Saturday, December 06, 2008

That's how it goes

We all know my daughter has herself a gentleman caller. All is going well there as far as I know. He seems to be treating her well, and I'm not going to argue with that.

A few days ago, she told me she wanted to go "chill" at his house this weekend. I thought about that thing. Mulled it over really well. I finally talked with her. Simply talked. There was no hollering and carrying on and I have to admit, I was prepared for it. I told her that we really don't know this boy that well. Until we get to know him and his parents a little better, then we prefer for him to come to our house to visit. I know I was earnest and sincere and needed her to see where I was coming from as a Mother. I also told her that the two of them needed to sit with us for a little bit. Let us have a conversation with Christian. I looked her in the eye and said, "How can I entrust you in his care at his home if I don't even know him?"

I got not one argument. The lawyer in her didn't come out for battle. She said, "Yes, ma'am." and that was that. Christian came to our home last night to hang out with Paige. They both sat with us for about an hour and he wasn't overly chatty, but he carried on a conversation and had no problem with it. Nice.

I walked outside later on in the evening and was checking out our outside decorations. Christian's mom drove up to get him and we started chatting. She's so nice and when I explained why I wasn't letting Paige go to her house, she was completely understanding. I'm sure I'll be letting Paige go eventually, because Miss S. has good rules for her kid. She's already raised two sons who are serving in the military, and I can find no fault with that. It was nice to get to know another Mom. I consider it a bonus that it's Christian's mom.

The kids have Winter Ball next weekend. Tomorrow is shoe shopping! Cinderella needs some shoes to go with her beautiful gown she's wearing. Miss S. and I made arrangements that she would take the kids to the ball so she can get pictures and see them. We're going to pick them up and take them home afterwards to keep things fair and give her a break. You know I'll have some pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

A little update on The Boy. This medication is reacting wonderfully with him! It truly has been a good experience. His ability to focus has increased a hundredfold. He has his impulses solidly(=normally) under control. Now, don't get me wrong here. He still has the occasional meltdown and gets very excited. I personally feel like he acting like he's four. Which is fine with me. The only glitch (and isn't there always one?) is that he's lost some weight. It was a lot at first- almost five pounds. That's not good at all. Five pounds is a HUGE amount for someone who only weighed 48 lbs. to begin with. The Man and I have started making sure he eats more. I've bought some high calorie healthy snacks (cheese, peanut butter, puddings) that he has access to. He's not a great eater during the day, but night time is his time. The Man is even going so far as to put a cup of milk in the fridge at night with a cheese stick on top of it. That's because The Boy has woken up at 3:00 a.m. to come tell Dad he's hungry. A little snack does a body good. Especially one that has some serious medication going on.

This morning we weighed The Boy (because we're keeping that close of an eye on his weight) and he was up by 2 lbs! YaY, Baby! About 30 minutes later he pooted and I told The Man he might better go weigh him again because I believe he was holding 2 lbs. of air pressure in his butt. We decided not to because he ate a go-gurt, a peanut butter/jelly sandwich, string cheese, 3 mini muffins, and a cup of milk for breakfast. He probably won't eat good again until this evening, but I'm thinking it'll be because he's out of room! (We encourage eating before taking medication)

He's doing so well, Internets. He's earning stickers left and right at school on his personal behaviour chart. Miss Rose said she can tell he's doing much better with his communication and next week she's going to see if he'll go in with her on his own without me. There's still lots of work to be done so he can better learn how to use his words and not his hands, but we're getting there. He's had four years to let ADHD take control of his body and mind, and getting control back won't happen over night. It's going to be a life long process. I'm just so tickled we seem to be on the right track at the moment.

Example of a being a four year old: At school yesterday he made a bad choice. At nap time he put his blanket on his head and was walking around. Of course, he fell and bumped his noggin.

This Monday, we have a parent-teacher conference with The Boy's teacher. This is a standard meeting to discuss progress since the beginning of the year. We get one now and another one at the end of the year. I'm excited to see what Miss K has to say.

Today promises to be a busy one if I let it. I hope you all have a good weekend and I'll catch you tomorrow or Monday.

9 comments:

Bonita said...

Hey Hope, I totally agree with you about Paige and her “gentleman” friend as you say. It’s a little scary to just let your daughter go off to some boy’s house that you don’t know. And it was really nice of her to see from your point of view and understand it. It wasn’t to long I was in her shoes. I only went to all my dances with one boy and he’s my husband now. But the first time he came over to meet my dad he had a Mohawk, and piercings. Probably not the best impression to bring home, but my dad was remolding the house at the time and had Billy help him out. During that time I guess they got to know each other and my dad agreed for me to date that Mohawk looking dude. I hope you girls have fun shoe shopping!!! Have a great weekend.

Hermes said...

Glad things seem to be going well for little Super. The first time he saves the world, remember I called it.

Miss Hope said...

You bet, Lawn, I'll do that. Promise.

Kristi said...

That was a great way to handle the whole "guy friend" thing. I look back at how relaxed my parents were in this department and some of my siblings abused that and did some pretty wild stuff. You can rest assured that it'll be different with my kids. I'll be calling to check to see if they are where they say they are...with love of course. :)

Missy said...

Hope, I am with you on Paige and her friend hanging out and chatting with the parents! I also like that you find his mom cool! Thats always a plus! And she has two sons in the military-wow! I couldn't imagine!
I can't wait to see the pics of the ball!

I am so glad Vitt is doing better. You guys are still in my prayers. I hope Monday is great for everyone!

Krys72599 said...

Personally, Miss Hope, even though my daughter broke up with that guy, we liked him the best of all the ones we'd met because he could carry on a conversation with us! That was a big thing! Sure, he was an adult and Christian is a kid (sorry, Paige!) but you gotta start somewhere, and chatting up the parental units is a great starting point!!
And that's great news about Vitt! I was thinking about him yesterday - it was our family Xmas party: 85 adults and 30 kids. All I can say is thank goodness we weren't outnumbered - those kids were quicker than greased lightning! There was one there in particular that made me think of yours - he seemed to have some control issues, and he most definitelt talked with his hands a lot, not with his words. But I saw a much different mama in his - *she* didn't even try to calm him down or take him down a notch - she went from ignoring his behavior to yelling at him to shape up...
Someone needs a little training...

Monogram Queen said...

I am in awe of how well you handled the situation with Paige.
I'm taking notes over here!!!!

So glad the boy is doing well. That has to be so very very very hard. Poor little guy. He's so lucky to have you and The Man!

Michelle said...

A+ on Paige...glad you like his mother!

Glad to hear Vitt is adjusting well...I thought this would be the one!!



Glad to see Makenna had fun at the football game...someone other than the man needs to love the game!

Busy Texas Dee said...

I'm so glad The Boy is doing good. I sure miss you guys. I want to be there so bad. It's been so long since I've seen ya'll. I told Ash that maybe we could go sometime next summer. I just have to really put away for it. I'm not promising anything but I am shoot for it. If that's ok with ya'll.