Day 1- 30 days of being thankful

I figure I'll jump on the bandwagon since everyone else is doing it, too. I just hope I can keep up!

Day 1:

I'm thankful for Zoloft. Not many people know that I'm on medication, but how do you think I cope with my son's issues? I'm overwhelmed and have no help with him. I can't handle his outbursts, but the Zoloft helps me to cope a little easier. If I didn't have the Zoloft, I don't think I would be able to find anything at all to be thankful for.

What kind of outbursts? Well, let me give a small example. Last night, we went to my aunt's house for Halloween. The child would NOT stay still. He got yelled at a bit by my dad, which made things worse. I shouldn't really say yelled at. My father sternly told him to relax. It didn't happen. As soon as my dad turned around, he was running around again. While we were out Trick-or-Treating, he made a few comments that were rather rude. The first house we went to, he said to the lady who gave him a piece of candy, "I already have that. Can't you give me something else? Gosh." Umm, what?! Thank GOD we knew that lady. She's lived there for years, and we used to go over there when I was little. She laughed it off, saying boys will be boys. She has a son also, who was 5 at one point, and said things like that as well. 

A few houses down, he had the audacity to say to another lady, "You talk like a boy. Did you know that? You sound just like one." That was it. We were done. We went to a few more houses for the girls to finish up, and then back to my aunts. Her neighborhood is quiet, but there was no surprise when we saw a State Trooper roll through. Just monitoring to make sure the neighborhood stays quiet. It was rainy, so there weren't many little ones out. Lots of teens though. I assume they were making sure the teens weren't bothering the little ones, or causing any trouble to the neighborhood in general. It actually worked to our advantage because we warned AJ that we would flag the cops down if he was rude or disrespectful again. He behaved for the rest of the time.

Once back at our Aunt's, he was hyper, running around, jumping, somersaulting, just on the go. Some more talking to, a bit of yelling, a threat or two, and that was it. When it was time to leave, there were more tears. More whines in the car. Once home, it was a whole different ballgame. He. Was. AWFUL. The moment we walked in the door, it was meltdown central. He didn't want to brush his teeth. He didn't want to put PJs on. He wanted to sleep with S. He slept in her room the night before due to Sandy. So his mattress was still in her room. He refused to get off of it so that I could put it back on his bed. When I lifted it and made him fall off it, he jumped on it to knock it out of my hands. It didn't work. I carried it back, put it on his bed, and he trashed his room because he was so angry. After he FINALLY changed in his jammies and brushed his teeth, he then refused to lay down. Despite me telling me 100 times to lay down. I gave up. I called for my husband, and walked over to S's room to put her to sleep. AJ having the issues he does, cannot handle when she is put to bed first. But he knows that if he pulls this night-time stalling crap, I *WILL* put her to bed first.

So, I did just that. When I finished putting her to bed, he started with his whining: "But you put her to bed first! I told you not to ever put her to bed first!" (the 'first' is a screech/whine). Well, when you act like that, and refuse to lay down, I'm moving on. I have 3 kids to put to bed, and if you decide you want to pitch a fit, then I will put someone else to sleep while you do what you need to. I gave him 2 options; either he lays down, or I walk out and he puts himself to sleep. I informed him that G needed to sleep as she was downright exhausted, so whatever choice he makes, he needs to be quiet. He decided to lay down. He whined for a bit, but with the fan on providing some background noise, G slept through it.

Today didn't go much better. I discovered that he ripped my toilet seat up- it's one of those soft ones. He did it last night because he was mad at me. He took G's necklace and 'accidentally' dropped it down the vent. It was no accident. It's a Mardi Gras type necklace, so it would have made a lot of noise when it hit the vent. Not to mention, chances would have been super slim for it to fall straight down the vent. He dangled it over, and slowly let it go. I could have replaced it. Likely wouldn't have cost more than $1 or $2. But the point is, it wasn't his. He had no right to take her necklace and stick it down the vent. By the time hubby came home from work, I was done. Since he had to go pick up his mother, I made him take AJ. I was done. 

When they finally came back, he flipped out because I put S's dinner in his bowl. Scream, cry, stomp, whine. Whole 9 yards. He finally shut up long enough to eat. When he finished, I sent them up to put on jammies and brush. Since G was already asleep, I asked them to keep their voices down. Of course they couldn't.  He was too busy yelling at her and she was too busy antagonizing him. And of course, they woke G up. As I'm trying to hurry up and put them to bed, he's deciding to go through the whole list of excuses. Nope, I'm done. Tomorrow had better be a better day. Good night. Door's shut, don't call to me. 

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is EXACTLY why I need the Zoloft. Because without it, who knows how I would have handled it.