Maybe we have some work to do

For those of you that don't know, Linda was diagnosed with Childhood Bipolar Disorder. We have a family social worker that is helping us aligning treatment for her (just in case there was any confusion, this is a voluntary thing that we signed up for). Linda sees a psychiatrist, a psychologist, attends special education, and is in group socializing sessions at school. She has also been accepted into Freedom Riders which is a group that uses horses and riding for attachment therapy. Another new feature in our life is the presence of two social workers/counselors who come to our house for family coaching. They are an older man and woman who are here to help us learn how to best parent Linda, be a support system for her siblings, and teach Linda how to be a productive and happy member of our family. This should give you an idea on how bad things had gotten with her behaviors. The social workers have been to the house a couple of times now. It is kind of a rude awakening because they are there when she gets home, and if she didn't bring her homework, or has a note from her teacher, they call her out on it. She has kind of gotten used to getting special attention, and has kind of come to expect to be babied. Being held accountable is kind of new for her. Anyways, the whole point of this post is to tell you about this last session. Even though they are non-judgmental, you are still letting strangers into a very personal part of your life and it is hard not to be nervous. This last time they were asking Linda about her chores. They asked her what her least favorite chore was and she said " cleaning the poop out of the litter box". Bear in mind that she has never once done this. A little while later, Noah asked the worker if she would read to him, and then threw the book and hit her in the chest. Last, but not least, when the worker told Mina she was a beautiful little girl, Mina replied "Yeah...I know." Apparently I need to add, teach one kid not to lie, one kid not to throw, and one kid to be humble on my long, long list of parenting things to work on. Sigh.

Fifth Grade

We went school shopping for Jamie and Linda's 5th grade year. It is kind of nice, because the school supply list gets shorter every year. Clothes shopping was the hardest. Linda is so tall, she is kind of in an in-between size between the kids clothes, and the Juniors. She can wear 14s in jeans, and size small in juniors (or a size 3). Poor Jamie just seems to grow super slow next to her. He is still wearing 10s and mediums in kid sizes. The downside is now they have to have regulation gym clothes that we can only buy at one store in town, and a pair of gym shoes, and deodorant that have to stay at school. Like I said, the clothes were the hardest. Not for Jamie, he was happy with a few Star Wars shirts, and a couple of polo shirts that had camo design. Linda, on the other hand, is a whole new ball game. I know this is not her fault, this is what she sees in the media, and often on other girls, but she seems to want to dress as provocatively as possible. I hate to tell her, but I don't care if she is eleven, or 17, she is not dressing like that. So a battle ensued. You should know, I am not super, uber strict, but I think shorts should cover her butt cheeks, shirts should cover at least as much as a bra does, and if any part of it is see-through enough that your underwear shows, it is a no-go. This made for a hard time. Sigh. We also had to buy a puberty emergency kit (a make-up bag with a few pads in it), in case that happens. I can't believe I am having to worry about this at age 11, but she is starting to develop quickly. About two hundred dollars later, they are all set. They are lucky this year, school doesn't start until 8:40 and they do not get on the bus until 8:30, which means they don't have to get up until pretty late. I hope this year goes well for them. They are both in band, and some other activites. I think it is set up to be their best year ever.