Susan's Blog

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Typical Day

A day that has been up and down. As beautiful and warm as yesterday, I took another long run outside by the reservoir. Yesterday I did 4 miles, just like that! Today, a little more achey, so 3. As long as I have that iPod, I can go forever.

But when I got home, Nat was all a-jitter. He was acting really slippery, you could not pin him down, or hold him. He just could not be calm. He was repeating everything we said obsessively, biting his arm, yelling, running all around. At one point he asked to hug me, so I did, but he became aggressive. I could tell it was not personal, it was a self-regulation thing. I kept my voice neutral and soothing, but eventually I lost it, because while he was flailing about, he swiped my eye. I ran upstairs crying, yelling, “Why does everything have to be so hard?” Oh, great job parenting, Sue!

Ned got him calm and they both came upstairs and sat with me while I got calm, too. Then I went out for a coffee and when I came back, all was well again. We all got in the car and drove into Cambridge, to Mem Drive, to watch a movie being filmed. The Charles was beautiful, there were hardly any people, and everyone was enjoying the fresh air and yellow sunshine.

Then we got home and had lunch, and I headed off to the Anime Convention downtown with M and B again (we also went on Friday). Ben had made a Red Nocturne, a character from the video game Kingdom Hearts, and he hoped people would notice, which of course they did not because the Convention attendees were mostly teens and twenty-somethings bedecked head to foot in anime cossies (pink hair, pink platform shoes, pink mini hoopskirts, etc.) and so they were not about to notice a little boy with a paper sword-like thing in his hand. 🙁 I told him I saw people looking, though, and maybe I did.

Tired now, Ned and Nat just got back from swimming, so it’s time for a Ned Nap. Yay!

2 comments

I don’t know about you, but for me, it’s not so much that they ‘go off’ unexpectedly, it’s the frustration of not knowing why?
So often, I just don’t have a clue. They always [the experts] say…what exactly preceded…..
Sometimes I think I know, but more often than not, I wonder if it’s merely coincidence.
I’m sure we all experience these incidents [frequently?] It really helps to have another adult around to take up the slack.
Best wishes

— added by Maddy on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 9:51 am

For me it’s definately the frustration of not knowing why and also I hate feeling unable to help him. I’ve realized though that it’s ok for me to react if I need to. They need to understand that mom is human too. I also agree absolutely that it helps so much to have someone else take over when needs be.
Take Care.

— added by mumkeepingsane on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 5:09 pm

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