War and Peace

The War

I've decided to write this particular post as a therapy for my anger.  I'm just steaming right now.  I'm trying to remember the good stuff, and I will, but I'm reveling in the anger.

Patrick is in piano lessons.  He missed class just about 2 weeks ago and they started a new song.  Because he wasn't there for instruction, he doesn't know about the high-A (high-La).  I explained it last night but he insisted that it was middle C (middle-Doh).  Tonight he was arguing that it was high G (high-So), even though I showed him the progression, right there in black and white, to La.  Nope.  It's So.

I gave up and went to one of the songs we've been doing for about 3 weeks.  With enough practice, he'd be with the rest of the class on this.  We've been remiss in practicing because time just flies by.  With the amount of time it takes for school homework and the time it takes him to eat, I feel that the kid should have at least half an hour of free time a night!  But I digress!

The Dinosaur is a song he really got into, probably because it's in A Minor.  And it's about a dinosaur.  But he wasn't with the class when they started practicing the right hand, which includes eighth rests with eighth notes.  And he stumbled with it because it's new.  In my attempts to get him to sing the notes etc, he got mad.  He was leaning on the keyboard, which wobbles because he already weakened the stand by placing his feet on it.  And when I told him to stop, we got into a discussion about how upset I'd be if he broke a $350 keyboard.  He asked how much the stand was and I said it was probably $40.  He sneered at that and said it was a piece of crap.

I quit.  Go to bed.  I'm done with you for the day. 

It's all about the attitude.  The disrespect he's been showing everybody.  The problems he'll be facing in 4th grade if he keeps this up.

<breathe deep>

The Peace

The other day when we got to the YMCA for his before-school care, he was putting on his backpack when a little old lady was behind him.  I was going to chastise him, but he wasn't that close to hitting her, so I let it lie.  He pushed the button to open the automatic doors, then he moved over to open and hold the other door for the little old lady.  Then he did it again for the second set. 

I was so proud!

The Conclusion

I guess there's some hope for him.  I think instead of doing a swear jar (that includes the sarcastic terms "really" and "seriously"), maybe we should do a disrespect jar. At least then I'd feel like I wasn't on the losing end! 

Mistakes Moms Make and the ADHD Consequences

I messed up big time.  My poor catastrophic thinker and I are having a hard week.

The day before Mother's Day, we went shopping.  I was looking at aquarium stands at the pet store.  And I got sucked into falling in love with a kitten.  And I took the little guy home.  I mean, really, look at him!

What I had totally overlooked was that I would now have 3 cats, and this one is a long hair.  Long hair.  I hate brushing cats.  And scooping the litter box.  What on earth was I thinking?!  So all weekend I thought about the pros and cons and finally decided Sunday night to take him back to the store.

It. was. heartbreaking.

Patrick had to be pulled out of school because he was sobbing and practically hyperventilating.  I was sobbing when I left work to take the kitty back.

Patrick spent the day with my friend as she was off work for the day.  She took him to a park, where I met them after I got off work.  We were walking back to her house when Patrick started skipping and said he couldn't wait to get home to see the kitten.

Wha?

Um, Patrick, you do remember why you're with Miss D., right?

...how could he have forgotten this?

So of course, the rest of the walk back he was dragging his feet and barely moving.  Then he refused to get out of the car at home.  I counted all the way to TWO before he moved.  When he went into his room to change into his baseball uniform, he jerked on the curtains and bent the brackets.  He was disappointed that I stopped him before he could break it.  He said that he was so mad he wanted to hurt someone.  (That's not typical for him, thank goodness!)  He also, at some point, started biting and/or sucking on his arms just above the wrist.  He has marks several days later.  This especially worries me because I think ahead to a teenager who's raging and self-mutilates. 

The rest of the evening was fairly steady.  He hit a double and a single at baseball so he was feeling pretty good.  When we got home later, he didn't say anything about the kitten.

I, on the other hand, felt the loss the whole evening.

I messed up.