Once again I'm noting that it's been too long between blog posts.
Once upon a time I had a blog that I posted to daily, that I had followers on, and I was part of a community; a 'village' of souls who wrote and read and cheered each other on. Once upon a time I wrote daily as a way to process life and all the curves and winding roads and darkness and brilliance that it has to offer. Back then I had the time to notice, and then notate, all the noticings. Now I'm lucky if at the end of the day, I get to notice whether or not I've worn the same pants more than 2 days in a row. It always feel so good to come back to writing though, it feels like it centers me and ties up all the loose ends. Sometimes its as if the act of writing creates sense out of all the experiences in any given day.
In March I noted that life was feeling more settled for both Griffin and myself even as I was already anticipating upcoming changes.
In May, I noted that it was going to be a wild ride, that I was "abandoning fear and embracing possibility". I was right about that - it was, and has been, a wild ride since then. Tumultuous, frightening, bumpy, exhilarating! And the friends I've chosen to hold hands with on this journey have proven to be anchors and shorelines and shiny lights in the darker moments. God has put them all into the little niche's of my life that they've needed to be in, at just the right moments.
In July, I noted that life was about being valiant, about being steadfast and balanced and grateful. I alluded to struggles in my new job. It's a work in progress, that whole 'valiant' life thing. *insert ironic chuckle and an eye roll*
As the summer ended I was able to reflect on (but neglected to write about) so many wonderful experiences and moments that I was able to spend with my youngest son, all because of my new job. This time while he is still little sometimes feels so fleeting even when the days sometimes drag on endlessly. This summer allowed us time we needed to have for playing - just playing and adventuring and sharing time with each other and with my youngest daughter too. Family time. This summer was also time just for me. Time to focus on myself - to go out with friends, to dress up and put on perfume and go on a 'date' and be a grown up - because I had the time available with the new job. Precious time. I might have been producing less income and that was scary but I was so endlessly grateful that sometimes all I could repeat, over and over in my mind or under my breath, was, "thank you God, thank you God, thank you God". Money will come, and money will go, but those relationships and the investment of time that I was granted, are irreplaceable.
Then first grade started for G and all that bumpiness and exhilaration, mixed with the need for valiant and steadfast behavior, splashed with gratitude and time, all melted together and we needed to slog thru the days. We were getting into routines and making new ones and sometimes failing and sometimes rising above, with laughter, and tears all together. And then it was the end of October, and nearly headed into winter. G was a first grade boy with two missing teeth who sometimes forgot his lunchbox at school and I was working during the day and at home every evening and life felt...normal. It was a sweet time for me that was only going to get sweeter.
November was all about balance, although that is totally in hindsight! Every Thanksgiving since my divorce has been a struggle to redefine tradition and to create something of value and hope and love for my kids. Funny thing about kids is that they grow and change and leave home and end up creating some traditions of their own! This year we celebrated with a special friend and his children and mine all together. There is an awkwardness to spending a holiday as a guest - food is different, expectations are different, and blending the needs and wants of so many people all at once for a holiday can be hard for everyone, even the kids. This was so peaceful though! We all had such fun with incredible food and desserts, and crazy board games and really getting to know each other. It was an evening that left me feeling immensely thankful. Later in November I was struck hard with the realization that I am pretty alone in this journey right now and it was a painful moment, a little dark spot that reminded me how strong I can be when I have to, and how much gratitude I have for my friends, the help from my older daughter, and my faith. Balance, man... balance!
I never really feel like January is "the new year"... I always feel like the "year" is from the start of the school year and lasts until the next one starts. So January is really just a matter of learning to write the new date properly! Its a continuation of everything we started in September and so we keep plugging along, getting through the days and embracing the forward growth and the learning opportunities as they arise. The dark and dreary parts of winter are settling in now that the big holidays are over and we are a little resigned to the months ahead of cold New England. I'm leaving the job I started last spring that allowed me to work during the day but was unexpectedly not a good fit for me. In my new position, I'll be able to continue working days and will have better opportunity for additional hours and will be able to work with some old friends which brings me so much joy! I am deepening relationships, with myself and with my faith and with others as well, and I continue to try and help my little guy grow into himself and to become the whole person he is destined to be.
Like a lotus flower that blooms again each morning from the murky water, or the sunflower whose bright face follows the sun as it moves across the sky, I will continue trusting in the universe, in God, and in the continuity of balance in my life.
Showing posts with label Balance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Balance. Show all posts
January 11, 2019
April 1, 2018
Little Glimpses
Right after the new year I went through a challenging time. In a desperate moment, I reached out to my adult kids for connection. My Boston residing 22 year old son came with his sweetheart, no hesitation and no questions asked. They came on the train and stayed over night and we ate, we drank, we talked, we played games, and their compassionate and loving presence generally helped to ground me. My west coast residing 28 year old daughter talked me through weeks of endless nights over the phone, until she was on spring break from school and could fly out and visit. My 19 year old home-girl doled out hugs and amazingly sarcastic one-liners that made me smile even when I thought I never would again. My children became the solid foundation that anchored me and yet they gave me wings all at the same time. It was like parenting came full circle for a time. I saw that I did a pretty good job raising such caring people who know how to show up when showing up matters.
I lay in my bed (heated mattress pad, flannel sheets, down comforter, hello New England spring!) and I listen to the wild giggles pouring from the kitchen. It is music to me, a symphony filling every corner of this apartment with LIFE. My oldest daughter is home for the first time in two and a half years. 2.5. Yes, TWO years and SIX months; probably longer. I stopped counting after awhile... I saw her 15 months ago but it wasn't at 'home' and it was different. Now she is home. Just ask her little sister, or either of her little brothers - this is HOME with Chickadee here, bossing us all around and setting the rules and the limits. It is the BEST thing ever. The giggles of my girls together in the kitchen wash over me and fill up all the empty parts of my heart.
Now she's gone again, back to HER home which is 3000 miles away from my hug. The laughter of all my children together still lingers in my heart and fills it full.
It is Easter. I have celebrated the resurrection of Christ in so many different ways over the past years. I have celebrated with large family gatherings including cousins and board games; joined with friends from church in a pot luck style; eaten with just two of my children, lonely, in a restaurant... this year I even celebrated by being completely alone. It wasn't a bad thing - it was contemplative and restorative. I think that it might be one of the best ways I've spent the holiday, in all its intention, in my adult life. I spent it this way by choice though and maybe its that fact which made this day one of peace for me. It is a kind of peace I've been needing to feel.
The more holidays that I spend as a single adult, the more comfortable I am making choices that best suit ME. It is more in my nature to make everyone else feel happy, especially when I was actively parenting small children and trying to build traditions and memories, but as my children have become adults with all their own wants and choices, it seems easier now to place my own desires ahead of theirs. It makes me a different kind of parent for Griffin; and a better one I think. He'll see a more independent and strong woman as his mom and for him? For him I think that will ultimately serve his needs best as well. Funny how that works out in the end...by putting myself first, I become a better mom for this specific child at this specific time. Balance. Ah, there it is again.
It is spring, in spite of the frigid 30 degree weather and remnants of snow in patches on the ground. We move forward into the light, again, my little sidekick brown eyed boy and I. We move forward and I watch as my adult children do the same. We aren't together always, but we aren't truly alone either. We hold hands and we fall down and we help each other up and we find balance together; sometimes anchoring each other, and sometimes encouraging flight. The light is longer, brighter, and warmer as every day passes. It's good to know the dark days are fading away.
I lay in my bed (heated mattress pad, flannel sheets, down comforter, hello New England spring!) and I listen to the wild giggles pouring from the kitchen. It is music to me, a symphony filling every corner of this apartment with LIFE. My oldest daughter is home for the first time in two and a half years. 2.5. Yes, TWO years and SIX months; probably longer. I stopped counting after awhile... I saw her 15 months ago but it wasn't at 'home' and it was different. Now she is home. Just ask her little sister, or either of her little brothers - this is HOME with Chickadee here, bossing us all around and setting the rules and the limits. It is the BEST thing ever. The giggles of my girls together in the kitchen wash over me and fill up all the empty parts of my heart.
Now she's gone again, back to HER home which is 3000 miles away from my hug. The laughter of all my children together still lingers in my heart and fills it full.
It is Easter. I have celebrated the resurrection of Christ in so many different ways over the past years. I have celebrated with large family gatherings including cousins and board games; joined with friends from church in a pot luck style; eaten with just two of my children, lonely, in a restaurant... this year I even celebrated by being completely alone. It wasn't a bad thing - it was contemplative and restorative. I think that it might be one of the best ways I've spent the holiday, in all its intention, in my adult life. I spent it this way by choice though and maybe its that fact which made this day one of peace for me. It is a kind of peace I've been needing to feel.
The more holidays that I spend as a single adult, the more comfortable I am making choices that best suit ME. It is more in my nature to make everyone else feel happy, especially when I was actively parenting small children and trying to build traditions and memories, but as my children have become adults with all their own wants and choices, it seems easier now to place my own desires ahead of theirs. It makes me a different kind of parent for Griffin; and a better one I think. He'll see a more independent and strong woman as his mom and for him? For him I think that will ultimately serve his needs best as well. Funny how that works out in the end...by putting myself first, I become a better mom for this specific child at this specific time. Balance. Ah, there it is again.
It is spring, in spite of the frigid 30 degree weather and remnants of snow in patches on the ground. We move forward into the light, again, my little sidekick brown eyed boy and I. We move forward and I watch as my adult children do the same. We aren't together always, but we aren't truly alone either. We hold hands and we fall down and we help each other up and we find balance together; sometimes anchoring each other, and sometimes encouraging flight. The light is longer, brighter, and warmer as every day passes. It's good to know the dark days are fading away.
March 11, 2018
Settling
Its March now... every time I come to write an update, I find myself at a loss for words. I either don't know how to backtrack and fill in the details that matter, or I realize that there are so many things that have happened that I can't fit it into one post and I get overwhelmed. I guess the most important thing though is that our life has settled.
What a beautiful word that is! Settled. Two synonyms for settled are "adjusted" and "reconciled". I couldn't think of more fitting words.
Life, being what it is, is of course not stagnant or stationary. Changes are always happening as my kids grow and change, and even I can grow and change too, but things are a little sweeter and calmer and easier these days and for that, I am grateful.
I just signed G up for tee ball. He's doing so well now in school and I'm hopeful this will be one more way for him to develop his social skills further and find out that some grownups CAN be trusted... every positive exchange for him will build that trust and show him something kinder about life.
He lost his first tooth, navigated the occasional longer day at school including lunch in the cafeteria, experienced having to adapt to weather related unplanned no school days, vacation days with no vacation, homework, and the holy grail that is BOOK FAIR at school. We moved into our bigger apartment and he has his own bedroom for the first time. My little guy is... settled.
I'm no longer considering myself a stay at home mom however, but I am settling into this odd balance of working evenings so that I am home with G for breakfast, school, and lunch every day, and then he settles into the afternoon with his big sister. He is safe, and he is home, and all three of us are settled into this new balance.
Spring is approaching and I'm sure new changes will skew our settled, balanced, status but that's ok with me. I already know that next school year will see G in school full days and my goal is to switch to a day shift so I'm home every evening with him. In spite of the changes ahead, both the known and the unknown, I see the way the universe cycles through chaos and balance; I see how the more I hold on tight to fears and expectations, the longer it takes to work itself out. I'm not very good at letting go so its taking longer than I hoped to develop those skills, but I know I'll get there!
Here's to embracing change!
What a beautiful word that is! Settled. Two synonyms for settled are "adjusted" and "reconciled". I couldn't think of more fitting words.
Life, being what it is, is of course not stagnant or stationary. Changes are always happening as my kids grow and change, and even I can grow and change too, but things are a little sweeter and calmer and easier these days and for that, I am grateful.
I just signed G up for tee ball. He's doing so well now in school and I'm hopeful this will be one more way for him to develop his social skills further and find out that some grownups CAN be trusted... every positive exchange for him will build that trust and show him something kinder about life.
He lost his first tooth, navigated the occasional longer day at school including lunch in the cafeteria, experienced having to adapt to weather related unplanned no school days, vacation days with no vacation, homework, and the holy grail that is BOOK FAIR at school. We moved into our bigger apartment and he has his own bedroom for the first time. My little guy is... settled.
I'm no longer considering myself a stay at home mom however, but I am settling into this odd balance of working evenings so that I am home with G for breakfast, school, and lunch every day, and then he settles into the afternoon with his big sister. He is safe, and he is home, and all three of us are settled into this new balance.
Spring is approaching and I'm sure new changes will skew our settled, balanced, status but that's ok with me. I already know that next school year will see G in school full days and my goal is to switch to a day shift so I'm home every evening with him. In spite of the changes ahead, both the known and the unknown, I see the way the universe cycles through chaos and balance; I see how the more I hold on tight to fears and expectations, the longer it takes to work itself out. I'm not very good at letting go so its taking longer than I hoped to develop those skills, but I know I'll get there!
Here's to embracing change!
August 1, 2017
August again; 1 year later
Last year I was just turning in my badge at work, cleaning off my desk, and preparing to leave my full time job to stay home with G after what had been a very hard year for him.
The past 12 months have been filled with journeys and travels I never planned on or prepared for, some I didn't even know I was taking until I'd come back, changed by the entire experience. G has traveled his own path as well, with tremendous growth. This past year has allowed both of us to leave behind the anxiety and insecurities we brought into it. We both are more settled, calmer at our core, and stronger. Sitting down to write this feels less like chalking up another month gone by, and more like having a whole new blog to write. There is excitement ahead for both of us and I fully intend for both of us to embrace all of it.
Today I registered the Gman for Kindergarten. It was a hard decision for me to make and I fretted over it for months. Having just turned 5, I could have held him back for a year to let him grow into himself a little more. He still struggles with good social skills among his peers but this boy is also reading, doing math, and his busy busy brain is bored. I can't really teach him the social skills he will learn in school, and the child wants desperately to go. So he'll go. Today we drove to his school, a place where he has gone to play in the playground and to ride his bike around the walkways and has some familiarity with. He was so excited, and yes, nervous too. It felt very anticlimactic to me, personally, after all the worrying I'd done. We walked in, met the principal, handed over our paperwork, and that was it. Done. G skipped back to the car, buckled up his own car seat straps, and chatted all the way home like he usually does. It felt so normal. That is the life we are excited to have - normal.
I had a hard adjustment coming back from Hawaii. It wasn't just the post-vacation blues, it was more. I was heartbroken, and missing my family. The time that I'd spent with my brothers, my nephew, and some old friends, had made me so acutely aware of what I was missing in my life. It also made me equally aware of what my future was looking like and how much I did not enjoy the view. I felt very unbalanced, very lonely, and shaken to the core with all the uncertainties I was facing in my life. It took some hard work with a great therapist, and I'm pretty sure I caused more than one of my friends to actually roll their eyes by the time I worked through a lot of old trauma as well as a whole new crop of fears, but I did it. I came through a really broken heart and fearful spirit to find a new path for myself. A journey that I am choosing deliberately.
There will always be sadness when I look back at my past, and letting go of hope leaves a discomfort that I'd rather not experience, but none of it has the power to stop me from making a future and being hopeful, unless I let it. I'm not willing to let it derail me though. I can have both: I can feel sad, and I can feel happy and hopeful. It is, as usual, about balance.
It was a long year. A year of battling demons and I wouldn't trade the demons we battled because the lessons we learned were worth it. Just the same? I'm glad to close the door on the past 12 months, and grateful to fling open the door and welcome in everything that the next 12 months will bring. I can't wait to write about it!
The past 12 months have been filled with journeys and travels I never planned on or prepared for, some I didn't even know I was taking until I'd come back, changed by the entire experience. G has traveled his own path as well, with tremendous growth. This past year has allowed both of us to leave behind the anxiety and insecurities we brought into it. We both are more settled, calmer at our core, and stronger. Sitting down to write this feels less like chalking up another month gone by, and more like having a whole new blog to write. There is excitement ahead for both of us and I fully intend for both of us to embrace all of it.
Today I registered the Gman for Kindergarten. It was a hard decision for me to make and I fretted over it for months. Having just turned 5, I could have held him back for a year to let him grow into himself a little more. He still struggles with good social skills among his peers but this boy is also reading, doing math, and his busy busy brain is bored. I can't really teach him the social skills he will learn in school, and the child wants desperately to go. So he'll go. Today we drove to his school, a place where he has gone to play in the playground and to ride his bike around the walkways and has some familiarity with. He was so excited, and yes, nervous too. It felt very anticlimactic to me, personally, after all the worrying I'd done. We walked in, met the principal, handed over our paperwork, and that was it. Done. G skipped back to the car, buckled up his own car seat straps, and chatted all the way home like he usually does. It felt so normal. That is the life we are excited to have - normal.
I had a hard adjustment coming back from Hawaii. It wasn't just the post-vacation blues, it was more. I was heartbroken, and missing my family. The time that I'd spent with my brothers, my nephew, and some old friends, had made me so acutely aware of what I was missing in my life. It also made me equally aware of what my future was looking like and how much I did not enjoy the view. I felt very unbalanced, very lonely, and shaken to the core with all the uncertainties I was facing in my life. It took some hard work with a great therapist, and I'm pretty sure I caused more than one of my friends to actually roll their eyes by the time I worked through a lot of old trauma as well as a whole new crop of fears, but I did it. I came through a really broken heart and fearful spirit to find a new path for myself. A journey that I am choosing deliberately.
There will always be sadness when I look back at my past, and letting go of hope leaves a discomfort that I'd rather not experience, but none of it has the power to stop me from making a future and being hopeful, unless I let it. I'm not willing to let it derail me though. I can have both: I can feel sad, and I can feel happy and hopeful. It is, as usual, about balance.
It was a long year. A year of battling demons and I wouldn't trade the demons we battled because the lessons we learned were worth it. Just the same? I'm glad to close the door on the past 12 months, and grateful to fling open the door and welcome in everything that the next 12 months will bring. I can't wait to write about it!
June 5, 2017
June 2017: I shouldn't have blinked
He isn't 5 for another 16 days but he's already shed all of his babyness and is a full blown "kid". He grew a full two inches taller since January. I can barely carry him anymore with his long legs all dangly and getting tangled up in mine. He likes privacy in the bathroom now. He makes fart jokes. He reads street signs and labels and instructions (but only when he wants to), he can look at the calendar and know how many days are left in the week or the month. When we go to the doctor for check ups, he walks right up and gives his name and date of birth to the receptionist. When he laughs, it is a wild, full bellied, bent over double kind of laugh. His arm will be in a cast for another 4 weeks but he's already riding his scooter and running down trails and playing mini-golf...because he isn't a baby, he's a boy. He made his own peanut butter sandwich the other day.
I thought that I would be ready for this. I thought that I was just holding on for this exact moment when he didn't need me so much and wasn't sucking the soul out of me with his demands. I thought that I just couldn't wait until he was a real kid and not a baby... but it happened so quickly. I think it happened when I blinked. I might need to avoid blinking for awhile - I don't want to blink and find out he's driving the car and is taller than me. It feels like it could happen that way.
I started this blog as a written journey of what it was like to give up my full time job and stay at home with this wild boy. I thought it would be about saving his spirit, about his journey through a trauma back into wholeness. I didn't have a plan for what to do with it after G was well and whole. I never even wrote as much as I meant to from the start! I also didn't plan that it was going to be about my own journey. I didn't even realize I had a journey to go through. I was so fully unprepared to embark on a journey of my own, that just like I blinked and found my baby had turned into a boy, I blinked and found myself right in the middle of a life I didn't know I was going to be in, how I got here, or where I'm supposed to go next. One day I was in Hawaii on vacation with my child, and a week later I was sitting in a vast wilderness of complicated emotions and trauma and brokenness all of my own.
I try to focus on how the universe brings balance to my life in so many ways. I feel like its just how my life has been cared for by God (or whatever universal vibe you might want to call it). Suddenly though, I was smack dab in a place where all the balance had shifted in such a way that it left me spinning, sideways, tipped over, and most definitely unbalanced. A friend told me some theories show that the universe tends toward chaos and that maintaining order (or balance) actually requires effort. Huh. I had to ponder that one for awhile. It makes sense that to create balance you might have to put forth energy to offset the chaos, but I've always felt that the balance occurring in my life was a gift for me to embrace. Then I blinked.
I'm a little lost right now, a little adrift, and trying to look for balance, or to create my own balance even. I have another thought though; maybe I'm approaching it wrong. Maybe its not so much about trying to find or create balance, but about allowing time to pass and shift and for the balance to occur on it's own. Possibly I've become a little too used to things happening when I want them too, or when I make them happen, and not enough accustomed to waiting it out. There is a lesson there, I just have to pay attention to it. I'll try not to blink and miss it.
I thought that I would be ready for this. I thought that I was just holding on for this exact moment when he didn't need me so much and wasn't sucking the soul out of me with his demands. I thought that I just couldn't wait until he was a real kid and not a baby... but it happened so quickly. I think it happened when I blinked. I might need to avoid blinking for awhile - I don't want to blink and find out he's driving the car and is taller than me. It feels like it could happen that way.
I started this blog as a written journey of what it was like to give up my full time job and stay at home with this wild boy. I thought it would be about saving his spirit, about his journey through a trauma back into wholeness. I didn't have a plan for what to do with it after G was well and whole. I never even wrote as much as I meant to from the start! I also didn't plan that it was going to be about my own journey. I didn't even realize I had a journey to go through. I was so fully unprepared to embark on a journey of my own, that just like I blinked and found my baby had turned into a boy, I blinked and found myself right in the middle of a life I didn't know I was going to be in, how I got here, or where I'm supposed to go next. One day I was in Hawaii on vacation with my child, and a week later I was sitting in a vast wilderness of complicated emotions and trauma and brokenness all of my own.
I try to focus on how the universe brings balance to my life in so many ways. I feel like its just how my life has been cared for by God (or whatever universal vibe you might want to call it). Suddenly though, I was smack dab in a place where all the balance had shifted in such a way that it left me spinning, sideways, tipped over, and most definitely unbalanced. A friend told me some theories show that the universe tends toward chaos and that maintaining order (or balance) actually requires effort. Huh. I had to ponder that one for awhile. It makes sense that to create balance you might have to put forth energy to offset the chaos, but I've always felt that the balance occurring in my life was a gift for me to embrace. Then I blinked.
I'm a little lost right now, a little adrift, and trying to look for balance, or to create my own balance even. I have another thought though; maybe I'm approaching it wrong. Maybe its not so much about trying to find or create balance, but about allowing time to pass and shift and for the balance to occur on it's own. Possibly I've become a little too used to things happening when I want them too, or when I make them happen, and not enough accustomed to waiting it out. There is a lesson there, I just have to pay attention to it. I'll try not to blink and miss it.
May 15, 2017
May: month 9/10ish, a trip to Hawaii, and everything we learned...
We took a trip, my little buddy and I, to visit family and to take a little retreat from our daily life and celebrate how far we've come over the past year. We escaped to paradise for two full weeks...Oahu to be exact. Two weeks in the sun and surf, where we woke up every day to throw on bathing suits and sunscreen and do whatever we wanted on our own timeline. Adventure after adventure combined with long lazy hours playing in warm sand and letting the ocean scrub our souls and renew us. Sun to warm our cold New England bones and give us a healthy glow to our skin. It was just as glorious as it sounds and I took a lifetimes worth of photos. We've only been home for 4 days but I can't stop looking over the pictures and dreaming about going back as soon as possible. It might have to be a yearly event! Watching G find the freedom and joy in such unstructured time refreshing. There were some interesting life lessons for both of us in our trip though. The universe likes to keep things in balance as I have come to firmly believe and this trip was no different.
One thing I learned was that I am only as alone in my single-parenthood as I make myself. I do not have the luxury of being surrounded by family but on our vacation I had the extra support of my older brother and my adult nephew as well as a couple of friends. None of whom have any experience with young children. It was interesting to see how these people interacted with G and how they navigated all their own boundaries and expectations with him. I felt overwhelmed at times, trying so hard to make sure my wild little guy behaved appropriately and respected other people and property, teaching him what it meant to be a guest somewhere and how to balance our "relaxation" with being in someone else's house and in their space; but seeing other people play with him in ways I never do and see him figure out how to engage in it and learn new ways of relating to others was a really cool experience for me as a parent. There were times I let down my guard a little, and times I overprotected and 'helicoptered' but I did get to see that it's ok for me to not manage every experience he has with other people, especially family and he learned that not every person is going to baby him and cater to him the way I have the tendency to do, and that it isn't a bad thing!
We had the unique opportunity to experience some good old fashioned emergency room drama also which allowed me to remember how to see the positive in any situation and to remind myself that I can be calm in a crisis and that while I am remarkably strong and independent it was a really good feeling to have my big brother join me at the hospital and to know I wasn't alone! G had the misfortune to fall while we were at the airport, just prior to boarding for our return home - and he broke his arm which got us an ambulance ride to the hospital (our first ever) and we missed our flight and had to rebook it for the following day. The entire situation was a very neatly wrapped package of the universe showing off it's intention for balance! From start to finish, every negative moment was precisely off set by another positive moment to the point that there was almost no moment in time where I felt panic or dread or worry... just amazing gratitude and peace. * As I am typing these very words, I am reminded to seek out the balance in another personal issue in my life that is causing me some heartache. The balance will be there, I just need to be aware of it and acknowledge it's presence. Thanks for the reminder!*
This isn't to say the entire trip was a nirvana of goodness - let me be real with you! I am an average working single mom who traveled 5000 miles with a very average and energetic almost 5 year old! We experienced boredom and crankiness, time change adjustments and picky eating, we had broken rules and consequences to sort out in an unfamiliar environment (and in public) while we were overtired and stressed. We had a budget we had to readjust due to lack of experience with traveling and some unexpected expenses. We had RAIN! There were moments when G's behavior pushed every button I had and drove me to the very brink of my patience, a time when my brother had to step in and get all up in G's face to reprimand him, a time when I cried... but there was never a time that made me wish we weren't on this amazing trip.
I think we are moving on from the trauma that set us on this journey a year and a half ago. G still talks about his experiences at daycare, saying "one school was mean to me and the other school I was kind of mean to them!" and those words are wholly his that he has chosen to use. We talk about how he wasn't "mean" but that he didn't feel safe and was trying to protect himself the only way a 3 and a 1/2 year old can. We talk about how he is safe now, and ways to keep himself safe or out of dangerous situations and how he can now tell me if he isn't safe and that I will fix it. We talk about how when he goes to school in the fall he will need to listen to his teachers and that sometimes you have to follow rules that you don't like to follow but no one gets to hit anyone else just because they don't like the rules and that applies for adults AND children. He has learned how to give an apology that is sincere. He has been to gymnastics class and learned that even when you don't follow directions, adults don't hit you (but that mom gets really disappointed and gives consequences!) He's been to the doctor (and the emergency room!) and experienced his own capacity for calming himself and that discomfort doesn't mean you aren't safe. He'll go to day camp this summer and work on some social skills. My G is impulsive, but he's also creative and smart and thinks a gazillion miles a minute. I have a feeling that making friends is going to be challenging for him at times but I trust in the balance of this universe and that his natural kindness and humor will draw the right kinds of friends into his life. I've been worried about sending him to Kindergarten this year and am closer to making the decision to send him. This trip showed me a lot of his strengths and also a lot of my own. I'm hopeful about what lies ahead of us both!
One thing I learned was that I am only as alone in my single-parenthood as I make myself. I do not have the luxury of being surrounded by family but on our vacation I had the extra support of my older brother and my adult nephew as well as a couple of friends. None of whom have any experience with young children. It was interesting to see how these people interacted with G and how they navigated all their own boundaries and expectations with him. I felt overwhelmed at times, trying so hard to make sure my wild little guy behaved appropriately and respected other people and property, teaching him what it meant to be a guest somewhere and how to balance our "relaxation" with being in someone else's house and in their space; but seeing other people play with him in ways I never do and see him figure out how to engage in it and learn new ways of relating to others was a really cool experience for me as a parent. There were times I let down my guard a little, and times I overprotected and 'helicoptered' but I did get to see that it's ok for me to not manage every experience he has with other people, especially family and he learned that not every person is going to baby him and cater to him the way I have the tendency to do, and that it isn't a bad thing!
We had the unique opportunity to experience some good old fashioned emergency room drama also which allowed me to remember how to see the positive in any situation and to remind myself that I can be calm in a crisis and that while I am remarkably strong and independent it was a really good feeling to have my big brother join me at the hospital and to know I wasn't alone! G had the misfortune to fall while we were at the airport, just prior to boarding for our return home - and he broke his arm which got us an ambulance ride to the hospital (our first ever) and we missed our flight and had to rebook it for the following day. The entire situation was a very neatly wrapped package of the universe showing off it's intention for balance! From start to finish, every negative moment was precisely off set by another positive moment to the point that there was almost no moment in time where I felt panic or dread or worry... just amazing gratitude and peace. * As I am typing these very words, I am reminded to seek out the balance in another personal issue in my life that is causing me some heartache. The balance will be there, I just need to be aware of it and acknowledge it's presence. Thanks for the reminder!*
This isn't to say the entire trip was a nirvana of goodness - let me be real with you! I am an average working single mom who traveled 5000 miles with a very average and energetic almost 5 year old! We experienced boredom and crankiness, time change adjustments and picky eating, we had broken rules and consequences to sort out in an unfamiliar environment (and in public) while we were overtired and stressed. We had a budget we had to readjust due to lack of experience with traveling and some unexpected expenses. We had RAIN! There were moments when G's behavior pushed every button I had and drove me to the very brink of my patience, a time when my brother had to step in and get all up in G's face to reprimand him, a time when I cried... but there was never a time that made me wish we weren't on this amazing trip.
I think we are moving on from the trauma that set us on this journey a year and a half ago. G still talks about his experiences at daycare, saying "one school was mean to me and the other school I was kind of mean to them!" and those words are wholly his that he has chosen to use. We talk about how he wasn't "mean" but that he didn't feel safe and was trying to protect himself the only way a 3 and a 1/2 year old can. We talk about how he is safe now, and ways to keep himself safe or out of dangerous situations and how he can now tell me if he isn't safe and that I will fix it. We talk about how when he goes to school in the fall he will need to listen to his teachers and that sometimes you have to follow rules that you don't like to follow but no one gets to hit anyone else just because they don't like the rules and that applies for adults AND children. He has learned how to give an apology that is sincere. He has been to gymnastics class and learned that even when you don't follow directions, adults don't hit you (but that mom gets really disappointed and gives consequences!) He's been to the doctor (and the emergency room!) and experienced his own capacity for calming himself and that discomfort doesn't mean you aren't safe. He'll go to day camp this summer and work on some social skills. My G is impulsive, but he's also creative and smart and thinks a gazillion miles a minute. I have a feeling that making friends is going to be challenging for him at times but I trust in the balance of this universe and that his natural kindness and humor will draw the right kinds of friends into his life. I've been worried about sending him to Kindergarten this year and am closer to making the decision to send him. This trip showed me a lot of his strengths and also a lot of my own. I'm hopeful about what lies ahead of us both!
February 21, 2017
Seven Months In; Fixing Broken Hearts
Today I had the privilege of caring for my good friends son B. At 19, B is about 5'8 and outweighs me by a solid 35 lbs. He's blond and blue eyed and is a charming goofball that I've known since he was about 8 months old. He also has autism. My buddy B goes to school and has after school programs and respite workers and weekend classes and more respite workers but during school vacation weeks there are long stretches that he needs care while his parents are both at work. I usually get to hang with B for a day or a few hours of a day in between the other puzzle pieces of other people that help out. Today was my day.
B and G don't always mesh very well. G likes to engage, to play, to ask questions, to get in your space and invade your soul (as 4 years old do). Fortunately, B very clearly will say, "I want to be alone" or "no more questions" and even "close the door". G doesn't quite get it, but we manage it well by going to B's house so he can hide away in his room with his ipad and keep his space (and soul) intact. We make it work and it usually is a great time for all of us. B is very routine oriented so today we had already laid out our plan of when and where for the day and long as B knew what time it was and what the plan was, he was good spirited and cheerful and ready for any adventure. But this isn't actually about B, it's about my little man and something that has changed.
As we were driving in the car today, B held up his two hands with the fingers curved into a heart shape and said, "Dionne, break your heart!" and proceeded to pull his hands apart and then laugh. It was then something he repeated consistently and frequently the rest of the day. I don't know where it came from but I quickly learned that it was best to respond with "yes you did!" or "oh no!"or "not again!" and laugh with him. Well, after the first few times when I said, "no! I'm sad, don't break my heart! I'll cry!" because I hadn't learned the "rules" yet (lol! there are no rules, but you just figure out what works for B and go with it!) G started joining in - but in the sweetest way. As soon as B would say, "Dionne, break your heart!" and before I could even fully say "yes you did!" G would chime in with his little voice from the back seat, "its ok momma, I fixed it!" Over and over, mile after mile, minute after minute, with B "breaking" my heart, and G fixing it.
Yes, G, yes... you fixed my heart...
...and it seems as if his heart is fixed too - that he could reach out with love and kindness to repair a broken heart is a leap for my sweet, funny, tender, tough, wild-boy... and now we have balance there at last.
B and G don't always mesh very well. G likes to engage, to play, to ask questions, to get in your space and invade your soul (as 4 years old do). Fortunately, B very clearly will say, "I want to be alone" or "no more questions" and even "close the door". G doesn't quite get it, but we manage it well by going to B's house so he can hide away in his room with his ipad and keep his space (and soul) intact. We make it work and it usually is a great time for all of us. B is very routine oriented so today we had already laid out our plan of when and where for the day and long as B knew what time it was and what the plan was, he was good spirited and cheerful and ready for any adventure. But this isn't actually about B, it's about my little man and something that has changed.
As we were driving in the car today, B held up his two hands with the fingers curved into a heart shape and said, "Dionne, break your heart!" and proceeded to pull his hands apart and then laugh. It was then something he repeated consistently and frequently the rest of the day. I don't know where it came from but I quickly learned that it was best to respond with "yes you did!" or "oh no!"or "not again!" and laugh with him. Well, after the first few times when I said, "no! I'm sad, don't break my heart! I'll cry!" because I hadn't learned the "rules" yet (lol! there are no rules, but you just figure out what works for B and go with it!) G started joining in - but in the sweetest way. As soon as B would say, "Dionne, break your heart!" and before I could even fully say "yes you did!" G would chime in with his little voice from the back seat, "its ok momma, I fixed it!" Over and over, mile after mile, minute after minute, with B "breaking" my heart, and G fixing it.
Yes, G, yes... you fixed my heart...
...and it seems as if his heart is fixed too - that he could reach out with love and kindness to repair a broken heart is a leap for my sweet, funny, tender, tough, wild-boy... and now we have balance there at last.
October 17, 2016
October 17th; Week 11 - Balance and Hope
The fall weather in New England is really indescribable. No picture I could ever take, and even the most professional photos that I've seen, can ever show the true glory of it. Much like the time I stood at the edge of a cliff on the Pacific Coast and watched a wave surging over rocky outcroppings over and over - and I cried at the amazing beauty of it... fall in New England awes me. Every day is different, the colors can change depending upon the sun and the cloud cover and what you see can be different from hour to hour. And all of it is a metaphor explaining the way I see my son. He is, in essence, fall in New England.
I was reading a book about parenting the Spirited Child (along with books about the Strong Willed child and the Sensitive Child, and the Explosive Child - do you see a theme here?) and while all of those words are easily applied to Griffin, they are not meant to be negative descriptions at all. They certainly can be viewed as negative, but looked at in a different light - perhaps with a little less cloud cover maybe? - they are words conveying strength, power, intuition, and energy. When I choose to look at G's actions in a positive light, I see so much more joy and potential than when I am seeing him through tired, worried, self-judging eyes.
I have had three friends impart a little of their perspective recently and it is interesting that as I look back on those moments of hearing their thoughts that the one friend whose comment was negative left me feeling beaten down and responsible for my sons energy - and the two perspectives that were positive allowed me the room to step back and see that G is such an amazing kid and I am, in fact, doing a really good job right here, right now, in this moment. Could I do better? Sure, I mean, can't we all? But once again I return to the absolute certainty that my journey here is about balance - and in the big picture, Griff and I are together creating a balance for him.
I was reading a book about parenting the Spirited Child (along with books about the Strong Willed child and the Sensitive Child, and the Explosive Child - do you see a theme here?) and while all of those words are easily applied to Griffin, they are not meant to be negative descriptions at all. They certainly can be viewed as negative, but looked at in a different light - perhaps with a little less cloud cover maybe? - they are words conveying strength, power, intuition, and energy. When I choose to look at G's actions in a positive light, I see so much more joy and potential than when I am seeing him through tired, worried, self-judging eyes.
I have had three friends impart a little of their perspective recently and it is interesting that as I look back on those moments of hearing their thoughts that the one friend whose comment was negative left me feeling beaten down and responsible for my sons energy - and the two perspectives that were positive allowed me the room to step back and see that G is such an amazing kid and I am, in fact, doing a really good job right here, right now, in this moment. Could I do better? Sure, I mean, can't we all? But once again I return to the absolute certainty that my journey here is about balance - and in the big picture, Griff and I are together creating a balance for him.
We are gearing up for Halloween. Costumes, candy, the
excitement... craft projects (which never go well when you mix an energetic and
quick thinking four year old with a hot glue gun and a multi-step process!) and
leaf collecting, apple picking, pumpkin decorating and the most perfect weather
ever have made the past couple of weeks mostly about fun. Seeing all of
the things I love viewed through Griffins joyful brown eyes is just more
evidence to my soul of the goodness of the universe, the love of God for me and
my family, and the balance of it all brings me hope. Hope may not be the feeling most people associate with fall, it may be surprising to hear that emotion linked to falling leaves and shorter days but that is yet another thing I've learned from Griffin: expectations aren't for us, everything is surprising, and hope is alive.
September 19, 2016
Monday 9/19 Week 7; fresh start
If you know me, and I mean know me, you will know that I'm not filling these posts with the nitty gritty hard stuff that has been happening daily. If you know me, you probably have listened to me whine and vent about the nitty gritty; about how hard things are and about the exhausting battle every day of trying to figure out what is going on and what I'm supposed to do about it and how I'm supposed to go about doing it with the resources I have. I don't fill these posts with all of that because it doesn't always reflect well on G and he has had enough people noticing his less than wonderful qualities and doesn't need more of that. My intention was to write about his successes, about how this year healed his hurts, about our journey through it. I didn't realize how much of this journey was going to be about me as much as it is about him, or that it was going to be important to talk about the ugly stuff as well as the pretty stuff (ah, balance, there is that word again!)...because the truth is that any journey is not just the destination, but the path you take to get there.
I have been in a funk and sort of spiraling downwards lately. Parenting is hard, parenting alone is an extra challenge, parenting alone and as a stay at home mom, with a limited circle of support has been a foreign country to me and I am not a very good traveler! It's exhausting to be with G all the time. When I was at home with him in the beginning, it was easy. He was a teensy helpless infant at at first. And then he was an aware and curious and engaged baby. He became a smart, quick thinking, active and funny toddler with a great sense of fun and enthusiasm. Then I went to work. He was 15 months at first, and maintained his adorable inquisitive and happy nature...until he didn't. When he was about 22 months, I began working full time, and have continued at full time up until my last day on August 4th of this year: two years and two months of being away from my son (who is now 4 years and 3 months old) for almost 10 hours a day, every weekday. Just about half his life.
Therefore, I was deliberate in my attention/time with him at every opportunity because my time was limited, a few hours each evening was all we had together aside from the weekend. Every moment counted and I measured it out in increments and made each one matter.
Now that I'm with him 24/7 I keep feeling like I need a break, I need some "me time" and time for some "self care" but I don't know how to get it or when it is going to happen, so - without deliberate intention - I have been emotionally disengaging from him (and from everything) as a way to get a break of some kind. I'm burying myself into scrolling Facebook, checking emails, making lists on Amazon, planning elaborate projects that I will realistically never be able to complete, chatting with friends in a different time zone...and not truly engaging with my son the way I intended, the way I should be, the way he needs me to.
It's a brave choice, what I did, to quit my job and stay home with my hurting son. And wise - a smart choice - to heal my small boy now, instead of trying to heal him later over scars and thick protective walls. But it wasn't necessarily thought out very well. I focused on finances mostly - trying to decide if I actually COULD stay home and still pay my rent and utilities and feed my kids. Perhaps I should have spent an equal amount of time planning out everything else: how much attention he needs, how much 'me-time' I need, and how to balance those; along with his need for mental stimulation and challenge, and for social interaction, and how I was going to meet all those needs all by myself...or IF I could meet all those needs all by myself. Today I am wallowing, smack dab, in a pit of self doubt, of worry, of fear...while my beloved boy asks me "why?" and "how come?" and "how?" and "what does that mean?"on a regular basis. I need time to think about an answer. But there is no time available. I need a re-do, a do-over, a fresh start. There isn't one though. And that is the whole point of this. I can't re-do it, not any of it. I can't just have a "fresh start" or a re-do, I have to just keep going in spite of it all.
So while there is no fresh start, there is this: the ugly messy nitty-gritty dirt of helping a small boy regain trust in adults, relearn boundaries and safety and security, and re-establish hierarchy and rules and the black and white truths that sometimes rules US instead of us ruling them... and so maybe it is a fresh start after all...
Therefore, I was deliberate in my attention/time with him at every opportunity because my time was limited, a few hours each evening was all we had together aside from the weekend. Every moment counted and I measured it out in increments and made each one matter.
Now that I'm with him 24/7 I keep feeling like I need a break, I need some "me time" and time for some "self care" but I don't know how to get it or when it is going to happen, so - without deliberate intention - I have been emotionally disengaging from him (and from everything) as a way to get a break of some kind. I'm burying myself into scrolling Facebook, checking emails, making lists on Amazon, planning elaborate projects that I will realistically never be able to complete, chatting with friends in a different time zone...and not truly engaging with my son the way I intended, the way I should be, the way he needs me to.
It's a brave choice, what I did, to quit my job and stay home with my hurting son. And wise - a smart choice - to heal my small boy now, instead of trying to heal him later over scars and thick protective walls. But it wasn't necessarily thought out very well. I focused on finances mostly - trying to decide if I actually COULD stay home and still pay my rent and utilities and feed my kids. Perhaps I should have spent an equal amount of time planning out everything else: how much attention he needs, how much 'me-time' I need, and how to balance those; along with his need for mental stimulation and challenge, and for social interaction, and how I was going to meet all those needs all by myself...or IF I could meet all those needs all by myself. Today I am wallowing, smack dab, in a pit of self doubt, of worry, of fear...while my beloved boy asks me "why?" and "how come?" and "how?" and "what does that mean?"on a regular basis. I need time to think about an answer. But there is no time available. I need a re-do, a do-over, a fresh start. There isn't one though. And that is the whole point of this. I can't re-do it, not any of it. I can't just have a "fresh start" or a re-do, I have to just keep going in spite of it all.
So while there is no fresh start, there is this: the ugly messy nitty-gritty dirt of helping a small boy regain trust in adults, relearn boundaries and safety and security, and re-establish hierarchy and rules and the black and white truths that sometimes rules US instead of us ruling them... and so maybe it is a fresh start after all...
September 12, 2016
Monday 9/12; Week 6
When you do not have a job, and aren't actively seeking one, the days can all run into each other with little variation, a Wednesday feeling the same as a Saturday for instance. I suppose if I were a super scheduled routine oriented person it might be different. I have tried that route - the first few days of staying home with G I sought out all the local activities we could go to on any given day and put them all on the calendar. Some days it seemed we had to choose between two or even three activities that were all happening at the same time. As much as G likes to go out and do things though (he is super smart and has a very very busy brain that leads him into trouble when he is bored) he also does not like to have to be on a schedule, preferring to go at his own pace, transition when he feels ready, and to have a lot of control over his own self. Don't we all? I suppose there is benefit in learning how to adapt to enforced routines, scheduled transitions, etc in preparation for school and life etc but right now is OUR time. Time for G to get to know himself, trust his environment, trust me, and gain back some control that he lost when an adult decided to steal that away him.
As I've moved through the past 5 weeks I've battled with myself about how to navigate this time. Should I be structuring our days? Should I be limiting kindle/tv screen time? Should I be doing specific preschool activities with him? Should we join a class of some kind? Go to story-time? Do educational activities at museums? I mean, isn't that what GOOD parents do? According to Pinterest, I should be cooking with him, setting up sensory play stations, doing science experiments with food coloring and dish soap, or I could be journaling with him, we could learn music together on youtube, we could volunteer somewhere - oh all the ways I am failing my son are right there on Pinterest, let me tell you! But after last week, in which we did absolutely nothing, every single day, and in which G woke up when he wanted to, napped in the car on a drive to pick up H (or didn't nap at all) and went to bed whenever he was so tired that his behavior resembled flying monkeys... I think its again coming down to balance. Some days neither of us have the energy to pull it all together in time to get to a story hour, or I don't feel like dealing with the unknown factors of going to a place we've never been to do an activity he might not even enjoy. Watching G zoom around the backyard talking to himself as he imagines superheroes fighting off giant spiders, or seeing him come inside to get his own water by getting his stool and climbing up to reach the tap, or listening to him explain a drawing he's made of a submarine with wings and rocket boosters and a special port for 'the guys' to get out, or building lego's with him seem like a pretty good way to spend our time. We go grocery shopping and make friends with anyone who will smile back. We go to the playground and practice sharing and taking turns. We read signs and labels. We are doing a pretty good job I think.
This weekend did show me, again, that I do need to watch out for G's level of over stimulation and his overall mood before subjecting ourselves to anything extra. Going to the playground at 3:30 in the afternoon on a hot day when he didn't nap and was already fractious was probably not my wisest choice. But no blood was shed so I call that a win! He is still fighting off a cold from last week complete with stuffy nose and occasional cough, and he has a couple of mosquito bites which he has big reactions to so we will still keep it low key again this week. I do have a new employee orientation coming up and I feel a little anxiety about the upcoming training I have to do and the amount of time I'll need to be away from him and how that will play out but I have trusted the universe with all things lately so I'm trusting it with this thing as well. I'll need some consistent childcare for 4 days in a row for a couple of weeks and I am hopeful I can find something that works for G without disrupting him too much. He doesn't do very well when his older siblings are in charge and I'm sure I know why, but getting them on board to make things better hasn't been very successful!
So here we are. Week 6. G doesn't talk about preschool at all. He's mentioned one or two friends but only once or twice. He's so amazing and I"m so glad I get to spend this time with hims whether its unstructured or routine, whether it's boring errands or pinterest worthy activities. Watching him grow and change is a gift, even on the bad days when both of us cry. Ever since the day I made him sit on the couch with the little guy I was nannying so they could 'work it out', he suggests that as a resolution to just about every problem. If I say, "G, I really need you to stop/start XYZ so how can we come up with a solution?" He replies, "how 'bout we sit on the couch and work it out?" Makes me laugh every time! And we do, though. We sit on the couch, we talk, and we work things out. I love that this has become something he sees as a valuable tool. I feel like we are just entering a stage where I can start seeing more positive changes as he feels more and more settled into our new way of living. There were donuts for breakfast today so life feels pretty good to him! There will be carrots at lunch though, because, balance...
As I've moved through the past 5 weeks I've battled with myself about how to navigate this time. Should I be structuring our days? Should I be limiting kindle/tv screen time? Should I be doing specific preschool activities with him? Should we join a class of some kind? Go to story-time? Do educational activities at museums? I mean, isn't that what GOOD parents do? According to Pinterest, I should be cooking with him, setting up sensory play stations, doing science experiments with food coloring and dish soap, or I could be journaling with him, we could learn music together on youtube, we could volunteer somewhere - oh all the ways I am failing my son are right there on Pinterest, let me tell you! But after last week, in which we did absolutely nothing, every single day, and in which G woke up when he wanted to, napped in the car on a drive to pick up H (or didn't nap at all) and went to bed whenever he was so tired that his behavior resembled flying monkeys... I think its again coming down to balance. Some days neither of us have the energy to pull it all together in time to get to a story hour, or I don't feel like dealing with the unknown factors of going to a place we've never been to do an activity he might not even enjoy. Watching G zoom around the backyard talking to himself as he imagines superheroes fighting off giant spiders, or seeing him come inside to get his own water by getting his stool and climbing up to reach the tap, or listening to him explain a drawing he's made of a submarine with wings and rocket boosters and a special port for 'the guys' to get out, or building lego's with him seem like a pretty good way to spend our time. We go grocery shopping and make friends with anyone who will smile back. We go to the playground and practice sharing and taking turns. We read signs and labels. We are doing a pretty good job I think.
This weekend did show me, again, that I do need to watch out for G's level of over stimulation and his overall mood before subjecting ourselves to anything extra. Going to the playground at 3:30 in the afternoon on a hot day when he didn't nap and was already fractious was probably not my wisest choice. But no blood was shed so I call that a win! He is still fighting off a cold from last week complete with stuffy nose and occasional cough, and he has a couple of mosquito bites which he has big reactions to so we will still keep it low key again this week. I do have a new employee orientation coming up and I feel a little anxiety about the upcoming training I have to do and the amount of time I'll need to be away from him and how that will play out but I have trusted the universe with all things lately so I'm trusting it with this thing as well. I'll need some consistent childcare for 4 days in a row for a couple of weeks and I am hopeful I can find something that works for G without disrupting him too much. He doesn't do very well when his older siblings are in charge and I'm sure I know why, but getting them on board to make things better hasn't been very successful!
So here we are. Week 6. G doesn't talk about preschool at all. He's mentioned one or two friends but only once or twice. He's so amazing and I"m so glad I get to spend this time with hims whether its unstructured or routine, whether it's boring errands or pinterest worthy activities. Watching him grow and change is a gift, even on the bad days when both of us cry. Ever since the day I made him sit on the couch with the little guy I was nannying so they could 'work it out', he suggests that as a resolution to just about every problem. If I say, "G, I really need you to stop/start XYZ so how can we come up with a solution?" He replies, "how 'bout we sit on the couch and work it out?" Makes me laugh every time! And we do, though. We sit on the couch, we talk, and we work things out. I love that this has become something he sees as a valuable tool. I feel like we are just entering a stage where I can start seeing more positive changes as he feels more and more settled into our new way of living. There were donuts for breakfast today so life feels pretty good to him! There will be carrots at lunch though, because, balance...
September 9, 2016
Friday 9/9; Day 25...insight and gratitude
It was a long 3 day holiday weekend. And then, life happened.
***Just for the sake of authenticity, I want to be clear that G is not living in a standard 2 parent household with a sibling group and extended family resources. His life isn't a picture perfect life that would make a painful, scary, daycare situation something he could adjust to with any grace or adaptability. There are a lot of other stressors in G's life that contribute to the fears and the struggle for control and the generalized defensiveness and unpredictability in his behaviors.***
There are often so many things that pop up that I think, "ooh! I have to blog that because it's important!" but by the end of any given day, I'm exhausted mentally, a little tired physically, and just worn out spiritually. I'm not just the primary parent for G, I'm the ONLY parent. I bear the whole burden, and G isn't my only kiddo. I worry about my oldest who lives 3000 miles away from me, I wake up in the middle of the night consumed by thoughts about my 19 yo son living a mere 15 minutes away but who isn't one for a regular chatty phone call and rarely even replies to a text message, and then there is my sweet H, my 18 yo daughter who lives with me and G and who needs just as much as G. The three of us form a semi functional unit but she takes as much of my time and energy as does G, just in a different way. I am one momma, split in 4 ways, and none of those 'ways' is even, and some of them sort of overlap, and it leaves almost nothing left.
I realize that in the overall scheme of things, I'm one of the lucky ones. G's dad is financially responsible. He is a fair and decent man and lets me have full decision making over parenting, and comes around to see G regularly. My other three kids are healthy, employed, and two of them are paying their own way thru community college. Although I just quit my job for very valid reasons, that alone is a privilege I can't dismiss. I have safe housing, with a yard. I have a new, reliable, car to drive. I have health insurance. Oh my god, I have health insurance. And after last fall and winter, I can not be grateful ENOUGH for health insurance. It may not be perfect, but as often as we were at the urgent care clinic and even the ER, and as many prescriptions as we went through... I'm grateful. So with all of these advantages, including a college education of my own and some quality (if not quantity!) friends, I try not to despair over my small boy who continues to be an enigma to me.
This week has brought us a cold and a cough, a phase of baby talk and whining, a lot of discussion about control and choice and even about status: he is the child and I am the adult. This week brought some potty issues and some 'helpless victim' behavior on G's behalf, some 'putting my foot down' on my behalf, and some thoughts about what it means to have unstructured time to fritter away, to have boredom, to waste time and BE restless, and what the benefits are in having that opportunity. This week, I didn't structure much at all. I let G indulge in his Kindle. I let him eat when he wanted to eat, and sleep (or not) mostly when he wanted to. It wasn't all roses, let me tell you!
I'm undergoing some major household restructuring to make our 1 bedroom apartment workable for 3 people - including all my needs for alone time and private space as well as H's need for privacy and a place to do schoolwork, and G's need for playspace. So I was...busy. Busy packing up things, moving things, re-organizing things...being creative, and overwhelmed, and frustrated, and being tired. We had some frustrating moments, all 3 of us really, and some really sweet and tender moments, and some super fun moments as well. Balance, it's all in the balance, as the universe keeps insisting and keeps bringing to my attention. And now I think, how do I teach G about balance? Perhaps this is the thing he needs most to learn about - the balance of good and bad, the balance of trust and mistrust, the balance of success and failure, the balance of hunger and fullness...of living, and working, and playing...and paying. How do I show that to a FOUR YEAR OLD? How do I 'not' show that to a four year old? I've prayed a lot this week. And I know I've been heard. Thank you for listening.
***Just for the sake of authenticity, I want to be clear that G is not living in a standard 2 parent household with a sibling group and extended family resources. His life isn't a picture perfect life that would make a painful, scary, daycare situation something he could adjust to with any grace or adaptability. There are a lot of other stressors in G's life that contribute to the fears and the struggle for control and the generalized defensiveness and unpredictability in his behaviors.***
There are often so many things that pop up that I think, "ooh! I have to blog that because it's important!" but by the end of any given day, I'm exhausted mentally, a little tired physically, and just worn out spiritually. I'm not just the primary parent for G, I'm the ONLY parent. I bear the whole burden, and G isn't my only kiddo. I worry about my oldest who lives 3000 miles away from me, I wake up in the middle of the night consumed by thoughts about my 19 yo son living a mere 15 minutes away but who isn't one for a regular chatty phone call and rarely even replies to a text message, and then there is my sweet H, my 18 yo daughter who lives with me and G and who needs just as much as G. The three of us form a semi functional unit but she takes as much of my time and energy as does G, just in a different way. I am one momma, split in 4 ways, and none of those 'ways' is even, and some of them sort of overlap, and it leaves almost nothing left.
I realize that in the overall scheme of things, I'm one of the lucky ones. G's dad is financially responsible. He is a fair and decent man and lets me have full decision making over parenting, and comes around to see G regularly. My other three kids are healthy, employed, and two of them are paying their own way thru community college. Although I just quit my job for very valid reasons, that alone is a privilege I can't dismiss. I have safe housing, with a yard. I have a new, reliable, car to drive. I have health insurance. Oh my god, I have health insurance. And after last fall and winter, I can not be grateful ENOUGH for health insurance. It may not be perfect, but as often as we were at the urgent care clinic and even the ER, and as many prescriptions as we went through... I'm grateful. So with all of these advantages, including a college education of my own and some quality (if not quantity!) friends, I try not to despair over my small boy who continues to be an enigma to me.
This week has brought us a cold and a cough, a phase of baby talk and whining, a lot of discussion about control and choice and even about status: he is the child and I am the adult. This week brought some potty issues and some 'helpless victim' behavior on G's behalf, some 'putting my foot down' on my behalf, and some thoughts about what it means to have unstructured time to fritter away, to have boredom, to waste time and BE restless, and what the benefits are in having that opportunity. This week, I didn't structure much at all. I let G indulge in his Kindle. I let him eat when he wanted to eat, and sleep (or not) mostly when he wanted to. It wasn't all roses, let me tell you!
I'm undergoing some major household restructuring to make our 1 bedroom apartment workable for 3 people - including all my needs for alone time and private space as well as H's need for privacy and a place to do schoolwork, and G's need for playspace. So I was...busy. Busy packing up things, moving things, re-organizing things...being creative, and overwhelmed, and frustrated, and being tired. We had some frustrating moments, all 3 of us really, and some really sweet and tender moments, and some super fun moments as well. Balance, it's all in the balance, as the universe keeps insisting and keeps bringing to my attention. And now I think, how do I teach G about balance? Perhaps this is the thing he needs most to learn about - the balance of good and bad, the balance of trust and mistrust, the balance of success and failure, the balance of hunger and fullness...of living, and working, and playing...and paying. How do I show that to a FOUR YEAR OLD? How do I 'not' show that to a four year old? I've prayed a lot this week. And I know I've been heard. Thank you for listening.
September 2, 2016
Friday 9/2; Day20
We are helpers, it's what we do.
That's what I said to G today. I said, "We help people! We are kind, we give what we can and we help!" and I smiled brightly into his little face.
Later on, around 7:30pm, as we got into the car from our last stop before home, after we'd nanny'd at a house more than an hour from us, after we'd stopped and helped a stranded family on a busy main road and lent our phone, our time, and some extra toys and wipes to their sweet baby, after we'd helped with a runaway grocery carraige and some dropped change, G said to me: "Tomorrow is our day right? We can be in our 'jama's and not do any things? We don't hafta take care of anyone else?"
My heart broke.
My eyes opened wide.
My whole soul flooded with awareness, with heartbreak, with love, with regret and peace and deep deep sorrow all at once.
This "healing" my son? Its as much for me as it is for him. The lesson in it all is this: priority.
I need to take care of G. I need to heal G. I need to stop taking in and taking on all the stray 'needs' of others and focus on ONE thing. Right now that is G. I can't go back and fix the mistakes and screwed up priorities from my past, but I can acknowledge and be aware of what my priorities are NOW. I can say "no"; I can say, " I'm sorry, not at this time" and I can say, "oh that's too bad, I wish you luck!" and I can hold my sweet boy in my arms and listen to him tell me about having chocolate chips in my eyes and how yummy that would be, and I can hold his hand as we walk along the sidewalk, pointing out flowers, heart shaped rocks, and acorns with funny 'hats'. I can tuck him in to HIS bed, with stories HE chooses, from HIS bookshelf, and I can lay down and gaze into his chocolate chip eyes and see the whole universe reflected there. I can take care of him, because I am a helper, it's what I do. He needs me. I need him. And that is how this day ends - G and I needing each other, and me deciding that his needs supercede all others.
Bring on Day 21 - I got this!
That's what I said to G today. I said, "We help people! We are kind, we give what we can and we help!" and I smiled brightly into his little face.
Later on, around 7:30pm, as we got into the car from our last stop before home, after we'd nanny'd at a house more than an hour from us, after we'd stopped and helped a stranded family on a busy main road and lent our phone, our time, and some extra toys and wipes to their sweet baby, after we'd helped with a runaway grocery carraige and some dropped change, G said to me: "Tomorrow is our day right? We can be in our 'jama's and not do any things? We don't hafta take care of anyone else?"
My heart broke.
My eyes opened wide.
My whole soul flooded with awareness, with heartbreak, with love, with regret and peace and deep deep sorrow all at once.
This "healing" my son? Its as much for me as it is for him. The lesson in it all is this: priority.
I need to take care of G. I need to heal G. I need to stop taking in and taking on all the stray 'needs' of others and focus on ONE thing. Right now that is G. I can't go back and fix the mistakes and screwed up priorities from my past, but I can acknowledge and be aware of what my priorities are NOW. I can say "no"; I can say, " I'm sorry, not at this time" and I can say, "oh that's too bad, I wish you luck!" and I can hold my sweet boy in my arms and listen to him tell me about having chocolate chips in my eyes and how yummy that would be, and I can hold his hand as we walk along the sidewalk, pointing out flowers, heart shaped rocks, and acorns with funny 'hats'. I can tuck him in to HIS bed, with stories HE chooses, from HIS bookshelf, and I can lay down and gaze into his chocolate chip eyes and see the whole universe reflected there. I can take care of him, because I am a helper, it's what I do. He needs me. I need him. And that is how this day ends - G and I needing each other, and me deciding that his needs supercede all others.
Bring on Day 21 - I got this!
August 29, 2016
Monday 8/29; Day 16...and balance
In my daily life, I try to focus on balance. Balance good nutrition with ice cream, a late night with a next day nap, sadness and grief with some joy and laughter. If you pay attention enough, you'll recognize the ebb and flow of each day and then when things feel really bad for whatever reason, you can hold onto the knowledge that the balance of it all will return. It helps me to get thru those tough times, to know that something smoother is just around the corner. However, I tend to forget that when things are smooth and pretty, there's usually some storms brewing ahead. Thank you universe!
Saturday night at dinner I served meals to two of my own kiddos (G and H) and the two that I'm nannying, plus J (G's dad). Six people total. And, let me remind you, this was not some special planned dinner party! It was one mom feeding a rotating cast of offspring on a hot, summer night. I pulled off two vegetarian plates, one gluten free/salicylate free plate, one picky eater plate, and food enough for all. We all sat at the table together and ate and talked and shared and there was a moment of absolute completeness in my heart (save for the fact I was missing two others of my own, plus a couple of J's kids) but it just felt full and sweet and safe and like it was supposed to be exactly the way it was. I said many many words of gratitude in my mind. And my imagination is running wild with this joy and with how to recreate it in the future.
and then there's the balance...
I have been frustrated with some of G's behaviors lately. They mostly seem to be when the nanny-kids are around. One person said maybe it was a jealousy issue. I don't think so, but I'm not discounting it entirely. I feel more like it's related to trust and safety - about how much G trusts me and feels safe with me overall, and somehow when I am in charge of more children, he begins to feel threatened somehow, or maybe his inability to be flexible creates conflict and THEN he feels fear about how that will play out without trust in me to navigate it appropriately? This ultimately manifests in behaviors where he argues with everything I say and really tries to be in control of everything he can and then gets irrationally upset when he is not in charge. Also? Everything in life is nooooot fairrrrrrrr; just in case you were wondering. It's not fair that sometimes he can't be in charge of who is allowed to talk and what the topic is. The sky isn't blue, its not, it's not at all. And it isn't only 2:00 in the afternoon, it isn't, no, no it's not at ALL, the clock is wrong, it's NOT FAIR. It is mentally exhausting, for both of us. Honestly, it exhausts me and makes it really hard to enjoy any time with him because its such a barrage and onslaught of negativity that when he IS being the sweet and tender boy that I know, I'm still seething and irritated as hell. Oh Universe, are you still laughing? Of course you are... This nanny gig is one loooong stretch.
These behaviors are only obvious and having an impact when the nanny kids are around, the rest of the time he is his usual sweet, funny self. And thus, I remain perplexed.
The reason I think it has to do with trust and feeling safe is because these kinds of behaviors were new to him and popped up after he'd been in the daycare center where he was mistreated. The Child Protective Services program (where I was directed to once I figured out he was being hurt) said that those kinds of oppositional behaviors toward a parent are typical in abuse situations and can stem from a child losing trust in the adult who sent them into the situation where they were hurt. Ugh. So, yes, my son lost trust in my ability to keep him safe. I am a loser. The truth hurts. As soon as I pulled him from that place, however, I saw a distinct lessening of those behaviors and he started getting calmer, sweeter, and more cooperative, and more affectionate. It was a sweet time, although it was very brief. Once I'd found a new place for him to go to, a lot of those behaviors began surfacing again. I do temper my observation with the fact that he is often easily overwhelmed, gets tired and over stimulated quickly, and needs a lot of 'alone time'; however those negative and distrustful behaviors went beyond the exceptions.
I took him to a therapist. I talked to his pediatrician (for the record, she is the same pedi ALL my kids have had, a very trusted female, mom, and professional whom I've had positive difference of opinions with and highly value/trust her opinion; and is someone who knows me and my family). I talked to friends, and non-friends, and I researched mental health issues in preschoolers, and in abused kids, and in average kids. I researched my own parenting, my triggers, my habitual responses, how to change my parenting/triggers/habitual responses... and Cheezncrackers!!! Nothing shed light on these particular behaviors then, or now.
So if you have a suggestion, or opinion, or some sort of outside insight? Please... please speak up. Maybe it's just jealousy. pffft.
Anyway... balance. It was awesome, and then it wasn't... and everyday that I nanny these sweet kids, it's the same. There is laughter, and there is frustrated growling. There are battles for control, battles for authority and position, and subdued, penitent cuddles and apologies. There is intense connection tempered by animalistic separation. Oh universe, trusting you is the hardest thing...and when I think of how much I personally believe in and trust my own God, it's even more of a challenge to just throw my hands up and say, "It's all up to you, cuz I have NO power here at all!" But what else can I do that I haven't already tried?
And maybe, somehow, that is in fact the essential point that I need to embrace. Trust. Hope. Believe. Honor. Accept. That's a lot for day 16...and for a 4 year old...
Saturday night at dinner I served meals to two of my own kiddos (G and H) and the two that I'm nannying, plus J (G's dad). Six people total. And, let me remind you, this was not some special planned dinner party! It was one mom feeding a rotating cast of offspring on a hot, summer night. I pulled off two vegetarian plates, one gluten free/salicylate free plate, one picky eater plate, and food enough for all. We all sat at the table together and ate and talked and shared and there was a moment of absolute completeness in my heart (save for the fact I was missing two others of my own, plus a couple of J's kids) but it just felt full and sweet and safe and like it was supposed to be exactly the way it was. I said many many words of gratitude in my mind. And my imagination is running wild with this joy and with how to recreate it in the future.
and then there's the balance...
I have been frustrated with some of G's behaviors lately. They mostly seem to be when the nanny-kids are around. One person said maybe it was a jealousy issue. I don't think so, but I'm not discounting it entirely. I feel more like it's related to trust and safety - about how much G trusts me and feels safe with me overall, and somehow when I am in charge of more children, he begins to feel threatened somehow, or maybe his inability to be flexible creates conflict and THEN he feels fear about how that will play out without trust in me to navigate it appropriately? This ultimately manifests in behaviors where he argues with everything I say and really tries to be in control of everything he can and then gets irrationally upset when he is not in charge. Also? Everything in life is nooooot fairrrrrrrr; just in case you were wondering. It's not fair that sometimes he can't be in charge of who is allowed to talk and what the topic is. The sky isn't blue, its not, it's not at all. And it isn't only 2:00 in the afternoon, it isn't, no, no it's not at ALL, the clock is wrong, it's NOT FAIR. It is mentally exhausting, for both of us. Honestly, it exhausts me and makes it really hard to enjoy any time with him because its such a barrage and onslaught of negativity that when he IS being the sweet and tender boy that I know, I'm still seething and irritated as hell. Oh Universe, are you still laughing? Of course you are... This nanny gig is one loooong stretch.
These behaviors are only obvious and having an impact when the nanny kids are around, the rest of the time he is his usual sweet, funny self. And thus, I remain perplexed.
The reason I think it has to do with trust and feeling safe is because these kinds of behaviors were new to him and popped up after he'd been in the daycare center where he was mistreated. The Child Protective Services program (where I was directed to once I figured out he was being hurt) said that those kinds of oppositional behaviors toward a parent are typical in abuse situations and can stem from a child losing trust in the adult who sent them into the situation where they were hurt. Ugh. So, yes, my son lost trust in my ability to keep him safe. I am a loser. The truth hurts. As soon as I pulled him from that place, however, I saw a distinct lessening of those behaviors and he started getting calmer, sweeter, and more cooperative, and more affectionate. It was a sweet time, although it was very brief. Once I'd found a new place for him to go to, a lot of those behaviors began surfacing again. I do temper my observation with the fact that he is often easily overwhelmed, gets tired and over stimulated quickly, and needs a lot of 'alone time'; however those negative and distrustful behaviors went beyond the exceptions.
I took him to a therapist. I talked to his pediatrician (for the record, she is the same pedi ALL my kids have had, a very trusted female, mom, and professional whom I've had positive difference of opinions with and highly value/trust her opinion; and is someone who knows me and my family). I talked to friends, and non-friends, and I researched mental health issues in preschoolers, and in abused kids, and in average kids. I researched my own parenting, my triggers, my habitual responses, how to change my parenting/triggers/habitual responses... and Cheezncrackers!!! Nothing shed light on these particular behaviors then, or now.
So if you have a suggestion, or opinion, or some sort of outside insight? Please... please speak up. Maybe it's just jealousy. pffft.
Anyway... balance. It was awesome, and then it wasn't... and everyday that I nanny these sweet kids, it's the same. There is laughter, and there is frustrated growling. There are battles for control, battles for authority and position, and subdued, penitent cuddles and apologies. There is intense connection tempered by animalistic separation. Oh universe, trusting you is the hardest thing...and when I think of how much I personally believe in and trust my own God, it's even more of a challenge to just throw my hands up and say, "It's all up to you, cuz I have NO power here at all!" But what else can I do that I haven't already tried?
And maybe, somehow, that is in fact the essential point that I need to embrace. Trust. Hope. Believe. Honor. Accept. That's a lot for day 16...and for a 4 year old...
August 27, 2016
August 27; Day Whatever
I don't even know.
I can't even.
I just...ugh.
So there's that... at least...
I think we stayed in pajamas until 2 or 3 pm on Thursday. I totally lost track of the day. I guess it isn't necessarily bad to do that once in awhile, but the pull to do this same thing every day is strong, and THAT is not healthy either physically or mentally. At some point in the day I noticed G being a little restless. So we got dressed and went out to pick up the new car seat we had ordered online for store pick up. We did that, and dropped H off at work, and then came home and put together the new car seat only to realize that it was NOT the right seat for us...and we planned on a return to the store for an exchange. We had also ordered internet service, with H (and FOR H) earlier in the day, so we wrote those dates on our calendar as "big events". I don't even know what we ate for dinner, probably something supremely healthy like cheesesticks and yogurt and saltines...with a side of carrots. Or something like that.
Later on we picked H up from work and then we went to bed. Just another day, just another day in paradise...
Friday was different. Late on Thursday I had connected with an online friend and made plans to meet up with her on Friday for the first time. So Friday morning we woke up and got moving early and quickly! It was a lovely sunny drive on backroads, with sightings of wild turkeys, pig farms, horses and cows, and overall incredible views. Meeting up with someone who is essentially a stranger but yet who has heard you rant and vent and express emotion all over the interwebs can have an awkward lead up to someone as introverted as me. I admit to all kinds of worry and a distinct denial of emotion as a coping method. But then...reality!
Meeting someone I only know online was such fun! Seeing someone live and in person vs Facebook pictures was amazingly seamless and without any awkwardness at all! There were hugs, and laughter, and a communal joy at seeing our boys connect and become partners in crime immediately. Introducing her spouse and my tag-a-long adult daughter eased any tension as well; we were just two women, with wild children and tag a long family members, who connected over shared global perceptions and non-judgemental hearts. It was a great experience...
It was a long day though, and after coming home, dropping H off to work, returning the carseat and buying groceries, we got home in time to pick H back up from work and then devolve into the crankiness of underfed, overtired, too-taxed energy levels, and hormonal women. The day started great, ended very poorly, but overall balanced out well for everyone. Playtime, work time, errand time, and all the detritus in between.
We were all glad to go to sleep on Friday night, with hopes and dreams for a brighter Saturday!
G had such a balance of fun, boredom, interest, irritation and frustration, excitement and stimuli, and even some sadness. And all of those emotions/feelings happened WITH me and with my guidance/boundary setting, and my supervision. I did a good job. I was NOT perfect, ohhhhh no, in fact, I was FAR from perfect, but I was THERE. That matters. That matters a LOT. A lot more than perfection I think, just being there for him was a critical development.
So I'm grateful. Grateful for balance, grateful for being able to 'be there' for my son. Grateful for new friends and new experiences. I'm grateful for being with H as well as G and grateful I had the ability to move my body, drive a significant distance, walk a significant amount of steps, and feel love and acceptance.
Friday and day 15; the end of two full weeks of being at home with my son... and all I feel is gratitude...and exhaustion!
I start my nanny gig again Saturday evening. Wish me luck!
I can't even.
I just...ugh.
So there's that... at least...
I think we stayed in pajamas until 2 or 3 pm on Thursday. I totally lost track of the day. I guess it isn't necessarily bad to do that once in awhile, but the pull to do this same thing every day is strong, and THAT is not healthy either physically or mentally. At some point in the day I noticed G being a little restless. So we got dressed and went out to pick up the new car seat we had ordered online for store pick up. We did that, and dropped H off at work, and then came home and put together the new car seat only to realize that it was NOT the right seat for us...and we planned on a return to the store for an exchange. We had also ordered internet service, with H (and FOR H) earlier in the day, so we wrote those dates on our calendar as "big events". I don't even know what we ate for dinner, probably something supremely healthy like cheesesticks and yogurt and saltines...with a side of carrots. Or something like that.
Later on we picked H up from work and then we went to bed. Just another day, just another day in paradise...
Friday was different. Late on Thursday I had connected with an online friend and made plans to meet up with her on Friday for the first time. So Friday morning we woke up and got moving early and quickly! It was a lovely sunny drive on backroads, with sightings of wild turkeys, pig farms, horses and cows, and overall incredible views. Meeting up with someone who is essentially a stranger but yet who has heard you rant and vent and express emotion all over the interwebs can have an awkward lead up to someone as introverted as me. I admit to all kinds of worry and a distinct denial of emotion as a coping method. But then...reality!
Meeting someone I only know online was such fun! Seeing someone live and in person vs Facebook pictures was amazingly seamless and without any awkwardness at all! There were hugs, and laughter, and a communal joy at seeing our boys connect and become partners in crime immediately. Introducing her spouse and my tag-a-long adult daughter eased any tension as well; we were just two women, with wild children and tag a long family members, who connected over shared global perceptions and non-judgemental hearts. It was a great experience...
It was a long day though, and after coming home, dropping H off to work, returning the carseat and buying groceries, we got home in time to pick H back up from work and then devolve into the crankiness of underfed, overtired, too-taxed energy levels, and hormonal women. The day started great, ended very poorly, but overall balanced out well for everyone. Playtime, work time, errand time, and all the detritus in between.
We were all glad to go to sleep on Friday night, with hopes and dreams for a brighter Saturday!
G had such a balance of fun, boredom, interest, irritation and frustration, excitement and stimuli, and even some sadness. And all of those emotions/feelings happened WITH me and with my guidance/boundary setting, and my supervision. I did a good job. I was NOT perfect, ohhhhh no, in fact, I was FAR from perfect, but I was THERE. That matters. That matters a LOT. A lot more than perfection I think, just being there for him was a critical development.
So I'm grateful. Grateful for balance, grateful for being able to 'be there' for my son. Grateful for new friends and new experiences. I'm grateful for being with H as well as G and grateful I had the ability to move my body, drive a significant distance, walk a significant amount of steps, and feel love and acceptance.
Friday and day 15; the end of two full weeks of being at home with my son... and all I feel is gratitude...and exhaustion!
I start my nanny gig again Saturday evening. Wish me luck!
August 11, 2016
Day Four(ish) - and the story of why...
Tuesday was day two. At some point it ended, as all days eventually do. We didn't get to accomplish any of the important things on our list, but we acquired a lizard. Accidentally. Sort of. Its a long story involving Amazon Prime, UPS, an electronic delivery for H and a rush to leave the house for a last minute call to work, and G screaming, "A Lizard! A Lizard!" It culminated in a trip to Petco. Because...well...because G named it Liz and then what else could I do but buy it a cage and some crickets? And then we went to bed. When we woke up, it was Wednesday, Liz was still alive and in captivity, and everything seemed right with the world. And that is how it goes I think, this thing called "life".
Wednesday was day three. Day three was a day it was too wet to play, so we stayed in the house all the humid, hot, day (thank you Dr. Suess) No, not really, not ALL day...but kind of. It rained hard, which we desperately needed, and so we played with playdough and made messes, and played in the big boxes that Amazon and UPS had delivered the previous day (no more lizards thank goodness!) and then finally we clambered into the car so H could practice driving.
Practice is a funny word to use for driving. I mean, its not like you can make a mistake, like, say, get in a wreck, and then just "undo" it and start over. No, no, driving doesn't work that way. Just saying. But we did it. I mean, we practiced, not got in a wreck...so we practiced not getting in a wreck? H drove and I breathed and it was fine. We shopped at a far away Trader Joes (because momma needed a little "Two Buck Chuck" after that drive) and then dropped G off to visit with his daddy, and then H drove home again, in a torrential downpour complete with blinding sun glare and rush hour traffic. We were very glad to get home. Both of us equally. When G came back later on, we were both deep in our own electronic devices just decompressing from the "practice". And then we went to bed. When we woke up it was Thursday, Liz was still alive and captive, and everything seemed right with the world. I'm sensing a pattern here.
Today is Thursday. It is (was?) DAY FOUR. My fourth day of being a stay at home mom. I've been here before, but just not with THIS kid. It's not unfamiliar to me, but it's entirely different all at the same time. This is the story of why...
I have 3 other kids, the youngest of whom is 18 and I was at home with her all her entire elementary school years before I started working, at home with her and her two older siblings. I was home, married, driving a minivan and going to play dates and PTA meetings, and running kids to soccer and karate and tee-ball. Until. Until I wasn't.
When G came along, I was a single mom, working hard at two jobs for minimum wage. I utilized a food bank. I had food stamps and WIC. I got assistance for heat and utilities. He was 16 months old when I finally got a good, stable, well paying job. I was so grateful for that job! I was proud of my work, of my employer, of how well I was doing, proud of paying my own way and not using assistance of any kind. When G was just turning 3 I moved him from the small home daycare he was at because I thought he was bored... I found a great preschool with a science and nature based curriculum with outdoor trails and a really good balance of social skills and academics. The director had been running it for so long, that I actually knew her from when my older kids had gone to some summer camp programs she ran. How much safer could it get? Apparently a lot. I'm not really sure of the whole story, but as best I can tell, that person had a problem with G and began to take out her frustrations with him physically. I know she used her fingers to "thump" or "flick" him on the head, I know she grabbed his arm and forced him into a chair, to bully him into her office, to pull him... I know she shook him, by his shoulders. I know she bent down and got right in his face and made a "mad face"...and I know she used her hand to grab my baby's cheeks in between her thumb and other fingers and "pinch" or "squeeze". G used the word "punch" but he demonstrated a "pinch"... I hope it was only a pinch.
For seven months my boy was there - seven months before I understood what was happening, seven months of being mistreated by an adult, of being told by ME to "try harder buddy" and "you have to listen to your teacher" and "you just have to behave". Seven months before I actually HEARD my boy and understood what he was trying to tell me. I will never stop hurting for those months.
I pulled G out of that center in one swift moment - it was a dark winter night after picking him up as usual, but when he relayed some instance from the day it was like a light bulb switching on for me. One moment from the back seat, safely snug in his $300 European carseat (because no expense was too great when it came to keeping him safe - oh the irony...) and he was done there. I left a message on their answering machine, cancelled the check I'd just written for the 'two weeks in advance, payable the Monday prior to the two weeks time frame', called the licensing board, and never looked back.
It was a rocky 3 weeks before I found him a new place. My boss was accommodating and patient, but I could see her generosity running out by the last week. The new place was fresh, and bright, with open rooms and a director/teacher who had also had her own child mistreated somewhere...surely she would 'get it'. And I think she did, to the extent she could. But my G? He was a little too bruised in the spirit. A little broken in the feelings of "trust" and "safety". And he wasn't gonna take shit from no one!
It took another 7 months of hard times, of behaviors and infractions and modifications, of being sent home...before I could choose to listen to the fact that he needed ME. He needed me to be with him all the time, to be the one to set the limits and enforce them. He needed me to show him, tangibly, that he was safe. That he was a good boy, a loved boy, and that he could make friends and have friends and that he could trust his momma to BE there to keep him safe, even when he didn't behave appropriately. Because when you are 4? Sometimes you don't behave appropriately. Sometimes even when you are an adult you don't behave appropriately...but I need to be the one to be there when that happens, because even if I get frustrated, even if I yell, I will always keep him safe. I will not hurt his body, his trust, his faith. So I quit my job and am staying home to take care of my son. He is hurt in the deepest place inside and there is nothing that can heal it save love...and patience...and the every day efforts of rebuilding trust and a deep faith in safety. That's what I'm here for.
So on today, day four, we hung out in our pj's. We had pancakes for breakfast because G asked for them. We ate cheese-sticks and crackers with pink lady apples for lunch and G tried snow peas and decided they were pretty good. Almost as good as carrots, maybe. We sat outside, zipped up inside our mosquito netted canopy in the sweltering humid New England evening, safe from mosquito's, and played Old Maid by the light of citronella candles and our own love. We ate peanut butter sandwiches and read The Cat In The Hat. He was on his Kindle too much, but thats ok. There is a balance to everything and today was a day for electronics and carbohydrates and simple entertainment. Tomorrow is another chance to do bigger things. Today? Today was just perfect.
Wednesday was day three. Day three was a day it was too wet to play, so we stayed in the house all the humid, hot, day (thank you Dr. Suess) No, not really, not ALL day...but kind of. It rained hard, which we desperately needed, and so we played with playdough and made messes, and played in the big boxes that Amazon and UPS had delivered the previous day (no more lizards thank goodness!) and then finally we clambered into the car so H could practice driving.
Practice is a funny word to use for driving. I mean, its not like you can make a mistake, like, say, get in a wreck, and then just "undo" it and start over. No, no, driving doesn't work that way. Just saying. But we did it. I mean, we practiced, not got in a wreck...so we practiced not getting in a wreck? H drove and I breathed and it was fine. We shopped at a far away Trader Joes (because momma needed a little "Two Buck Chuck" after that drive) and then dropped G off to visit with his daddy, and then H drove home again, in a torrential downpour complete with blinding sun glare and rush hour traffic. We were very glad to get home. Both of us equally. When G came back later on, we were both deep in our own electronic devices just decompressing from the "practice". And then we went to bed. When we woke up it was Thursday, Liz was still alive and captive, and everything seemed right with the world. I'm sensing a pattern here.
Today is Thursday. It is (was?) DAY FOUR. My fourth day of being a stay at home mom. I've been here before, but just not with THIS kid. It's not unfamiliar to me, but it's entirely different all at the same time. This is the story of why...
I have 3 other kids, the youngest of whom is 18 and I was at home with her all her entire elementary school years before I started working, at home with her and her two older siblings. I was home, married, driving a minivan and going to play dates and PTA meetings, and running kids to soccer and karate and tee-ball. Until. Until I wasn't.
When G came along, I was a single mom, working hard at two jobs for minimum wage. I utilized a food bank. I had food stamps and WIC. I got assistance for heat and utilities. He was 16 months old when I finally got a good, stable, well paying job. I was so grateful for that job! I was proud of my work, of my employer, of how well I was doing, proud of paying my own way and not using assistance of any kind. When G was just turning 3 I moved him from the small home daycare he was at because I thought he was bored... I found a great preschool with a science and nature based curriculum with outdoor trails and a really good balance of social skills and academics. The director had been running it for so long, that I actually knew her from when my older kids had gone to some summer camp programs she ran. How much safer could it get? Apparently a lot. I'm not really sure of the whole story, but as best I can tell, that person had a problem with G and began to take out her frustrations with him physically. I know she used her fingers to "thump" or "flick" him on the head, I know she grabbed his arm and forced him into a chair, to bully him into her office, to pull him... I know she shook him, by his shoulders. I know she bent down and got right in his face and made a "mad face"...and I know she used her hand to grab my baby's cheeks in between her thumb and other fingers and "pinch" or "squeeze". G used the word "punch" but he demonstrated a "pinch"... I hope it was only a pinch.
For seven months my boy was there - seven months before I understood what was happening, seven months of being mistreated by an adult, of being told by ME to "try harder buddy" and "you have to listen to your teacher" and "you just have to behave". Seven months before I actually HEARD my boy and understood what he was trying to tell me. I will never stop hurting for those months.
I pulled G out of that center in one swift moment - it was a dark winter night after picking him up as usual, but when he relayed some instance from the day it was like a light bulb switching on for me. One moment from the back seat, safely snug in his $300 European carseat (because no expense was too great when it came to keeping him safe - oh the irony...) and he was done there. I left a message on their answering machine, cancelled the check I'd just written for the 'two weeks in advance, payable the Monday prior to the two weeks time frame', called the licensing board, and never looked back.
It was a rocky 3 weeks before I found him a new place. My boss was accommodating and patient, but I could see her generosity running out by the last week. The new place was fresh, and bright, with open rooms and a director/teacher who had also had her own child mistreated somewhere...surely she would 'get it'. And I think she did, to the extent she could. But my G? He was a little too bruised in the spirit. A little broken in the feelings of "trust" and "safety". And he wasn't gonna take shit from no one!
It took another 7 months of hard times, of behaviors and infractions and modifications, of being sent home...before I could choose to listen to the fact that he needed ME. He needed me to be with him all the time, to be the one to set the limits and enforce them. He needed me to show him, tangibly, that he was safe. That he was a good boy, a loved boy, and that he could make friends and have friends and that he could trust his momma to BE there to keep him safe, even when he didn't behave appropriately. Because when you are 4? Sometimes you don't behave appropriately. Sometimes even when you are an adult you don't behave appropriately...but I need to be the one to be there when that happens, because even if I get frustrated, even if I yell, I will always keep him safe. I will not hurt his body, his trust, his faith. So I quit my job and am staying home to take care of my son. He is hurt in the deepest place inside and there is nothing that can heal it save love...and patience...and the every day efforts of rebuilding trust and a deep faith in safety. That's what I'm here for.
So on today, day four, we hung out in our pj's. We had pancakes for breakfast because G asked for them. We ate cheese-sticks and crackers with pink lady apples for lunch and G tried snow peas and decided they were pretty good. Almost as good as carrots, maybe. We sat outside, zipped up inside our mosquito netted canopy in the sweltering humid New England evening, safe from mosquito's, and played Old Maid by the light of citronella candles and our own love. We ate peanut butter sandwiches and read The Cat In The Hat. He was on his Kindle too much, but thats ok. There is a balance to everything and today was a day for electronics and carbohydrates and simple entertainment. Tomorrow is another chance to do bigger things. Today? Today was just perfect.
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