvd player in the basement...not sure why when no one uses the tv down there, but we'll go with it.

So far tonight he is in a GREAT mood! Very minimal fighting. So woo hoo for that!

Comments

I just happened to look at my blog and noticed that people have added comments! I hadn't even realized this so I will respond to them as soon as I am on my PC vs my Treo...much easier!

Thank you for all of your helpful comments and messages of hope. It is nice to know we are not alone on this journey!

additionally

Every night he has huge projects planned for himself. Huge intricate projects that could never possibly be completed before bedtime. Projects he obsesses over working on until it consumes his every thought. Things like - unhooking his computer and rehooking it up, replacing all of the batteries in toys he never plays with, finding his CD that went missing when he was four, reorganizing his video games, reorganizing his movies, reloading all of the music in his mp3 and in his sister's mp3 player, reorganize his 1000 pieces of Star Wars stuff...

And seriously, this is stuff from just the last week! Tonight was a double whammy of projects - finding the CD that went missing when he was 4 (and he can tell you when it went missing, where we were at and what he was wearing) and replacing batteries.

I don't mind the OCD qualities of the projects. I understand his feeling of need in accomplishing these seemingly silly tasks. Instead, the horrible'ness of this is the frustration he feels when the proects aren't completed as quickly as he hoped (Im sure it's because he was hoping to quickly rock out several projects a night instead of just one!). Frustration leads to anger - isn't anger the path to the dark side?? If only my Star Wars analogies would help me out! You would think that someone so into Star Wars and determined to be a Jedi (well Jedi & blimp driver) when he grows up would be more willing to hear my analogies.

So, closing yet another night filled with the sound of mechanical happenings coming from his room.

PS - we played Star Wars trivial pursuit with hima nd he got nearly all correct Crazy things like 'In New Hope who was the first to speak and what did they say'. He's such a cool super memorizer kid!

anger

Anger appears to be the strongest emotion for my boy. He is constantly angry and easily goes over the edge with it. The therapist has him tracking his emotions each day until our next appointment (Mon), but I want faster results. I understand things won't change overnight and we must be patient with the process. It's just so difficult to watch him like this. I know he doesn't like feeling out of control, but he doesn't know how to help himself and I don't know how to help him.

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new hope

I haven't written in quite some time because things have been insanely busy. Now I find myself recouping from back surgery with an amazing amount of time on my hands!

We started seeing the new therapist on the 6th and will see her every other Monday @ 11, which means I have to take him out of school for about two hours every other Monday. It initially sounds insane, but after the weeks we've recently had it now feels like a blessing.

It seems each day is progressively worse, which seems impossible. His anger/frustration is always at the surface of his mood and is easily set off. He is more and more set in his ways. The littlest things set him off. The therapist put together a treatment plan that will focus on two main categories- anxiety & social awareness. Under each are many subcategories. I am beyond hopeful that we will soon have the techniques to help him cope.

I also am working on food allergy testing and official sensory processing testing, but there are so many hoops to jump through! It is increasingly frustrating.

With all of that I am still intensely hopeful...that's what we have to be.