With four kiddos still at home (one in college), our evenings are busy like most other families. Here lies my challenge. Kai starts to get agitated and anxious when he is gone a good portion of the evening and when that occurs a few nights out of the week, a meltdown commonly follows.
Well, Big C's high school soccer has started (he made varsity again, whoohooo!), Little C's soccer has started, Little M has Tai Kwan Do, and Kai has an art class and a couple of physical and adoption therapy appointments each week. That doesn't include youth night (mutual). With my hubby's work schedule, he is often not accessible to me in the evenings to help.
Last week and this week, I have made a conscious effort to have Kai home as much as possible in the evenings instead of doing the convenient thing of keeping everyone in town with me til everyone is done. It increases my driving but if I have a happy kid at home, I'm good.
I thought I was doing pretty well. This evening was busy but we picked up pizza and headed to my parents house to use as homebase while I went and picked up Big C from practice. All was good...until we got home.
Kai wanted an hour and 15 minutes on the xbox and I would only give him an hour. This turned into a meltdown. It looked reminiscent of his last Sunday meltdown which I didn't give details on. The exact thing started occurring, but this time, he pulled himself out of it. I did the exact same thing as last time so he must have learned from that experience. Thank goodness. Again, progress. Our counselor told us that for a long time it's going to feel like one step forward and two steps back. I understand this. It's exactly how it feels.
When he was going up to play, I asked him if, when the hour was up, if he could turn it off without getting mad or sad. He wouldn't answer. I then asked him again and he said, "Kai no can read." I said, "Kai, do you need to read to play the xbox?" No response. I asked again for a yes or no. Again, "Kai no can read." I replied, "So? What does that have to do with the xbox? Can you turn it off without being mad or sad? Yes or no?" He said yes and went and played and turned it off just fine.
This stuff wears me out. Every small thing demands so much attention from me....but then I see the little bits of progress and it propels me to keep going. I really do love this boy.
Today was a special day in our extended family. Hubby K and his Mom flew to his brother's town for their momentous day today. They finalized their adoption of their son. It was important that Ken and his mom be there for that. So happy for their family.
