Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Good Day, Slightly Annoying Ending


Today was a really good day. I am not going to let the picture above bother me. Why should it bother me that Akila and I bought these shoes this morning, and she colored them with a marker when I put her to bed? I am the fool who didn't find the marker in her room. I am the one who has been procrastinating going through her room with a fine tooth comb for the past month. I should know better. Many friends say that their "normal" kids would do something like this. Why don't my other three really do things like this? Why does Akila doe this type of thing so often. Oh yeah, her brain is damaged. I must remind myself. I am not annoyed. I am not annoyed.
We really did have a good day. It started off with a good night of sleep (for all of us). Imani and Hezekiah woke me up at 6:30 to ask if they could go downstairs to play. I said sure and fell back asleep. I woke up at 7:00 to those two plus Zeke playing nicely. Akila had an appt. with the psychologist this morning so I was going to let her sleep in a bit. Hezekiah has been an absolute bear to wake up the past several months and has been waking up really crabby. So I was very happy to not have to wake him and to see his good mood. Akila slept in all they way to 7:15. Unbelievable. Normally I wake them between 7:00 and 7:15, and they are dead asleep. But she was in a good mood and we all had a good morning.
Akila's Dr. appt wasn't until 10 so we stopped at Target to run some errands. We got some socks and the new shoes featured in the above picture. We then went to her first appt. with the psychologist (I met with him a few weeks ago). It was very interesting. Akila was very well behaved and I have a hard time not being a pessimist. It can be so frustrating to hear them asking her what happens at school that makes her so mad by the time she gets home from school. I wanted to blurt out that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that her wiring is all messed up and that there is no huge issue with a bully or something going on at school. But I totally get his need to dig and get to know her. We are trying a somewhat new twist on a behavior chart and it was motivating her today and for that I am thankful. It only cost a couple of hundred dollars. Siiiggh.
She had after school and missed the activity bus, again (she did last week as well). I had just started the grill and some baked potatoes when I received the call, but didn't let it annoy me. Michael was home early and hanging with the other three. When Akila and I got home, he had actually got the food all started and almost done, and without me asking him to. What a great day. I even thought bedtime was going smoothly..... until Akila came out to tell us that Hezekiah was bugging Zeke (the other three are currently sharing a room, and Akila can't stand any noise from their room-it's lots of fun). I went upstairs to deal with it when Akila told me that she decided she didn't want plain white shoes and was coloring them. In the store, of course, she insisted on the plain boring white ones. I took them, and the marker, and came to the computer. I am not annoyed.

2 comments:

the johnson crew said...

i'm sorry barb, but that picture made me laugh. wow, the Lord gives you a lot of patience. - thanks for your email. i would love to get together with you soon.

Heather said...

I found your blog through Kari's. My 11-yr-old FASD daughter sounds very much like yours. I, too, have had folks tell me, "oh, my child would do that, too." The difference is that their children make the mistake once and learn from it. Ours do it over, and over, and over.....