Wednesday, August 20, 2008

child #1 is off to school, child #2 has started homeschool, and child #3 keeps pooping...

cj went off to the 3rd grade today (sniff), while em started her homeschooling, and mr had a meeting with his teacher (the poor guy).
em enjoyed her day. it was very relaxed and fun and we just introduced her to a bit of what she'll be doing (which isn't much!) yesterday she was grilling me with nonsense questions about a bird in the yard (refer to RAD list), so today she interviewed said bird and wrote its life story in her journal. later after she gets used to me being her teacher (and loving her even if she makes a mistake), i'll tell her that twila is not spelled twilla and leaves isn't spelled levse. :) she also helped at the store by using the calculator to add or multiply prices.
we met mr's teacher and gave him a brief warning/intro to RAD. thanks to laura for this great, short fact sheet! he hadn't heard of RAD, but was willing to work with us. i was hoping to save him the frustration of dealing with a child who's smart one minute and dumb the next, but how can a non-RAD exposed human really get it?? you RADical moms know it seems like it's on purpose, like they want to be in trouble (i used to believe that), but it's a fear reaction. he really can't think under stress, he'd love to be able to! anyway, mr's first full day (they go all day, every other day) is friday. i think he's more stressed than we realize because he's pooped his pants twice in two days! he never does that and said it was an accident, but it's one of those questionable accidents. he's still in diapers, only at night (where i swear he pees all night long! he's a deep sleeper.) but we've not had any kind of potty issues forever. so that and other random odd behavior makes me think he's a bit nervous, though he won't admit that. probably doesn't even realize it. he has a hard time with sad and mad, not sure he understands nervous!
while at school, we visited cj at lunch where many of the girls begged me to let em come back to school and keep cj home! :) she was really happy to see her friends again though, and very sad when we got home. did ya catch that????? em was sad! (only a RADical mom would say yay!) so as a good mom, i helped her "feel her feeling" (which appears almost rubbing it in, but isn't) and then we celebrated that she had a feeling.
tonight as i was tucking her in, she said mom i want to go back to school. so i said sure, of course you will, next year for 4th grade. she said no, i want to go now. i said well honey, you can when you're ready, but you need to be good at this. and i rubbed noses with her, to which she got nervous and did her crazy giggle. i said you need to get used to having a good mommy and be able to relax on my lap and when i do this. and rubbed her cheek gently, to more uncomfortable giggling. and i ended with a positive, but i'm sure you'll get there. you can do it! of course, i guarantee she'll be sleepwalking down here soon. it's every night lately, but always, always after any hard night.
so, a pretty good first day of school at our house, except for the poop. :)

4 comments:

Torina said...

Oh ick. Poop in the pants is not something I have had to do. Icko. Poop in other fun places, yes :) But not in the pants. I hope it gets better for him. It is so hard for our kids with RAD who don't know how to deal with stress. And hard for us, too :)

Alyssa's Mom said...

Yeah for the teacher being on board!

You are doing a fabulous job!

Perspective RAD said...

omg -- I have so been through sending my RAD kid to school. They don't even know what it is. I had a Vice Principal compare it to diabetes, and a counselor tell me I should just be happy my son was getting by. And anything outside of Behavior Modification they don't even register. I have issues with our public school system down here in hillbilly world. Can you tell? So, we start homeschooling in Sept.

You really have the BCI stuff down. I'm encouraged and find myself coming more into an understanding of how to better apply those principles. Is there a website I can pull that pdf link from. That's good stuff.

Anonymous said...

Hello there - I have 3 RAD kids of my own. My littlest 5 1/2 now is still in pullups at night (YEAH!!!) and once when I thought she was ready to go without at night, I checked her around 11pm - soaking wet, bed linens, all her clothes, pillow, etc. I woke her and asked her if she was wet, "yes, Mom", "are you cold?", "Yes, Mom", "does it bother you?", "No, Mom"....she rolled over to return to sleep...(I rolled her back to get her changed...)

Then I realized, it doesn't bother her to be cold and wet. She probably lived most of her 3 1/2 years in the orphanage in a cold, wet state - and that was normal...

She used to smear the poop on the walls...She used to scream while sitting on the potty because she didn't want to use it...

We have had two weeks, no pullups at night, till tonight. Last night she wet again. That's okay - we are progressing. Back to the pullups for another month or two.

Thanks for doing your site.