Hubs and I did something CRAZY this week. We became parents.
Yes, you read that right. After the years of complaining that we will never be parents, things has changed. For at least a few months, anyway.
My niece, G, is a little crazy, like me. For not being biologically related, you sure wouldn't be able to tell by looking at her mental health evaluations. She has been diagnosed as high functioning autistic and manic depressive, which is the fancy new term for bipolar. We've tried just about everything, from meds to psych hospitals, and nothing has worked well. Then she made a grown up decision to ask her mom if she could live with someone else as an only child for a while, to see if it helps "make her better". The sad part of this? She's 7, and she knows that she really needs help. She has a lot of issues with expressing emotions and feelings with words, so she uses actions, like anger, to try and get her point across. Unfortunately her siblings don't understand this and makes things difficult.
Her mother and I decided that Hubs and I were probably the best people for her to live with while she's trying to learn coping skills to better manage her issues. What better place than with someone who had to learn how to manage the same issues? G already told her mom she was never moving back because she loves us so much lol, but we'll see in a few weeks when she realizes that I'm going to make her do her homework, just like her mother will.
She officially moved in last night. She'll be with us for at least one full school semester, then her mom and I will re-evaluate her to see if she's ready to go home or would benefit from staying the rest of the school year. She's got her own room and a toy box with her name on it! We went to the thrift shop to grab some sheets for her, and happened upon a hot pink rubbermaid tub previously owned and drawn on by a kid with the same name as G - she was SOOO excited!
It'll definitely be an adjustment, with changing sleeping schedules to accommodate school, learning to cook 3 meals a day again, and finding activities that will help her out with fine motor skills.
And Hubs has to learn that he can't sleep the day away, at least not until school starts :P
So wish us luck! I don't want to go crazier while trying to teach a crazy child how not to be crazy. :)
Yes, you read that right. After the years of complaining that we will never be parents, things has changed. For at least a few months, anyway.
My niece, G, is a little crazy, like me. For not being biologically related, you sure wouldn't be able to tell by looking at her mental health evaluations. She has been diagnosed as high functioning autistic and manic depressive, which is the fancy new term for bipolar. We've tried just about everything, from meds to psych hospitals, and nothing has worked well. Then she made a grown up decision to ask her mom if she could live with someone else as an only child for a while, to see if it helps "make her better". The sad part of this? She's 7, and she knows that she really needs help. She has a lot of issues with expressing emotions and feelings with words, so she uses actions, like anger, to try and get her point across. Unfortunately her siblings don't understand this and makes things difficult.
Her mother and I decided that Hubs and I were probably the best people for her to live with while she's trying to learn coping skills to better manage her issues. What better place than with someone who had to learn how to manage the same issues? G already told her mom she was never moving back because she loves us so much lol, but we'll see in a few weeks when she realizes that I'm going to make her do her homework, just like her mother will.
She officially moved in last night. She'll be with us for at least one full school semester, then her mom and I will re-evaluate her to see if she's ready to go home or would benefit from staying the rest of the school year. She's got her own room and a toy box with her name on it! We went to the thrift shop to grab some sheets for her, and happened upon a hot pink rubbermaid tub previously owned and drawn on by a kid with the same name as G - she was SOOO excited!
It'll definitely be an adjustment, with changing sleeping schedules to accommodate school, learning to cook 3 meals a day again, and finding activities that will help her out with fine motor skills.
And Hubs has to learn that he can't sleep the day away, at least not until school starts :P
So wish us luck! I don't want to go crazier while trying to teach a crazy child how not to be crazy. :)
Comments
Post a Comment