Wow... summer has flown by this year!

     It has been a long long long time since I last wrote in this blog! It's always such a bummer when I think about how long its been. I always want to write and keep it up, but my energy level just hasn't been up to writing. I am working part time again this summer and then of course the ups and downs of living with a son with bipolar sometimes just drains me. However, I must say that this summer has been one of the best with JC. He has really been pretty stable. Not fantastic and nothing wrong, but at least we haven't had too many surprises :)
     Now its that time of year again that so many of parents of kids with special needs hate and love all at the same time. We love it, because it means routine, consistency, less sibling fighting, less tantrums, etc all day at home. We hate it because of the uncertainty of teachers, assistants, other kids at school, which class/classes they are going to end up in, how are they going to react to it all, etc. It is so hard for parents of children who do not have special needs to fully grasp and understand the difficulties and amount of strain these kids place on a family, but it also hard for them to get how much more we love these kids.  JC drives me absolutely crazy, bonkers and angry sometimes, but its during the times he does or says something uncharacteristically kind, warm and loving or hilariously funny that makes me realize how much I love this kid. JC does have a heart of gold that just gets so mixed up in the ups and downs of his illness. He takes so much longer to learn and internalize things that "normal (as if!)" people just "get" when they are told.
     Today we had friends come over for a kind of end of summer pool party at our neighborhood clubhouse. I would take a guess that most if not all of the parents who had kids coming today did not worry a single minute about how their kids would react to the pool and the other people there. For me, although I guess I hide it pretty well, I worried and thought and planned with JC a LOT about what to expect today. Not only did we have the pool party planned, but we had to go to 8th grade registration before the pool. Talk about a lot of stimulation being thrown in all in one morning!!! I was so pleased when the pool was pretty much empty or near empty (other than  us) almost the whole time we were there. More kids = more stimulation = more racing thought, racing heart and anxiety for JC. Its hard for him to know how to get the other kids to like him and want to play with him. It makes me sad for him to see how my other two kids easily just PLAY and chat and socialize without much effort and JC makes SO much effort, but just doesn't remember to use the lessons he's been taught to act the "right" way and make a friend. Anyways, I was happy that JC did remarkably well today given all that was going on in his young life for him. A couple minor incidences in the pool with others, but nothing major, no big blow ups and storming off towards home, no foul language... so I considered today quite a success for JC. And... I actually still feel pretty energetic :) Having good days is good for all of us.
     Well, another quick thought... JC wants to and we are allowing him, to play football for middle school this  year. I am a little concerned about the other "guys" and how they will react to him being on the team. He physically just doesn't have it in him to play football, but his desire and enthusiasm are really contagious. I hope they will encourage him so he keeps encouraging them instead of making fun and tearing him down. The coaches are and the others will be made aware of JC's bipolar and are in support of him playing this year as is his very involved principal, Mr. Wilhite. So, I guess I will just ask you to pray. Pray for me to not be anxious in JC's playing football and social graces as well as for JC to be able to get stronger and a little more sure of himself as he plays this year. GO HUSKIES!!!
Well, it's a long one, so I better sign off! Love to you all! Muah!

The Bus

So, JC has decided to make it extra hard this year for us as far as transportation goes... First off, the stinkin' "special needs" bus that he has to ride on because the regular one is just way to spastic and overwhelming for him to ride, wants to pick him up for school at 6:45 a.m. This is a FULL HOUR before school starts, which is not even 2 minutes away from our house. So.... we had made the decision to just take him in the morning rather than fight with him and us to get up that early! But we still have had him take the bus home. All year he has complained about his bus driver being mean, he has purposely skipped the bus coming home, occasionally missed it due to the bus leaving without him because of his "para" and him taking too long to get there. BUT... he has not gotten in trouble on the bus... Until now! He decides he really doesn't like this bus driver and while getting on the bus to come home on Friday, he tries to get all the other student to not like this driver too. He called him some pretty foul names and was just angry in general that the bus driver was telling him to do something JC just really didn't want to do. We are really working with him and respecting authority!!! It (along with the language) has been an issue for a long time and nothing seems to work. He does feel bad about it afterwards, but... too late, you know! Anyways, back to Friday afternoon..... when JC pretty much refused to do what the driver asked and called him one last disrespectful name, the driver kicked him off the bus. JC got really mad then, because we have talked to him many many times about missing the bus. It is hard when I am working and D is sometimes working to go and pick him up. We count on the bus to drive him home and then he goes in thru the garage. We don't want him to walk because one of the streets is a busy street and well, with JC you just don't know where he'd end up or who he'd pick a fight or argument with!! So.... when JC got off the bus, he hit the side of the bus with his fist, just about broke his hand. The school of course called us, D went down to pick him up and talk with his principal (a really great guy!) about the situation. The bus driver had suspended JC from riding the bus for the next 3 school days. We wanted more than just a suspension because that doesn't say anything to JC, but it does make it hard for us. So... the principal and D came up with an idea and called the bus "depot". They were astonished that a parent wanted something more than a suspension!!! They said usually parents just call to complain and get their kid back on the bus, how sad isn't it.... the way we "enable" our kids sometimes. Well, D and the principal had decided that JC should go to the bus depot and clean the buses after school for the three days of suspension. This still would put a hinderance on us having to take him down there, but at least maybe it would get JC's attention a little. Today was day 2 of the bus cleaning. JC does NOT like it, but I sure hope he gets something out of it. We have been putting verses on the walls and mirrors for the last few months, so we changed them out with new ones this week :) They all have to do with attitude, respect and watching our mouths! We... just keep praying, just keep praying... that's what we do, we pray! Anyways, one more day of bus cleaning and then his PSR worker will go over the last few days with him and talk to him some more about the "incident"... one of these days, it has to sink in, ya know!
Well... off to bed, early to work! Night all! Jesus loves you!