a long day!!!

We were in town for meetings with psychiatry for the youngest boy. he got caught steeling at Runnings Fleet Farm. And then got caught stealing at the doctor's office.

Been a long day.

He was doing so good, we offered to buy him something after lunch. Then... he said he couldn't help himself.

he even told the doctor that we don't let him eat.... He gained six pounds since he last visit.

Doctor asked him if he wanted to go and live somewhere else so he could be locked up.

the boy says no. I love him dearly, but how do we protect him from himself?

Rough day!!!

Well, M is finally asleep. It has been a rough day. Started with him getting a bath and writing all over the tub with a pencil. Then the mouth started. Took away all privileges. Mouth continued. Ended up being a long day and he got incredibly mouthy. He got so mad he threatened to hurt himself. So we restrained him. Then he started cussing me out. Got him calmed down. Still no privileges. He was ok for a while, then we discovered that he had a book and paper that he wasn't supposed to have. Took them away, and he started throwing things. Tried to throw my laptop. Was successful in getting it away from him without hurting him or the laptop. Got him calmed down again. I had to run an errand so left for a bit. We let him work on a puzzle with his siblings and mom. When he started getting lippy with them, we took him away from the situation. No privileges. He again started cussing me out. Finally told him that he could calm down or lose privileges for whole week before Christmas. He calmed down, shortly before snack time, he got mouthy again. Gave him his snack, and now he is sleeping. Seems quiet now.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!!! I love the little guy, contrary to what he thinks.

Waiting on ...

Got an IEP plan started for M today. He is hoarding garbage now. cat food cans, newspaper, and other stuff.

I am having problems sleeping. I can fall asleep briefly from 1 til 4:30 or 5. uggggh...

OCD

So M has OCD. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Makes life tough for him. He knows it is wrong to take things that don't belong to him. In the last two weeks we have discovered that he is hoarding garbage. Cat food cans, newspaper, cereal boxes, pop tart boxes and wrappers, soda bottles. He has been putting them in the bottom drawer of his dresser.

Last year he had a compulsion about keys.

He is also chewing on his thumb to the point that it is raw. Time to get his meds adjusted again.

Psych! redux

Meet with the psychologist tomorrow, barring travel problems... Hopefully can get T back on track. He had a really good Christmas concert this evening. However, we have determined that it is time to give up the band. He gave it his all. And that was all we asked of him. Considering the Autism, he did fairly well for a year and half with it.

Juvenile Court results

So juvenile court was interesting for M this morning. Refereed instead of judged. Three months probation. Was told that my wife and I are doing a good job of providing a supportive environment for him. The referee seemed surprised that M didn't have an IEP. Interesting how everyone thinks he should have an IEP except the school that he attends. M was extremely nervous about court. The referee is making some referrals. Maybe now we can get some support from outside agencies for him.

On a side note, the clinic called about my other son, and want to reschedule him for Friday.

Juvenile Court redux

Well our meeting with the juvenile court referee got moved to this morning. Wonder what that will bring to our lives.

Psych!

So we traveled to the city, about 80 miles each way only to discover that the doctor had canceled the appointment. Would have been nice to know that before we left... Want to reschedule? Sure, cause I can afford to drive back and forth everyday...

On a side note, my condolences to the doctor on the loss of a family member. While we would have rather have seen you today, we understand why you weren't available.

Awake at 1:30 am.

Thinking about something my wife said.

"How did we get three special needs children?"

Finances are in the toilet right now because of some credit card stuff that happened last week with one of the kids. Great thing to happen right before Christmas. Now on top of recovering from that, I get to spend money we don't really have driving to the city so one of the boys can see the psychologist. ugggh.. Can we say frustrated?

The youngest has been having problems hoarding things again. Now he is hoarding garbage. Cereal boxes, pencils, crayons and used paper of all kinds.

On a side note, one of the reasons we are closing the computer store is because customer's don't like to pay their bills in a timely fashion. Some of the wealthier people in town don't pay their bills. Kind of hard for me to pay mine if they don't pay theirs. Also, because of the credit card stuff I haven't been over there. Know how many calls I have had in the last week? Zero. Oh well. Can save some money not having to pay phone fees, and rent.

credit cards...

So we discovered a credit card was missing from my wife's purse.

Turns out one of the boys took it. This morning we discovered that orders had been placed with amazon.com for over 500 dollars worth of merchandise. Needless to say, a child has lost computer privileges. Do you know how hard it is to convince amazon that an order was placed fraudulently?

One of the books was valued at over 150 dollars.

Also discovered that this same child has been spitting his meds out at night into his desk drawer. There were other things that scared me a bit, but can't go into them on a blog because some of the people who read this would cause no end of problems in the town where we live.

trust and other five letter words -

How do you explain to a 9 year old that once trust is lost it is very hard to get it back? He stole a credit card from mom's purse. Two hours later we found it in the couch.

How do we know it wasn't lost there? The couch is a sleeper sofa that is used everyday as a bed.

On Friday we meet with Juvenile Court. Am I doing a disservice to my kid if I don't mention this to the judge? It isn't the first time that he has stolen from us. It happens so frequently that he is the first one we look at if something is missing.

His teacher has to fill out a psych profile on him. We found that paperwork in my son's collection of stuff. How do we know? It has a note on it addressed to the teacher.

Juvenile Court

Got notice today of the pending court date for the one who attacked his teacher a few weeks ago. It has been a rough day.

He slept in, had breakfast. Then he stole pie, when confronted about it, he said that he couldn't have thirds of his cereal. When we discovered that he threw away his cereal he denied saying anything about thirds. uuuuuughhh... I feel like I am losing my mind.

Obsessive Compulsive... oh yeah. Oppositional Defiant... oh yeah...

Such a joy. He seems unconcerned about the fact that he has to go to court at his age for assaulting a teacher. When we explained that he could get taken away from us for this behavior, he had the good grace to look surprised.

But then this could all have been avoided if the school had provided him with the aide that we and his doctors told them he needed.

Thankful ---

For as much as I wish that our lives were "normal" I would trade none of the blessings that my family has for all the money in the world. While it would be nice to be debt free, have a regular job, not have to travel a couple of times a month to see the doctors, or pick a kid up from school for behavior issues, the blessings that they have make them the people that they are.

All of our hopes and dreams can be summed up in one word: THANKFUL. I am THANKFUL that the Lord has blessed us with the family that we have. I am THANKFUL that most of the time I have the patience to see the positive aspects in the blessings. I am THANKFUL for the support that my family gives us while we help the boys along life's path. I am THANKFUL that the girls are the people that they are and appreciate them more than I can possibly say. I am THANKFUL for a wife that works a regular job and leaves the house stuff to her husband...

I am THANKFUL for the joy, the dreams and the experiences that this life has brought me.

morning fights...

Why does every morning start out with a fight? argument or general difficulty with my kid? Attitude is everything, and his attitude since he attacked his teacher has not been good. Nice and wonderful thing the oppositional defiance. ughhh...

I am torn...

I work for myself. Lately I find that my boys are taking up more time than I can devote to my business. I expect it to get worse before it gets better. With that in mind, I have decided to close my business and work from home.

The family is infintely more important. Besides the business is costing more than it makes. We will be money ahead in the end.

It has been a quiet weekend, even with everyone being cooped up in the house because of the snow. This week is Thanksgiving. Then we start the Christmas time.

Sometime in the next three weeks, my youngest boys school will be having a meeting to determine if he gets an IEP (Individual Education Plan). While that happens, I will be applying for SSI for him. According to the doctor, we can be expecting to get turned down at least once and maybe twice before we get approved for SSI. How insane is that? Oh well, more later.

A quiet day in the house...

All three of my boys have had their hair cut, now they look like boys again. :) yes, I am the family barber. The girls won't let me near their hair. evidently barber doesn't equal stylist...

Tomorrow we will tackle snow removal from the drive. :)

What a week!

So my son, who doesn't have any need for an aid in school, attacked his teacher. Pretty scary. Feel bad for the class and the teacher.

My son has issues with being obsessive compulsive, oppositional defiant, adhd, and pediatric bi-polar disorders, is on meds to control his temper, and sees doctors regularly for this. Now we are suspended out of school, and when he can go back, he has in-school suspension, plus he was cited for assault, so we need to go to juvenile court.

Pretty scary for a 9 year old, hopefully some of this might stick to him and he will realize that he can't do what ever he wants when ever he wants, and that there are consequences for his behavior.

Thanks to the birth mom, he will struggle his whole life to maintain some semblance of what other people call normal.

My son is pretty nervous, the last time he threatened his teacher, doctor said that he would hospitalize my son if he did anything like it again. My son went well beyond the threat.

Rushing....

Why do mornings always seem to blur by in a rush? Seriously? The kids are all mostly up and around by 7. Then the race is on for breakfast, using the bathroom, getting shoes on, and ultimately getting into the van to go to school. This morning one child slept in until it was almost time to leave for school. ughhhhh...

Ah well, barbecue for supper tonight. made from a roast, not ground beef. should be quite tasty been in the slow cooker for a couple of hours already.

mornings and nights...

Nights seem to last forever since I am up to make sure someone doesn't get into anything if he happens to wake up. Then it seems like I close my eyes and it's time to get up and start the day already... Our youngest was born with an addiction and a lot of blessings. Those blessings include the ability to not need more than 4 hours of sleep at a time.

Group Dynamics

I once took a class in group dynamics. Imagine the dynamics of a large family...

Our oldest two kids are girls. The other three are boys.

Finding myself...

I find myself frustrated sometimes by my nine year old.

Maybe I should start at the beginning...

Born in 1972 - adopted. blah, blah, blah...

My oldest was born in 1993.
I met my wife in 1994.
Our oldest was born in 1995.
followed by another in 1997, 1999 and our youngest in 2001.

Together we are seven.