Put that in your notes and review it!

Ahhhhh.....


Isn't it interesting that being 'emotional' is considered more of a negative thing than a positive one? I guess that in the military world, being unemotional would be the grease that silences the squeaks and would seem to make everything run more smoothly. Until, of course, the mechanism explodes or implodes as the case may be.


I readily admit that I'm quite emotional about whatever it is that's going on with T. Last year, I got teary eyed at both of the parent teacher conferences. That, coupled with with my frustration level at medical appointments here, has now apparently gotten me the label of 'emotional' or 'very emotional'. How do I know this, you may be wondering?


Yesterday, we had an appointment with Family Advocacy (FA). FA has to sign off on T because he's attending the pre school child development classes before we can actually get our orders to PCS (relocate to a new base). Any child with special needs (such as speech therapy) has to get approval before you can move. I don't understand why FA has to be involved, but there are a lot of things that go on here that I don't understand. Like why so many of the women are so bitchy and hateful. But I digress.


Yesterday the kids had their enrichment classes from 9-12. Our FA appt was at 1:30, so that gave me enough time to pick them up, feed them some lunch, and meet R at FA. T, who just gets the worst reaction/allergies/whatever to season changes here, has been coughing like a madman since Sunday. I made an appointment with the pediatrician to make sure that it wasn't something more serious, like strep, because T's tonsils are just huge. Huge enough that doctors and dentists alike comment on them constantly. The pediatrician prescribed a steroid medication to reduce the swelling/irritation in T's throat, but otherwise announced that he was fine.

Unfortunately, T was not thrilled with the idea of taking the meds. He spit out the first dose and part of the second. Since you only get enough medication to fill the recommended dosing instructions, this left us in a bind. The pediatrics office is below the FA office, so I figured that I could just pop in and ask for more medicine. Of course, it took longer to do everything yesterday than I expected, and the kids and I had to hurry straight to FA once they finally finished eating. Not surprisingly, even though we were on time for our FA appointment (read: 15 min. early), we sat and waited and sat and waited and sat and waited.


The problem with sitting and waiting with T and S is that by the time you are called back for the appointment, the kids are totally bored with whatever activity we've brought them and are starting to antagonize each other and everyone around them for fun. Yesterday is a perfect example. When we finally got to go back for our appt, S runs into the office and literally jumps onto the black leather chair. T dives on right behind her. They make this big show of hugging and kissing each other which gets 'aww, that's so sweet' comments from the FA staff that are with us, so the kids turn it up a notch and start performing what can only be considered as circus tricks. Jumping, posing, flopping, wrestling - you name it. And they get louder, and louder, and louder. Since the focus is now on the conversation the adults are trying to have, the kids wind each other up and start flinging themselves into the furniture, pushing each other off the chair, screaming that they've been pushed....you can just imagine.


At this point, Major Psychologist turns to me and asks something about 'have I felt like I needed mental help or assistance with the kids or life in general." Oh-HO, buddy. I know that trick. I've heard horror stories about what happens when people ask FA for help. I reply something about while there are definitely certain challenges with having kids, since we've gotten an idea about what may be going on with T that now we realize there are reasons behind his behaviors, which makes them easier to handle and isn't so stressful. The Major asks me a few more leading questions about dealing with such "active" kids. I think I dodged them successfully, but we should know more by Friday.


Of course, what IS stressful is the run around we are getting about trying to get T evaluated and diagnosed with sensory issues and the FA appointment was no different. Medical tells us to go through the school, the school is trying but tells us to go through medical to increase the urgency, and FA says to request the evaluation through the school or through medical, although the school is the better choice. (Then just say school, or better yet, give a girl a hand with the process, Sporty!) Sounds great, but I've been trying to get this done for over a year, and we STILL haven't had luck either way. Because, you know, I'm so emotional that this must all be in my head. GAH!

As the kids were acting nutty and R and I were attempting to have a coherent conversation with the evaluators (all THREE of them), they were directing most of the questions at R once they realized I wasn't going to burst into tears. (Yay me! Score - me -1, my emotions - every single other meeting.) I'm very lucky: very very lucky that R is such a hands on Dad. He's very involved with the kids and I absolutely could not do this without him. BUT - I'm the one who spends the most time with the kids and it just irks me that yesterday I was supposed to be the equivalent to the nanny - responsible for keeping the kids in line as tired and hyped up as they were (as if that's even possible), but with no say so or opinions. So when S started throwing a fit because I wouldn't let her write all over the official paperwork, I excused us both and took her into the hall to continue her fit. And because S is the Divine Miss S, resident diva, taking her out into the hallway didn't slow or quiet down her temper tantrum in the least. And, when she's like that, I know that I have to wait it out. Unfortunately for all the people in the other offices in the building, they were going to have to wait it out too. Two of them came out into the hallway and tried to bribe her to shush. It totally didn't work. I was passive aggressively happy about that - but just a little bit (that counts as progress, right?). She did calm down of her own accord about the time T opened the office door and said, "Is she being quiet yet? WHEW! Thank goodness!"

Of course he then informed S that she shouldn't be screaming and crying like that. Of course, I just smile widely because it wasn't long ago at all that he was doing the same thing. I probably shouldn't find it amusing that he gives the same advice that he refuses to listen to himself, but I'm sick that way. And, it's funny.

I feel so sorry for whomever is on the plane with us when we PCS back to the states.