I did drop an email to the principal telling her that he DID actually BREAK his hand, it wasn't just HURT. Not that it meant anything really, but I thought she'd want to know. Especially since the school nurse sent him back to class and didn't call me. But, she didn't respond. It is what it is I suppose. Still it's hard to believe he has 10 days out of school for this.
Speaking of Jonathan, he has an appointment tomorrow (Tuesday) with Dr. Coniglio. When Jonathan said he wanted to see someone about his anger outburst at school, we talked about who he could see. There are several great folks up here in Carrollwood he could see. He could see them more frequently because they are close, but they wouldn't know HIM that well really, because they may not know all that much about his Aspergers.
Now, Dr. Coniglio down in South Tampa knows ALL ABOUT Aspergers. When Jonathan saw him years ago, we thought he was an angel. He did a test on Jonathan and after that test, began to tell us all about our son... What he was like as a small child, who he would play with, what kinds of toys he liked, what kind of friends he liked, what kinds of activities he liked, EVERYTHING. IT was SO COOL. It was like he KNEW everything about Jonathan. He would call Jonathan his "poster Asperger child" because he was the perfect Asperger kid.
Well, when Jonathan considered his options, he told me that he'd really like to see Dr. Coniglio if he was on our insurance - even if it meant seeing him not as often. Because, he would at least UNDERSTAND him more. So... That's what we are doing. Jonathan will go to see Dr. Coniglio, and he is SO happy to be going.
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Jonathan has had another outburst of anger other than the one at school, this one at home. Thank goodness his appointment is tomorrow with Dr. Coniglio, maybe he can give us some insight / answers.
This time, he got really angry at Justin and Kayla walked into the middle of it.
Kayla got the brunt of it and - well - it was bad. I know Chris had to go home and take care of it. I heard him on the phone and it was HORRIBLE. Jonathan just screaming at the top of his lungs at the other kids. All the kids yelling back at him. It sounded horrible. We called our friend Michelle who was closer to the house than Chris or I and had her go over to check on them to make sure nobody was hurt. I don't know what we'd do without our good friend Michelle!
Jonathan got so angry with Kayla, and Kayla was so afraid she fell into a wall and literally dented the drywall.
Yes, more broken stuff at the Rhocchini house.
Great.
This happened on a Thursday and I found myself crying hysterically on the way to Choir rehearsal. Sometimes a good cry is really good, ya know? I mean, it's nothing anyone could do anything about... Chris had everything under control at the house at the time. The kids are just being teenagers, with issues.
Sometimes, though, when it's just me and God, I want to ask him WHY. Why did he give this to me? I'm no super-mom. I'm not rich. I'm not tolerant to the point of being some kind of counselor to these kids. Sometimes it feels like too much.
That day, that Thursday, it DEFINITELY felt like too much. Then God touches my heart and reminds me of what things were like at their home before DCF stepped in. He reminds me that he thinks they still need to go to college and only Chris and I can help them with that. And that we are in the right place.
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Funny story about maturity level which makes me think of Julie and church this weekend. Julie - bless her heart - has been going to Church with us. This is GREAT!!! I am SO HAPPY. This week she wanted to sleep in, but as she said "God woke her up". She looked AWESOME. Her makeup was beautiful, she'd lost a little weight, she looked just GREAT. I am so proud of her.
Anyways, we are at Church, middle, center, third pew in, nobody in front of us. I mean, we have Pastor Matthew spittle on our faces we are so close to front. Pastor is talking about what a great church we are -- how we tend to 'get the big picture' in terms of giving of ourselves, how we've built churches and donated so much time and money.
He had just finished talking about how our church is going to build a center to help children who have lost a parent - it'll be the first one of it's kind in the area. Right now the only time a child can get help is from Hospice, but if you are a child who's parent dies suddenly (auto accident, murder, suicide, etc), there just isn't a place for you to get assistance.
Anyways, it was a big talk and one I would think Julie would get a lot out of since her kids, in particular, would have been greatly impacted by such a facility had one been built a few years ago. Heck, they could even probably offer to work at this new one once it's up and working here. Anyways....
Pastor is preaching some deep stuff... Julie leans over and says "Hey, Tina. I just bought this new base makeup. It's really neat. It has two holes - one hole has base makeup, the other hole has lotion. (she grabs my hand and puts it on her face) Feel my face - how soft it is! Isn't it soft???"
Uh, yeah, Julie. Real soft.
So funny. Bless her heart.
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I got another call today from a principal at Gaither. This time for Kayte. She really dislikes her Math teacher and has been trying to get out of the class.
It's hard to explain, but she isn't teaching in such a way that Kayte understands it. Even Jonathan agrees that the teacher isn't teaching correctly.. Something about not teaching slopes for Algebra 1, and so Jonathan has been teaching her at home things that the teacher SHOULD be showing her at school. When Jonathan teaches Kayte, she immediately 'gets it'. Of course, she can't show her 'work' because the teacher hasn't shown them anything about using these slopes in class. Anyways, Kayte doesn't like the teacher and states that almost all the kids in the class are receiving D's and F's. (Kayte has a D in this class, which is very unusual for her.)
Today Kayte brought in a paper to the teacher to try to get out of the class. The teacher questioned her as to where she received the paperwork, not believing that she actually got it from guidance and Kayte replied "Well, I didn't pull it out of my BUTT!" Which, of course is disrespectful and rude, and so the teacher sent her to the principal's office.
At least she didn't say "Ass" because, as we all now know, this would have gotten her 10-days out of school suspension. Sigh.....
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The computers at home are still not so good. I don't know what we are going to do. I've looked online and computer prices are really reasonable now. Maybe if I get a good new-year bonus, I can consider spending a little on this. It's hard knowing where to prioritize... With bigger things such as the termites... That it's hard to really think about. I'm still behind on things - I've been paying the mortgage 28 days late for the past year (end of the month instead of the first of the month), as a result racking up late fees but never really going over 30 days late. Catching up on this would be really great as well. But - try having 4 teenagers and a husband who works for himself and NOT having a working home computer... It just doesn't work. Not to mention it helps MY sanity when I can blog and I just CAN'T blog when I can't blog at home. I'm sitting her trying to blog from my phone. Do you know how long this is going to take me?? Yeah..... I'm going to need thumb wraps....
Sigh
So, it really is a priority. I know it is. I found this really great website that my boss uses, ecost.com. They have great deals, and I'm going to keep looking there - maybe they'll have a new-year blowout sale or something.
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I am DONE Christmas shopping, by the way. I need to do one small thing for my mom, but other than that, I'm done.
The Church gave us some gift cards the other day and with that, we were able to go out and get each kid something that they wanted for Christmas. Nothing too extravagant, but at least something they wanted. Except for Jonathan, we got him a few things since he will be with us on Christmas morning (Kayla, Justin and Kayte will be in Maryland with their Grandma) we figured he needed more under the tree than just one thing. Again, nothing TOO extravagant, but he'll be happy.
He is getting everything that he asked for. Course, he hasn't asked for much. Because he has been in trouble, he keeps saying that he 'doesn't deserve anything'.
Hopefully Dr. Coniglio can help with that some tomorrow. He has been beating himself up a LOT lately.
The thing with this Christmas is... I am happy. I am very happy. Each kid has something. I realize I am blessed. I know it's not about 'things'.
I see Amanda.... She is SO STRESSED about 'things'. Maybe it's because she works in retail... Maybe it's because she is young... Maybe it's because she's not yet financially stable... But she's very unhappy and doesn't understand the 'Reason for the Season'. Sure... She isn't religious. I get that. But it's more than that. She's tightly wound around the frantic-hectic-money-side of Christmas.
Maybe she needs to experience one Christmas where she literally MAKES all the gifts - pot holders or something totally corny like that and just ENJOYS the GIVING of the gifts and not the stress of anything else. I dunno.
She's tightly wound and I wish I knew how to help. No, that's not it... I don't want to 'help'... I want HER to EXPERIENCE more and agonize LESS.
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OIE
I just got in from picking up Jonathan from the ATOSS program and am back at work. Phone here is ringing OFF the HOOK.
Customers calling and Kayte calls.
Kayte called to try to tell me how RIGHT she was to tell her teacher that she didn't "pull that paperwork out of her butt". She said "even the assistant principal agreed with me!" I said, "Hold it right there. The assistant principal might have agreed that the teacher was wrong in not understanding about the paperwork, but you were COMPLETELY and TOTALLY wrong in the DISRESPECTFUL MANNER in which you talked to the teacher.
She sucked her teeth at me.
I hate that.
I had to put her on hold because my phone were ringing off the hook here (I work alone I might point out) and she hung up and called me BACK so that she could once again have my undivided attention. WHAT?
She wants to go to tutoring after school. She said she needed an answer RIGHT NOW.
FINE I said. Without time to even think about how she was going to get home. I guess she needed an answer RIGHT THAT SECOND after all, right? So maybe she'll have to walk home. Then she'll have time to think about her attitude with that teacher.
Did she really think that she was going to WIN a conversation with me in which she told a teacher that she "didn't pull paperwork out of her butt"?? How completely disrespectful.
I'm still fuming over this.
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Great. To add to my teenage frustrations for today - a cell phone that I purchased with Kayla's money for her on Ebay came in today - and it doesn't work.
Lovely.
Now I have to research how to get my money back for an ebay auction from some schmoe selling refurbished cell phones on ebay.
Just made my day.
Sigh.....
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It's funny... Sometimes I feel so very blessed and fortunate. Sometimes I feel so stressed that I think my heart is just going to STOP one day. As if there were not one more thing I could possibly handle, and I'm not even sure if I can handle what I DO already have.
It's not the computer, or the phone, or one kid, or grades, or one thing... It's a lot of little things that - if you take them all at once - can become completely overwhelming.
I just have to sit back and think about the blessings at the same time. It's hard though when you are feeling overwhelmed and you feel like crying. Times like that I should just go pray.
Matter of fact, I think that's exactly what I'll go do right this second. I have 30 minutes before I have to go home. Phones have stopped ringing. I have a few minutes to compose myself. I think I'll go pray.
1 comment:
Ya know, I remember one Christmas 20 years ago when your Dad and I had just split up. I was depressed, mad at God and all I wanted was for Christmas was for it to be over. I used to see people shopping and happy, and I wanted to spit... I had no money, no credit, no nothing, with the exception of you 3 girls and a beautiful granddaughter. Then one day I was driving down a road over in St. Pete and was stopped at a red light. I saw a man patiently putting up a Nativity Scene in his front yard. The more I watched the more peaceful I felt. It truly changed my heart. I believe that God wanted me to see this to realize that this is in fact "The Reason for the Season".... I started to feel better and truly focused on what Christmas was all about. It wasn't called Giftmas, it's Christmas which is for the birth of Christ. With all the hussel and bussel we tend to forget, it isn't important to buy a perfect gift, it's important to concentrate on what this season is all about. Every night I light an advent candle and say a prayer in preparation for the birth of Jesus, and it's made a difference in my life.
Oh yes, you won't be getting lots from me this Christmas, but what you get will be given from my heart with great love and admiration for all you do.
Love,
Mom
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